Halnaker tree tunnel

This location had been on my to-do list for some time, but I had been waiting for a decent autumn day. The previous year ended abruptly when wind and rain blew most of the leaves from the trees well before my planned visit. This year was heading the same way. We had already experienced one bad night and with more forecast the following week, I decided to go on the next sunny day.

It was a long drive and as predicted, I was held up in bad traffic from before I reached Worthing until I was almost in Chichester. It was nearly two and a half hours before I approached the parking spot – a small triangle of grass at the bottom end of the public footpath. I had done my homework by “driving” past in Street View and I knew there was enough space for half a dozen vehicles. I asked my husband what I should do if it was busy, but he pointed out it was a Monday and not to worry.

I could see the cars well before I got close. The grassy triangle had been churned into a sea of mud and there were actually a couple of vehicles waiting for people to leave. I carried on up the lane to find somewhere to turn round. There were no other parking spots and in fact, one of the articles I had read suggested parking in the village about 1.5 miles away! I knew I couldn’t walk that far, but at the last moment, I saw a couple of cottages with some rather generous parking outside. I pulled over, changed into my wellies, grabbed my gear and disappeared up the road before I was spotted. As I walked past the green I counted more than 25 cars.

It turned out that I had chosen to visit during a school holiday and with bad weather forecast, families were making the most of one decent day. I must have seen literally hundreds of people up and down the ancient track over the next few hours. The image I had planned clearly wasn’t an option, so I walked to the top of the hill and spent a few hours by Halnaker windmill. The mill itself wasn’t very photogenic, but the view was lovely and it was nice to be out in the fresh air surrounded by nature.

I only started heading back to the car as the sun was setting. Virtually all the visitors had vanished, as had the lovely light that I had previously seen pouring through the sides of the tunnel. It was dark inside, save for one bright patch at the end and with a couple of local dog walkers approaching, I rushed to set up my gear to get the image shown above.

Thankfully there was nobody home as I got back to my car, so changing out of my muddy boots, I set off on the long journey home. Not wishing to get held up in traffic again, I headed north towards the South Downs national park. I had the radio playing as the sun set behind, lighting up the landscape in a spectacular fashion. It was dark by the time I got home, but all in all, it had been a very worthwhile outing.