Sunken tracks like the one here (in Brede High Wood) take thousands of years to get like this. Think of how many pairs of feet, horses hooves and farm animals have hit this ground to wear away soil and subsoil - and in this case even chalk base rock.
Although many of these have fallen out of use in the last couple of hundred years, most, like this one, are still passable and I find I get a great sense of 'belonging' when walking them.
Some people try to claim these are dried up stream courses. Not so. A stream will create a V shaped cut. Only many feet and glaciers create U shaped ones, and this is a little small for a glacier
Also, again like may other ancient paths and drove roads, this goes diagonally across a hillside so that the climb is not too steep for the walkers. Water would have cut a much more direct line.
I was in these woods on Wednesday, enjoying this path and some more modern ones. Some of the modern ones are believed to have been created by the Iron Age people, and used for transporting timber for the primitive furnaces.
Oh, and for a sense of scale, I'm nearly 6ft tall, and I can walk under that fallen tree in the foreground. With my hand raised, I slap it just below the centre.
