A walk in the woods

The coast is my all time favorite walking place. I love the sounds of tide and seabirds. I love the treasures that I am able to collect there. Coloured shells, sea washed glass,pieces of fishing boat rope and whitened wood ready to turn into ghostly sculptures. It's an elemental place and as the celts say, spiritually a thin place. But sometimes another setting catches you unawares.

Up behind the town of Holywood in County Down, in the Craigantlet hills, is an ancient wood. I visited in autumn some time ago with my sister and her faithful dog Eddy. The wood is not far from the home where C.S.Lewis was born. The day was mild and as the afternoon wore on and the sun sank lower the whole wood took on a magic aura. It made me think of Tolkien and Lewis and the influences on our lives that go so deep, we often don't even realise where they come from.

C.S.Lewis once said that he believed that the animals were given to us to make us feel happy. Eddy had that gift. We walked down a long shaded pathway and I thought as well of one of my favorite poems by Robert Frost, "The road less travelled".

I haven't really got to grips with this whole blogging thing, but I think it's just another of those roads I have to travel! So here's hoping that the next doesn't take me another three days!