readerjanedavis

I was concentrating on the ten mile hike, and keeping my phone battery going for satnav, so not many pictures. Walked through a sort of quiet lakeside wooden house suburbia, then farmland, then miles of  hikers trail in a green forest. We saw two other people in four hours. We made our way beside two dark lakes, clambered over fallen trees and beaver damage, walked along raised plankways put there (we thought) so walkers would not tread on and destroy the mossy ground. We scrambled up to a higher place where we walked through the dismal landscape of a forest fire, then back down to a pine wood where the path for over a mile was just hard tree roots, finally into the lush green of lichen-covered larches and finally a farm, a cake shop (yes, yes and yes:  I had something made of marizpan, chocolate and rum truffle, delicious…) and the bus stop. Great walk, great cake, great bus service and good to know the sauna was waiting. 

The little plant growing on rock outcrop in a place lightly wooden with birch – a form of lichen? – suddenly made me understand why someone would want to study botany. A form of worship in the guise of science.

‘Possibility of seeing beavers’ the guide book said of this southern tip of the lake. No critters were seen but lots of evidence of their work.  This poor devil above was an oak tree about two foot diameter. 

The wood chips are huge, those guys must have a great chomp.

Lovely larches at the end of our hike.