Lost in the Woods

I’m at home most of the time, which will come as a surprise to some people, but 16 years of blogging and 18 years of photography means that I have thousands of photos to post. Most of them are posted when I’m sitting on my couch! Also, I try not to post when I’m out and about, over the years I’ve had a couple of issues with strange people, so I’d rather that they don’t know where I am.

Anyway, I digress. I was meeting a friend for coffee last week, I was awake early (as usual), so I went off exploring. We were meeting in The Gourmet Parlour in Collooney, which is just down the road from Union Wood, so off I went. I told myself to stick to the main paths, I’ve said before that I could get lost in a room! That plan went by the wayside when I was there!

It was a beautiful day; the sun was hot even though it was only 8am. The woods are always cooler though, the trees providing much-needed shade, and it’s so beautiful there. I was doing well until I spotted a beautiful clearing through the trees, with the light illuminating the flowers, so off I went investigating.

I saw the last of the bluebells, foxgloves and ferns, and it was just so pretty. I spotted some kind of animal droppings, so I decided to go a bit further to see if I would spot any wildlife.

I looked at my phone and saw the time was 8.40am and thought I’d better head back to the car. That was when the fun began! One tree looks very much like the rest, and I was well and truly lost. I walked in the direction that I thought I’d come, but I spotted a house, and I’d parked no where near any houses, there was also a barbed wire fence which stopped me in my tracks.

I turned around and went another way, stumbling though the fir trees, and falling down ditches. At one point I was up to my waist in stinging nettles, and my trousers weren’t stinging nettle repellent – ouch! That reminded me of a time when I was a child, I’d fallen over in a field full of nettles and came home covered head to foot in rashes. I got a wallop from my mother on that occasion!

Anyway, I phoned my friend to tell her that I was lost and that I’d be there as soon as possible, when she stopped laughing, she offered to come and find me, but then both of us would probably have been lost.

Panic was starting to set in, until I remembered that I have the Pokémon Go app, and I’d parked at a Poké stop, so I fired up the app and finally managed to find my car! I made it to the café about ten minutes late, and my friend helped me pick the bits of tree out of my hair!

I can’t remember a time that I’ve been to Union Wood and not got lost, and when I posted on social media it seems that I’m not alone. I wonder if it’s possible for some more way markings to be added to that walk. I’m worried to try it again, because I know it’ll be a case of history repeating itself.

I was never in as much need of a coffee as I was on that day. Apart from the day that I did the Lough Talt Walk, but that’s another story, and you can read about it here.