Epping Forest: Loughton to Theydon Bois
16 November. Fifteen of us started out from Loughton station and I was delighted to see three of our members in our group who had just returned from India where they had been trekking in Sikkim.
Our morning route took us via Connaught Lake and to my surprise, just as we had arrived by the lake, we were joined by Ljuba, one of our newer members. She had missed us at the station and somehow managed to get help from a kind woman who took her by car to the lake, walked around with her and hey presto, fifteen became sixteen.
Lunch stop was at High Beach, where some picnicked before joining the rest in the King’s Oak Hotel Gastro Pub. At that point one of our members decided to leave our group to take an alternative route back to a different station.
Epping Forest is very biodiverse. During the Autumn one can marvel at the golden leaves on the Beech trees and silver birches as well as the rust-coloured bracken lining the side of the walk ways. The only downside is that some of the narrower paths, especially those going off-piste deeper into the woods, become non-existent due to the fallen leaves covering the ground like a thick carpet. But we managed to weave our way through it and luckily didn’t get lost or end up in the ditch at the bottom of the hill.
Once we had reached the fenced-in deer sanctuary we just about managed to spot a small herd far in the distance. Binoculars would have been useful.
From that point we made our way to Coppice Row which took us to our end destination, Theydon Bois. But before we went to the station, we stopped at the Queen Victoria pub for some liquid refreshments. Walking through sections of Epping Forest may not come close to what Sikkim had to offer our intrepid trekkers, but I believe that everyone had an enjoyable day out – luckily the weather held out, although a bit of sunshine would have helped to further enhance our day.
Sigrid – with thanks to all my fellow walkers and to Christine R and France for additional photos. [NB: Some of my own pictures were taken on my recce. There are already two reports on our website giving more details about this walk, i.e. October 2022 and October 2023]
