McGresty
as it happens
Penn Wood day out
After seeing a note about a place named Penn Wood, I wanted to head toward it. The reason was because in the wood are supposed to be different kinds of deer, badgers, foxes, and other wildlife. It is an ancient woodland and would take a while to get there due to it being located near the town of Amersham, on the opposite corner of London to me. A decision was made to not list the trip as a bus run, but a trek. The temperature was forecast to be around 80. Most public transport in England does not have air conditoning and I would have to ride a bus to reach the area (yes I like the heat, no I don't like high humidity).
Getting there was fairly easy, once I found the stop for the 1B bus. A ride to a pub, where the bus stopped, took place and off I got. There was a large green with two entrances so I sat down, got my camera out of my backpack, did my sense (peaceful but watch my feet).
The entrance on the right was in front of me and I took my Leki pole out then made my way in. The 'watch my feet' thing happened with a few paces. A narrow trail with all kinds of tree roots coming from every direction greeted me and continued for almost the entire trek.
Penn Wood is one of the largest ancient woodlands in the Chilterns region of Buckinghamshire and covers 435 acres. There are mainly oak, ash and birch trees providing shade making it quite a lot cooler once inside. It used to be part of a huge common named Wycombe Heath. cows are utilized to manage part of the area and can often be seen in the wood, though none were present while I was there. In fact nothing was present except the profile of a squirrel going up a tree about 200 feet away when I first entered and a two white butterflies.
The whole place was almost totally silent, I heard nothing most of the time. It was too silent. Normally whilst out tromping though woodland, even on hotter days than this, there are all kinds of birds and small creatures, not here there wasn't. Nothing, nada, zilch! I found it a bit freaky to be honest. The main reason I came here was to photograph some wild animals, however I gave up on that and just did my last serious trek on and off the many little trails. Some tree roots came up out of the ground, bent over and went back in. A few of those were over twenty-four inches high and so I carefully stepped over them. There was so gentle breeze that the leaves hardly moved.
Often woodland has a lot of ground cover, walking off trail was fairly easy in Penn Wood, as long as I took it slow, enjoying it for what it was on the 2nd day of summer. Off trail the ground was mainly covered with leaves, broken twigs and roots. At one point a wider trail was found and I walked down it for some way. Stopping to check my compass, I found that my direction was wrong and began to head south'ish back toward where I had entered.
On one larger trail somethng was standing ahead of me and it looked just a little bit weird.
Checking the time showed about 3 hours had been covered and a while later I emerged from a different entrance, made my way to the pub for a drink and had a good sit down. This was to be my last day out before flying to Pamplona where I will spend a month or so.
Getting there was fairly easy, once I found the stop for the 1B bus. A ride to a pub, where the bus stopped, took place and off I got. There was a large green with two entrances so I sat down, got my camera out of my backpack, did my sense (peaceful but watch my feet).
The entrance on the right was in front of me and I took my Leki pole out then made my way in. The 'watch my feet' thing happened with a few paces. A narrow trail with all kinds of tree roots coming from every direction greeted me and continued for almost the entire trek.
Penn Wood is one of the largest ancient woodlands in the Chilterns region of Buckinghamshire and covers 435 acres. There are mainly oak, ash and birch trees providing shade making it quite a lot cooler once inside. It used to be part of a huge common named Wycombe Heath. cows are utilized to manage part of the area and can often be seen in the wood, though none were present while I was there. In fact nothing was present except the profile of a squirrel going up a tree about 200 feet away when I first entered and a two white butterflies.
The whole place was almost totally silent, I heard nothing most of the time. It was too silent. Normally whilst out tromping though woodland, even on hotter days than this, there are all kinds of birds and small creatures, not here there wasn't. Nothing, nada, zilch! I found it a bit freaky to be honest. The main reason I came here was to photograph some wild animals, however I gave up on that and just did my last serious trek on and off the many little trails. Some tree roots came up out of the ground, bent over and went back in. A few of those were over twenty-four inches high and so I carefully stepped over them. There was so gentle breeze that the leaves hardly moved.
Often woodland has a lot of ground cover, walking off trail was fairly easy in Penn Wood, as long as I took it slow, enjoying it for what it was on the 2nd day of summer. Off trail the ground was mainly covered with leaves, broken twigs and roots. At one point a wider trail was found and I walked down it for some way. Stopping to check my compass, I found that my direction was wrong and began to head south'ish back toward where I had entered.
On one larger trail somethng was standing ahead of me and it looked just a little bit weird.
Upon reaching it I had a really good laugh. It is a giant acorn seat sculpture.
Checking the time showed about 3 hours had been covered and a while later I emerged from a different entrance, made my way to the pub for a drink and had a good sit down. This was to be my last day out before flying to Pamplona where I will spend a month or so.
Gotta admit,it was different.
Jul 01, 2026
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