By coming out on to Pembridge Lane
,
we have reached point 4 of our walk, TL 332070.
We go across the road at the angle we have been walking and
through a wooden
kissing gate
with our friendly butterfly into woodland.
To the right of the kissing gate there is a deep ditch and
hedge bank following the line of Penbridge Lane. It must be an ancient track
.
The path takes us a bit rightwards.
Soon we pass
a yellow arrow
waymark with the number 5 in it.
Now we are on to boards covered in wire netting.
Before the end of boards there is a deep hollow: a ground
work
or
natural declivity, do you think?
After the boards, we keep straight until we see a butterfly waymark
and a heap of logs
ahead and on the left.
It is worth having a look round here because we shall be coming back this way and we want to be careful to retrace our steps rather than go on the path behind us to the left. It will be particularly tempting because we can see boards on the path similar to the ones we have just be walking on.
On the way back, the pile of logs
will be our cue
to fork left not keep straight on.
(If you want to take a short cut to Broxbourne East Car Park and the sculpture trail, turn hard left along that path on to the boards. The path comes out at Pembridge Lane. Go right along the bridle path that skirts the Lane and it will bring you to Broxbourne East Car Park.)
We pass on our right a pair of pine trees completely
upended.
Can their roots really have been as shallow as the earth clinging to the base?
A bit further on there is only a
yellow waymark on a tree
and
then more
boards
to lift us above the mud and over a spreamlet - Spital Brook.
Pine trees are closest to the path and there is a clean fresh smell in the air. It is reassuring to find that school-time associations of the aroma of pine with lavatory cleaners has not spoilt the fragrance for me.
The path takes a right angled turn to the left.
The post with the butterfly arrow is well to the right
but
a white spot on a tree ahead alerts us and
the path is well worn
and takes us on under a delicate canopy of soft green.
We are soon on to boards again
and
at first there are none of the usual wetland lily-like or reed-like plants.
We go over a watercourse
which
is either too insignificant for a name of its own or is a meander in Spital
Brook. There is no sign of it on the map.
The path curves right, well butterfly-marked,
and
we have a fence on our right and beyond it
the watercourse
with a steep bank above it.
We
come to two 2-barred bits of fence offset from each other. We go through and
straight on.
There is a bench
on
our right. It has distinctive blue and white paint markings.
We have reached the point where we are joined by the purple trail. From here on we want to follow the joint purple and butterfly trails.
(If you go off to the left here and follow the purple trail, you travel south and then take a big loop east and then go west to the Broxbourne Wood East Car Park, a point on the Sculpture Trail.)
We have reached point 5 on our walk.