The 1^st October was a dry, overcast day. A small group of us met in Lewes, to drive to the southern end of the Ashdown Forest. On arrival, across the cattlegrid and into the forest, we drove carefully to avoid the sheep grazing on the road verges. Parking at Stone Hill, another walker from the footpaths group joined us.

Our walk took us past Friends clump. Here we had stunning views across the forest. Following the path, we descended steeply into the valley, to then follow a wide-open ride, before taking a smaller path to head towards the Kings Standing clump. Crossing the road, we walked to the clump, which again had far-reaching views. It is the only square clump in the forest. We walked parallel to the road towards the old Kings Standing radio station and then out to recross the road, pausing along the way to admire the mushrooms and the gorse out in flowering.

Once back onto the forest track we walked up to Camp Hill clump, where we took a break for our refreshments and to admire the views. We then continued downhill to reach Ellison’s pond. The water level looked low, and the pond was weedy!

Crossing the road, we eventually walked onto a wide grassy track, pausing to admire the fly agaric mushroom, looking like something lifted from a child’s storybook. We continued to reach a square sandstone enclosure, known as the Airman’s Grave. Following the track, we soon turned, over a plank bridge to pick up another wide track, and keeping to the right, took the long ascent to reach our start point.

Anita led the walk.

     

   Airman's Grave                                                                                      Fly agaric