EPPING FOREST.
ITS TOPOGRAPHY.
" I advise them to study large scale maps."
The Marquis of Salisbury.
The routes which I have attempted to describe in
the following pages lead through what I consider,
after roaming through the Forest all my life, to be
its most beautiful glades and thickets, but I by
no means claim to have exhausted its charms.
On the contrary, even with the intimate knowledge
of every part which I have acquired, I almost
daily light on some picture which I have never
before observed. Still more will the discerning
visitor be constantly tempted to diverge from the
lines I have indicated, and discover fresh scenes
for himself. That he will be amply repaid I do
not doubt.
I have, as a rule, avoided the more formal roads,
and sought the by-ways, where nature has had the
freest play, and in these, owing to the absence
of landmarks visible from the denser thickets, it
is difficult to give clear and unmistakable direc-
tions. The numerous tracks which intersect one
another are trodden out aimlessly by cattle, and
are consequently more confusing than useful as