Note to self: forests

When embarking on Random Photography Mission (TM), don't do it in a huge forest an hour before sunset when no-one knows where you've gone. Forests get dark a lot quicker than open fields thanks to all the trees. They're also generally far less well signposted than roads. They also tend not to have very good mobile phone reception (trees again). These are all things that can lead quite quickly to becoming lost. Last night I decided to go on one of my afore-mentioned Random Photography Missions and after driving for a short while, decided Hedley Hall Wood was the place to go. It's near my old house and I used to walk the dog there occasionally. It wasn't the easiest place to navigate then and it doesn't get easier in fading light. Anyway, I'd walked the length of the 'main' area and taken a few photos, but remembered having found a spot ages ago that overlooked the Beamish Open Air Museum. Having not found the spot so far, I carried on into the more dense forest path that eventually leads out onto a farm track through the forest. It's at this time that I did get the feeling I may get lost, as the point at which the path emerges onto the bigger track is quite obscured and only remotely obvious when coming from the opposite direction to which I'd be returning. Nonetheless I carried on in the direction of Beamish Burn (I vaguely remembered going that way a few years ago) but the light really was starting to disappear being in dense forest so I turned round before finding the spot I was after (it was a LONG walk back even if I didn't get lost). Needless to say, on the way back I missed the path I needed and walked about a further half-mile or so before deciding I really was in the wrong place (the walled private forest and bridge I hadn't seen before gave it away). Time to turn back again and eventually I did find the little path marker I was after and it was then relatively straight-forward to get back to my car, very knackered. On top of all that, I didn't really get any particularly great photos. One or two decent ones, but as I've now noticed looking at them on a CRT at work, they're quite dark. Ah well...