Epping Forest
Just when I thought there wouldn’t be any surprises for a while…
“Wait, what – a forest?”
“Yes,” he said. “Epping Forest. You haven’t been?”
“I haven’t heard of it!”
“Here.” He signaled over to my laptop, and I stepped aside. He leaned over the keyboard and opened up the page to Google Maps. “You can go by tube. Maybe get off at Woodford. Loughton is better. Yeah, get off at Loughton.”
Sunday morning, I woke up to a gray ceiling over the city. It was lightly drizzling, too, just how I like it. I had slept in my running pants and sweatshirt and socks so that I would have less steps deterring me from getting up and going to this forest I haven’t heard of. Decided to leave my wristwatch at home. Have no need for it today (I could look at my phone if I really had to). It was cold and overcast and misty. Good time to run as any.
It felt strange taking transportation to go running, but I was in no shape to run the 45 kilometers (approx. 30 miles) it would take to get there. Too bad the Tower Hill station was closed, and too bad the Central Line was experiencing problems that delayed the trains at each stop for too long a time. In the two hours it took to get to Loughton in Zone 6 (a ride that should have taken all but 30 minutes), the thought of turning back crossed my mind more than once. Was this really worth it? I could still go running without having to go that far. Maybe I’ll come back when everything’s working as it should. Nevertheless, I stayed on the tube, even going overground a couple of times to take buses since the train stopped running altogether at some of the stops.
Got off at Loughton. The man at the station told me, “See that roundabout? Take the middle road just there and keep going. You will pass a police station on your left. Just keep going, and you’ll be in the forest.” So I walked to the roundabout and took the middle road, Station Road. This road keeps going, and suddenly, I found myself at the edge of a forest in London.
It was worth it. Tall trees, wet ground covered in infinite leaves. All the proper colors are there – mahogany, burgundy, tan, the red-orange and yellow shades of winter foliage, the bright and dark greens of moss. Many of the trees are bald, but the stems are thick enough to form a canopy. After 5 minutes of walking, I couldn’t see anything but forest anymore. I laughed out loud by myself for a few minutes, a genuine laugh. A secondary thought: How would I get back? I made a mental shrug and walked deeper. I would see a stream run across my path every so often. This is marvelous. It started drizzling again.
At first, when I was sure there wasn’t anyone around, I rehearsed a couple of songs for the musical, but again I laughed when I reached the line I’m a little lamb who’s lost in the wood. The Gershwins weren’t half bad sung in the forest, actually. It seemed to fit. After a couple of rounds of Embraceable You, I decided to run. I ran on the pebbly pathway at first, maneuvering away from horse droppings but splashing the puddles. After a while I veered off path. I even slipped a couple of times while trying to climb over tree trunks that have fallen over, covered in moss and low shrubbery. I laughed again as I found myself catching my fall my with hands, my gloves now wet. It was still raining, but I took my hood off. I leaped over some shallow and very narrow streams. Once, I underestimated the depth of the water and found my feet completely submerged. My socks were drenched and so were my feet inside. For a moment, I thought about calling it a day, but who am I kidding? So I walked/jogged/ran for the better part of a few hours. I would run on muddy soil and then rinse my shoes on puddles of water. My once-white socks now matched the ground. I was happy, felt only good things. It started getting dark and the rain got harder for a little bit. I realized then I was lost, had no mobile signal, and the sun had set. I didn’t mind. I would have stayed that way for the whole evening if I didn’t have an early class the next day. I walked for about a half hour more, unwillingly listening for the road that ran through the forest so that I could follow it back to town. And wouldn’t you know – I found my way back.
I would put it in my Top Ten Sundays, if I had a Top Ten Sundays. Coughing a little today, with a sore throat. Completely worth it.
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