A Midsummer Night's Dream
Many years ago, in the early 1970's my wife Chris and I were still only engaged to be married. We liked to go camping and hiking and this is the story (true in the main, but parts of which I can't be certain) of one instance when we went up in the woods to camp one weekend.
We liked to get away for the isolation and the more isolated the better. I knew the area in general but not in detail. A friend had given me a map showing a drivable trail where I could turn off and head off deeper into the woods. He didn't know exactly how far the trail went but he had gone there a year or so earlier, camping in a clearing next to a stream about a mile or two along the trail. We thought we might try the trail and maybe stop in the same clearing.
We set off on the Saturday morning hoping to set up the camp before lunch. We had made good time, the traffic being light on the way and saw the turnoff roughly where my friend had told me where it was. The trail was quite narrow and I wondered what I could do if I met another vehicle coming the other way. The trail looked like it wasn't used much so I kept my fingers crossed this wouldn't happen. The trail wasn't difficult to drive and in fact was a pleasant journey. We had been going for a while and had already gone further than the two miles I expected, to reach the clearing.
"It can't be far now" I told her.
He must have been mistaken about being only a mile or two. It was another half an hour before we reached the glade. The problem was there was no stream.
"We must have taken the wrong track" Chris said.
"It doesn't matter, this is a pleasant area anyway and we have easily brought sufficient water for the weekend, we don't need a stream".
The glade or small clearing was indeed a pleasant area for camping. "Do you want to explore a little or would you like some lunch first?" I asked.
"Perhaps we can set up the tent and everything first, have a half an hour walk, then have lunch".
"Sounds like a plan" I said.
We set up the tent, threw in the sleeping bags and left the rest of the gear in the car.
We set off walking along the same track going further into the woods. "I wonder how far the trail leads" she said. "We'll have to come back another time and drive it or see if we can find some local maps in the last village we passed."
It was a warm day in August and with the light filtering through the trees it made for a relaxing walk. We passed a footpath leading off to our left and considered detouring along it. "Let's press on and leave that to explore tomorrow" Chris said.
We had gone perhaps another half a mile when a middle-aged couple appeared from behind a clump of bushes. They were carrying a basket, which was over flowing with mushrooms.
"Would you like some mushrooms?" the lady asked.
"Are they safe?" I asked back. "You can never be too careful of mushrooms gathered in the woods"
They both laughed and said that they had been collecting mushrooms in these woods for years. We gratefully accepted their gift and collected them in our baseball caps.
"These types of mushrooms are best eaten raw on their own or perhaps in a salad".
They drifted off further into the woods so we turned back and head for the camp.
"Where did they come from?" asked Chris.
"They must have come along the trail from the other direction or maybe there are other paths leading off from this trail."
Back at camp we had lunch and got comfortable. I was hoping for a kiss and cuddle session and maybe this could even be the time she let me 'go all the way'. It wasn't to be, she came from a very strict catholic family and had always maintained she wanted to save herself until she was married. No amount of persuasion had changed her mind so far. The kiss and cuddle session got very hot but not as hot as I wanted. We smoked a joint and all was well with the world. We lay back and listened to the sound of the woods, birds and wildlife.
Dinner time came around and we cooked up some sausages. When we had finished Chris reminded me that we should have had the wild mushrooms we were given. I had the first one and remarked how lovely they were, like no other mushroom I had ever had. Chris agreed and within a short time we had finished the lot of them. "Can you remember where we were when we saw the couple picking mushrooms?" I asked.
We smoked another joint, at least she wasn't saving herself for marriage to do that! Happy in the moment. "Fancy a walk? "Chris said.
"It's about eight o'clock" I reminded her.
"It doesn't get dark until about ten o'clock at this time of the year, we have plenty of time."
We set off to walk, the effects of the joint making us giggle about our adventure. We were approaching the path on our left, a short way before the rendezvous with the mushroom couple.
"Can you smell that? Someone is having a joint and I think it's coming from along that path."
We walked along the path for just a short way, rounding some bushes it went uphill sharply, pretty well hidden by bushes and shrubs. We came over a crest and looked down on a group of people circling a smoking fire. The smoke was drifting towards us and it was this we this that we could smell, and made us think it was someone smoking a joint. They were burning the refuse from a crop of marijuana. The people and the fire were in a large depression in the ground almost like the crater of a small volcano. The centre of the depression was clear of vegetation other than grass, boulders and large rocks. Surrounding the clearing were trees and bushes, typical woodland.