Cig Kofte - which literally means "raw meatball", but this is the began version made from (I believe) bulgur wheat and various spices. They may look a little odd but they were actually quite delicious, although not easy to eat in the car.

Here's the three of us with our Turkish food, which we ate in the car: both items were from takeaway places and there weren't many other seating options in the immediate vicinity. Erika here is having a spinach and feta gozleme. Not in shot here are the various accoutrements for the cig kofte - a half head of lettuce, some lavash wraps, some lemon wedges, some fresh mint, fresh parsley and a little pot of pomegranate (?) sauce. I think the idea was that you build your own wraps adding as much of each ingredient as you liked.

We had to drive through some rather dreary parts of London to get from Haringey to Epping Forest.

More grim roadside scenes.

...and here we are on arrival in Epping Forest.

The girls looking happy to be in the woods.

Erika climbing a tree.

Are these bramble flowers? Surprisingly pretty.

A very knobbly tree stump.

Loads of fungi all over Epping Forest - apparently more than 1600 species.

Also a nice surprise was the number of streams and little valleys that helped keep the landscape varied and interesting.

A crab apple tree.

One of the many streams which wind their way through Epping Forest.

Onto a more established track for a bit.

Some very characterful beech (?) trees.

This mushroom seemed to have just emerged from the soil - I thought it might possibly be some kind of bolete, but I couldn't get a good view of the underside of the cap to confirm, and didn't want to disturb it.

These look a bit like puffballs, but were quite small.

Entering Loughton Camp now.

We stopped for a while in Loughton Camp, for a coffee / hot chocolate break.

I laid down my poncho tarp as a ground sheet and we sat here for a while having our coffee / hot chocolate.

It was rather lovely.

The girls with their hot drinks.

The three of us with our hot drinks.

Our little "camp" in Loughton Camp.

After packing up, we took a wander round Loughton Camp.

Some really tiny fungi (a bit like miniature chanterelles in appearance) growing out of this patch of moss.

More of Loughton Camp.

Erika running around Loughton Camp.

The sign for Loughton Camp.

More of the earthworks of Loughton Camp, and the girls horsing around.

A nicely tree lined section of one of the embankments.

A plate fungus.

Heading away from Loughton Camp now, back towards the car.

Somebody had been den building!

More plat fungi.

Is this all one (beech?) tree?

An interesting cluster of little blobby fungus.

More plate fungus on a silve birch tree.

Tried to get a picture of the underside of it.

Getting close to the car again now - this bit of the woods had a strong smell of wild garlic, despite being a bit late in the season for it.

Back at the car, I got a can of shandy from the "Original Tea Hut" where we'd parked.

...and Erika had this rather terrifying looking slushie.