Just over five and a half miles on a beautifully sunny winter day.
This was a walk of contrasts. The trees around Milkham car park are predominantly conifers, scots pine I think. But as you walk further into the inclosure, the trees change to broad leaf. It was quite cold and shaded in the inclosure but we could see the blue skies (and could hear a buzzard calling) and as we headed towards Bratley Plain, it looked really sunny beyond the gateway. It was lovely walking across the heath – we walked here in the summer when the heather was flowering and, of course, that was much prettier. Some of the heather has been cut back in huge patches – I’m not sure how they decide where to do this but presumably it is part of a bigger conservation or regeneration plan for the forest.
We carried on to Bratley Inclosure and then across the road into Slufters Inclosure and the trees chop and change again from broad leaf, to conifer and back to broad leaf. A lovely variety and lots of lovely views in the sunshine.
We spotted a couple of lichen covered logs in two different places in the inclosures. I tried to take some close up photos. The orange/red parts which look like fungal caps close up appeared to be tiny orange flower – they were only a couple of millimeters across. I’ve no idea what they are – I might ask the experts at Wild New Forest.
The worst part of the walk is going back along the road to the car park. In the summer, we would have avoided this by cutting across Broomy Plain and minimising the road walking. But the non cycle path tracks are so muddy at the moment, that they are quite unpleasant to walk (unless you are wearing wellies!)
New Forest Walker 