TITLE: My spot in the woods in Autumn
DATE: 2018-11-02
AUTHOR: John L. Godlee
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At the weekend I went to my favourite spot just outside Edinburgh
to check up on what has been happening. I cycled out of Edinburgh
on my black road bike, taking a backpack with some essential bike
repair stuff like a multitool, patches, tyre levers and a pump. I
also took a few small bits used for wood-working, an axe, big fixed
blade knife, spoon knife, and a folding saw.
The autumn leaves were at their peak, with beautiful golden coppery
colours.
When I got to my spot, which I don't think many people know about,
I found that I had a lot of work to do. The oak tree that I
normally sit under had lost a limb, presumably it had split off in
the high wind we had in September. I found that the fallen limb had
covered a lot of the space so I decided to process some of the wood
and hide it in a spot under an overhanging tree root to keep it dry
until I came back.
There was also a large straight silver birch that had been uprooted
in the high winds and had slid down the hill a bit. I intend to go
back and collect some of that later with a big saw later in the
year.
The sedges that mat the woodland floor around there are really nice
to sit on to do some woodcarving
