Yesterday Nikki, Clarion, Butterfly (carrying Nye) and I walked from the camp site by the A21 to Bewl Water, a distance of almost 3 miles. On the way I collected a pocked full of sweet chestnuts. Some of these I teased from their bright-green-hedgehog casings with my boots, others were just lying around.
Squirrels haven't mastered the art of opening sweet chestnut casings as they are jut too spiky. However, in Essex, where there are also plenty of sweet chestnut trees, there are loads of grey squirrels and any loose nuts are hoovered up very quickly. Yesterday we didn't see any squirrels at all whereas on a walk in the Essex countryside there would have been lots.
The chestnuts are now roasting in the oven. I haven't heard any explosions yet. I did take the precaution of puncturing each one with a carving fork, but in my experience that doesn't always allow the egress of all teh water vapour produced.
