The wood between the worlds.

Great Railway Journeys I have  done  (5)

I cant really say that it is a great journey from Brighton to East Croydon, not like going all the way to St Pancras on First Capital Connect.I travelled on a frosty , sunny day. That should have been enough to suggest scenic views of field and woods bathed in winter light and shiny with frost but it just wasnt. Once again, the windows were so dirty that no photo would do actual justice to the charm outside. I glimpsed really pretty scenes between Wivelsfield and Haywards Heath, but may only tell you about them.

After Haywards Heath the recent snow melt had encouraged small pools to look like 'The wood between the worlds '  in the first Narnia story , in events order, 'The Magicians Nephew'. This part of the great Narnia Chronicles has always appealed to me. I have spent the last 50 years spotting 'woods between the world' from railway carriage windows. Todays one ,  was not quite right , as in the book it is not winter in the wood, but it had a narnian feel, albeit in a fleeting glance. My best Narnian 'wood between the worlds' is just south of the railway line after Burton Agnes and nearly at Nafferton , one of my other great railways Journeys. Here I record  that I wrote about it before Michael Portillo did, and I mean the Hull to Bridlington line.(see September Archive)

My search will continue. I am a devoted collector of views of the world as seen from the windows of trains, buses and cars. I am even thinking of taking a wash leather with me on my rural rides.

East Croydon meanwhile is as far removed from Narnia as Jadis was from victorian London. I love the new urgency of its approach now that the Tram links are completed. So I have taken my beloved spouse a la Bishop Baines standing as if waiting to go to Sutton.