Here we are, 2025; a big year for us! And whilst we have a lot on the horizon to look forward to, we will be sure to still get the miles beneath our boots. We opened the year’s account one particularly frosty morning, with a six-mile route from Ticehurst to Bewl Water, and back again. The route, whilst a new one, is very similar to a Ticehurst Circular we had done previously (in fact, it was the first one we blogged!) and even shares the same starting point and first half a mile or so.
We parked up in the free car park behind the Bell in Ticehurst at about half past eleven, after picking up lunch from the Co-op in Wadhurst, equipped with coats and scarves. The previous week had barely gone above freezing, with lows of -6, creating a silvery winter landscape. We made our way out of the village toward the reservoir, across fields which, whilst not obviously icy having been bathing in the sun shining from a clear blue sky, were still frozen beneath our boots, for which we were very grateful as we walked over deep but solid mud. In the next field, we found that the edge was still in shade, and so we followed the frosty border downward. Toward the bottom, as Beth was telling me about some of her skiing experiences, she suddenly came to a halt and told me to “shut-up,” despite not actually talking. Turning round, I saw her camera pointing eagerly across the field to our left and following its sight, discovered the need for me to shut-up. Sitting beside a bare hedge in the sunshine, was a cute little fox. As far as we could tell, he was only young, but still wore a thick, fluffy red coat, as he blinked in the sunshine. We crept closer, and he watched us approach, seemingly not particularly bothered. In the end, we got surprisingly near before he decided that we were close enough, and rose to his paws and padded a little into the undergrowth, from where he continued to stare. We did notice that the end of his tail seemed to be missing, but still looked to be in good condition. Turning back to our path, we let the little chap be.
We continued downward through a small patch of frozen woods, and then up the field on the other side to a lane. It was at this point that the day’s route varied from our previous ‘Ticehurst Circular’. Instead of turning left down the lane, we continued straight over onto a footpath lined with trees. For the first time that day, we found the ground to be wet and squelchy underfoot, and as we zigzagged upward avoiding the worst of it, Beth wondered whether trees could protect paths beneath from the worst of the frost? Plausible, and a theory we shall test I am sure! However, on this occasion I was unfortunately too focused on getting back onto firmer ground, that I failed to heed Beth’s question of “Is this us?” as we passed a path to our right, and carried on straight ahead. We found firmer ground soon enough and came out to a road, walking toward where we knew Bewl Water waited. It was only after a few minutes that we thought we had better check the map just in case, having been steaming straight ahead for a while. It only took a glance to spot our mistake, and turned about on the spot to retrace our steps, faces in the sunshine. We returned to the top of the squelchy track, and took the even more squelchy footpath which Beth had previously mentioned. This was the trickiest bit of the day, and only added to Beth’s ‘tree-lined footpath’ theory – by the end, I had a very wet sock.
And then there we were, back on the shores of the oh-so-familiar Bewl Water. We turned left and continued through the frosty but sunny day, beside the calm water, still frozen in places. Beth made sure to enjoy as much crunching of ice beneath her boots as possible as we went, and enjoyed seeing all the ducks gliding together and bobbing about at the water’s edge. We made our way around one of the reservoirs many fingers, and just as the time approached one o’clock, we spotted a likely looking bench, so sat down for lunch. We took in the still water, reflecting the sky above, enjoying the sound of a gentle wave slowly making its was up the shore. The day had slowly been warming up a little, and to our right we could see an area of the water from which a large amount of steam was rising, as it finally melted. There were several ducks, and one solitary cormorant doing the thing they do with their wings (Beth does a great impression of this – ask her sometime). It was the perfect lunch spot for the day!
After the cormorant had flown away over the water, we too rose to our feet and continued on our way. We found quite a lot of this stretch to still be covered in well frozen snow, and Beth was again reminded of her beloved Switzerland. When we had done the Bewl Water Circular last Spring, we found that much of this less-trod south side was very muddy in places, and indeed it still was. However, the cold had once again done its thing and all was well solid beneath our boots. As we approached the end of the day’s visit to the reservoir, we came across a familiar field of sheep, after which we finally turned our backs on the beauty of the water. The route then shares a stretch of road lined with pretty cottages with the Bewl Circular, and the gentle upward combined with the mid-afternoon sun led me to finally taking my coat off. Listening to the tweeting of the birds and having spotted a few catkins a mile or so back, a sudden glisten of the distant Spring began to glow within (despite the quintessential mid-winter surroundings).
We left the road, taking a footpath on the left across a snowy field of sheep, and passed a few houses on the outskirts of Ticehurst. We then walked up the final white field of the day, where Beth got in some final crunches, and we emerged back onto an icy lane. This led us back to the main road into Ticehurst, and from there it was only a few minute’s walk back to the village centre. We stopped at The Bell for a drink, and sat outside enjoying the crisp air and slowly setting winter sun.
This turned out to be the ideal walk for the day. Thanks to the cold firming up the mud, the route was easy and not particularly challenging, leaving us totally free to enjoy the bright, frozen wonderland. The weald seemed beautiful, but perhaps in a different way to what we normally see. Today, we got to witness the perfection of Winter. The cold world suddenly seemed fresh, in a way that it somehow hadn’t for some time. It felt clean and energized, recovered from the heat of summer and falls of autumn; a quiet tingling concealed an icy surface. Clear skies, calm waters and crystalline shores – it was the perfect winter’s day.
Matthew G. Huggins 