Wigwam, Warbling and Water

We had a stroll in Knighton Wood this afternoon and, the moment we stepped across the road and into the wood, the sound of a great tit’s loud warbling met our ears. This was followed by the drumming beat of a great spotted woodpecker, and then a robin and some blue tits joined in the chorus as well. It was a beautiful feeling, standing there, and the walk would have been perfect, except for the fact that a major water leak erupted in the wood a couple of weeks ago and was still pouring down the slope of the old Monkhams Lane, which is now a path through the woods. 

I blipped the story of the railway track that was laid along this path in the 1870s here. Whether the leak has any connection to that experiment I don’t know, but there is plenty of evidence that Thames Water are working to find a solution. The water is finding its way to the current road called Monkhams Lane and is causing quite a few problems (especially when we had sub-zero temperatures a week or two back). 

It was fortunate that we were wearing our walking boots because the route was pretty impassable in places, and Smithers was finding it tricky with his limited vision to avoid stray branches at eye level or tree roots underfoot, so we abandoned the walk after about half an hour and returned home for a welcome cup of tea. 

Whereupon Smithers asked plaintively, à la Mole in "The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse", 

"Will there be cake?"

Reader, I’m pleased to say there was.