Goodbye, Little Wood.

run 9.7 km - 60.13 min, cold, sunny, no wind.

- with Nala, after a longish break. 

She runs fine now, even outruns Strelka, the droopy male Goden. 

And horror – four farmers with chainsaws are clearing my favourite stretch – the overgrown dirt track. In summer a thick canopy of beech, oak and hazel leaves covers it. 

I've been running, cycling and walking through it for nearly 10 years now. We used to come here with my son to cut long young hazel shoots to make arrows and bows. The longest shot we managed was 84 paces (mine). 

Clearing looks like massacre, but, in fact, is a very efficient way of managing hedges, 2-3 foot thick beech-trees are cut down, hazel bushes cut to ground level, but not uprooted. Every 5 to 10 metres a young tree, a beech or an oak are left standing – to grow and seed. 

Something to look forward to, for another ten years.