On the second day of May in the year 2020 at the end of the first month in lockdown I tried to go up Christmas Tree Path. I have never seen anyone on that path, or in that part of Wapley woods. Only Muntjack.
I can see the route from my bed. Over the fields to Brick House Farm, down the road to Combes Moor, and up Wapley Hill along Combes Moor Cutting.
As far as I know, none of the paths or tracks on Wapley Hill have been named; so I have named them myself. They tend to be cleared only when forestry workers need access, and then left to become overgrown until needed again.
The top part of Christmas Tree Path has not been needed for at least ten years. The lower part may have been needed five years ago. Self seeded Christmas trees have grown at delightfully random places on it among the long grass and brambles. Among the mature pines and in the clearer spaces it is always damp here: It is a steep slope and it faces North. The few bluebells on this side of the hill will be the last to come into flower.
Last year I went all the way up Christmas Tree path to the Hill Fort. The top part has a stony cutting on one side and is surrounded by coppice sized beech trees. Two of the trees have fallen making it necessary to crawl underneath. I have found tiny fossils in the Ludlow type Silurian rock of the cuttings. At the top it rejoins the dog walking paths accessible from the carpark.
This year I couldn’t get through the thick tangled vegetation half way up Christmas Tree Path. So I turned back.
Treasure is my name for large well formed deposits of horse manure. I collect it in a bag to take back to go on my vegetables in the garden. A large horse must have been here in the last few days, possibly the one who lives alongside the road between Combes Moor and Coombe. I found and and bagged the treasure before I got back to the bottom of Butterfly path and Black Quarry.
I also bagged a second load of treasure along the Coombes Moor Cutting. A rucksack full of loot.