[Sardy]

I'm on my fifth re-reading of The Lord of the Rings (with the intent of moving straight through all of the extended works right after over the course of 2009) For this reading, it's my first with my newly purchased harcover set illustrated by Alan Lee. One thought occurred to me in reading A Conspiracy Unmasked and The Old Forest.

Note: As I'm reading, I am referring to both Barbara Strachey's Journeys of Frodo and Karen Wynn Fonstad's The Atlas of Middle Earth.

When leaving Crickhollow for Rivendell, it's clear that the Hobbits wanted to remain undetected and therefore chose to avoid Buckleberry (the assumed first destination of the Black Riders) and didn't want to be seen crossing the Brandywine Bridge. By necessity Frodo wisely chose to stay off the main road and avoid the North Gate. It's also clear that they are hoping (even expecting) to meet Gandalf on the East Road.

Why then wouldn't Frodo, et al, simply use the Tunnel Gate under the Hedge and---rather than entering blindly into the Old Forest---simply follow the narrow clearing between the east side of the Hedge and the Old Forest. This seems to be not just easier terrain to traverse than the Forest (and even the places where the Forest meets the Hedge would be easier to circumvent via brief sojourns into the woods than to stake their entire jourey through the dark forest) but is also a more direct route to the East Road.

One fear voiced by Frodo is that the East Road near the borders (near the Brandywine Bridge) might be closely watched. But even so, it would be easy enough for the Hobbits to veer east at the northern edge of the Old Forest, still a few miles south of the East Road, in order to pick up the road further along. Doing so would not only have saved time, but would have avoided the troubles of Old Man Willow and the Barrow Downs.

Now, of course I am aware that for the purpose of the story, it's much more interesting to throw the Hobbits into danger and strange encounters. I am just wondering, in such a thought out work, if there could be a reason to justify it within the context of the story?