A Walk Round Trosley

Frosted Wayfaring-tree leaves, Viburnum lantanum.  Trosley Country Park, 29 December 2013.

I have been in the upper part of Trosley Country Park before, looking for late fungi, but I had not done the route they call the Downland Trail before a visit on 29th December.  Strange weather; calm and sunshine one day, and blustery rain the next.  This was a very pleasant sunny day.

In the woods, Trosley Country Park, 29 December 2013.

The upper woods mostly look something like this at the moment.  Bare trees, many showing signs of long-ago coppicing, with quite a few fallen trunks.  But the land drops off sharply to one side, as with many of the local woodland walks.  I went down many big wooden steps, then some more steps, thinking at the time that I would certainly have to be going up again later on.

Power pole on the Downland Trail, Trosley Country Park, 29 December 2013.

Along the bottom of the hill I encountered a power line.  I like that sign, so direct and graphic.  You would have to be quite determined to be killed by this pole.

Downland Trail, one way back up.  Trosley Country Park, 29 December 2013.

Further along, I came to the chalk downland that this route was named after.  This is one of the tracks back up the hill, which I looked at but didn't take.  The grass is very short at this time of year, but should be full of flowers in late spring. 

This path is heavily eroded, as were others I saw, so must see a lot of footfall in season.   It was slippery, too.  It was around here that I saw the leaves at the top of this post.  You can see it had been frosty the night before, but the frost was disappearing as soon as the winter sun hit it, and it didn't seem very cold.  Of course, I was wearing scarf and gloves, which helps.

View over the Weald towards the Medway.  Trosley Country Park, 29 December 2013.

At the far end of this route, the path climbs a steep slope to a good viewpoint.  This photo looks east towards the River Medway.  In more or less this direction are some other excellent places to visit; Leybourne Lakes, Ranscombe Farm Nature Reserve, and further to the north, Riverside Country Park.

The last slope. Downland Trail, Trosley Country Park, 29 December 2013.

This shot looks back the way I came from the same position as the last one.  My path came along the bottom of this slope and then straight up it.  That was tricky with the ground being so slippery.  Then there are some more steps up through the wood, and an easy track back towards the visitor centre.

This walk must have been only two or three miles, but it felt longer because of the steep and slippery parts!  The leaflet says to allow two hours, but it took me one.  I would have taken longer, and brought a bigger camera, in a more flowery season.

These photos were all taken with my iPhone.  It really boosts the saturation, and I had to undo that a little in Photoshop to reduce the intense blueness of the sky to something more natural.