Today Tom and I set off walking really early from home to Perivale woods. It was another brilliant almost-summer day with a bright blue sky and occasional clouds resembling a piece of stretched cotton wool. Luckily mum had given me a key for the front gate (which she wasn't really meant to have but had forgotten to give back all that time ago..)and, as we arrived after our long walk there, it was definitely a relief to see that the it still fit into the lock. The woods haven't changed much since we last went - the old post-war hut still stands in the corner of the field. The horses are also in the paddock, grazing around the patch where there used to be a piece of cirrugated iron - whenever you lifted this up you'd find some slow worms hiding in the dirt. I was slightly nervous to walk through the gate to the woods as, technicaly, it could be seen as trespassing seeing as we weren't meant to have the keys and aren't members of the society to which the woods belong to anymore. However, both of us do have the intention of joining! Anyway, we walked up the path worn into the grass to the woods and through the brand-new wooden gate into the cool shade of the first oak trees on he outskirts. It was so strange and surreal to finally be there after all those years of reminiscing and dreaming about somehwere that had been such an important part of our childhood. The familiar damp woodland smell of the leaflitter on the floor and the way in which the light filtered through the green oak leaves all brought me back to when we were younger. I remember running through the narrow winding paths between the trees, with the crunch of dry twigs and leaves under my feet until finally reaching a burst of light in the clearing or one of the meadows. Tom and I continued walking until we finally reached the main meadow at the back which led to the secret pond where we'd spent so much time. The old bird watching hut was still there (and still smelt the same - like dry wood and dust)as well as the path leading to the island which was severly overgrown. It seems that, since we had last been there, the lake had dried up and been invaded by all these tall reeds. We heard some voices nearby and sprinted off back into the woods and up one of the old paths to the canal. Later, we realised that is was just some people walking nearby who weren't actually within the nature reserve (it just goes to show how on edge we were for the first hour or so..). The rest of the morning was spent walking every single path we had known as kids through the woods and surrounding meaadows. We went up to the top of the front meadow - something that had always been a mystery to us as kids as we never went there (and with good reason too as its only scrubland with a large old hawthorn bush in the middle - however, Tom did find an old horseshoe which should bring him good luck for uni!). And also through to the clearing where we used to sit and listen to the dawn chorus at 4am. Here we ate some sandwiches which I'd brought whilst thinking about how amazing it is to have such a beautiful palce in the middle of London - we both agreed that if we ever win the lottery we'll definitely become benefactors! Finally, we re-visited the old member's hut (to which I also had the key) and took one last look at the tiny dried up stream where we used to catch tadpoles in the holidays.
On the train journey back we went via Ealing Broadway and then walked home through the parks. At this point my feet really hurt so I took off my sock and shoes and walked home barefoot. Treading on the cool grass made such a difference to the pinching feeling of my converse. Today I realised just how important it is to treasure all the great things you did as a kid - doing this reminded me of how some of the simplest pleasures things in life are usually the most beautiful. As a final note, I would like to add that today was the day that we both decided to bring our kids to Perivale woods and let them do all the cool things mum let us do.