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The online diary
started life as a blog of my strange 'other life' with the dog. I
wanted to record some of the experiences that I had as a first-time dog
owner. To access the archive, click on the appropriate month.
The most recent articles are listed
separately.
You are most
welcome to send comments about any of the articles. Record your
comments via the Contact Me page.
A HARE-RAISING WALK!
Thu 01 May 2008
The
weather has improved, warmer temperatures and long sunny spells
indicating that spring has finally arrived. Not before time, this
year.
I took
Beattie out for a walk across the fields the other day on the first
really warm day I can remember this year. Once we were clear of the
roads, Beattie could walk off lead and she had a fine time nosing
about in the hedges and ditches.
I
decided that I was going to count all the different wild flowers in
bloom and managed to reach twenty by the time we arrived back home.
I never think that this part of East Anglia is particularly well
endowed with wild flowers due to the intensive agriculture – mainly
arable. Since the War, I suspect that the use of pesticides and
fertilizers on the fields has denuded the abundance of wild flowers
on the field margins. There are moves now to redress the balance
and many farmers are now being urged to leave a ten metre strip of
uncultivated land around their fields to improve the habitat for
small mammals and birds. This has a spin-off for the plant life as
seeds can germinate and flower where once they were eradicated. All
this is being done under the auspices of FWAG, the Farming and
Wildlife Advisory Group. Notices are displayed asking people to
avoid these areas, but many dog owners see them as public spaces
where they can walk their dogs in safety!
Our
way back was along an enclosed track, rather wet and muddy in places
and Beattie decided that walking through the deep puddles was much
more exciting than skirting around them – but then, she’s a dog!
Along
this track, we disturbed a creature that took off at great speed.
Even from behind I could see that we had put up a hare and
Beattie
set off in hot pursuit! Luckily, Beattie did not have the speed to
keep up with the hare, which soon escaped her attentions by shooting
off through the hedge and was gone! I was rather relieved as we
were heading back towards the road and there was no way I would have
been able to stop her as the ‘red mist’ was down, as
AT would say!
Once I
had caught up with her I decided that she had had enough excitement
for one day and put her on the lead for the rest of our walk!
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Comment from
sablonneuse
So Beattie likes
walking through puddles does she? So did I when I was a child didn't
you?
My garden has plenty of wild flowers but I don't know many names. It
seems that each year there is a different variety that is prominent.
This year it's a really pretty blue flower -a bit like dead nettle -
that is all over the grass.
Could it be ground ivy?
derek
GOOD CITIZEN
Thu 08 May 2008
When
Beattie and I turned up at Dog Club
this week, AT gave me a schedule of
training exercises for the
‘Kennel Club Good Citizen Dog Scheme
Bronze Award’. This rather grand title is, in fact, a scheme run by
The Kennel Club not only to encourage responsible dog ownership but
also well-behaved responsible dogs!
In
order for dog owners to take part in the scheme, their Dog Club
needs to be registered with
The Kennel Club as a suitable venue for
training and testing. AT has been
very keen to offer this facility at her club and, consequently,
applied for registration a little while ago. This has now been
approved and Beattie will attend a
day’s training and testing for the Bronze award in July.
Even
the Bronze award is a demanding test for both owner and pet. Dogs
must be wearing the correct identification tags; you have to
demonstrate fitting a collar and lead correctly; the dog must walk
to heel, be able to walk through a door or gate whilst under
control, be able to walk amongst other people and dogs in a quiet
manner, demonstrate a recall and perform a one minute stay
exercise. Owners have to demonstrate grooming and examination of
the dog whilst the dog remains still and quiet. Finally, there is a
test of knowledge of care of your dog and aspects of responsible
ownership. All in all, it’s quite a challenge!
This
week we began to practise a few of the exercises and
AT told me that Beattie performed
quite confidently, but that is because she has practised most of the
exercised as part of her Obedience training since she was four
months old.
It is
certainly a worthwhile scheme for dog and owner alike and I am
pleased that Beattie has the
opportunity to gain this award.
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KESWICK MOUNTAIN FESTIVAL WEEK
Fri 09 May 2008
Beattie and I are off to the Lake
District tomorrow for a week’s walking and also to support the
Keswick Mountain
Festival, which runs from Wednesday to Sunday.
One of
our aims will be to complete our North-Western ascent, which is a
fundraising activity to support Cockermouth Mountain Rescue Team.
This challenge has been organised by The Wainwright Society and many
members will be taking part. Beattie
and I are climbing Maiden Moor from Little Town, in the Newlands
valley. We will make a day of it by completing the popular walk,
‘The Newlands Round’, taking in High Spy, Dale Head and Hindscarth
before descending the ridge back to our starting point.
Another highlight of the week should be our first ascent of Scafell
Pike, England’s highest mountain. We are going with
JB, the Publicity Officer of the
Wainwright Society. It should be an exciting expedition!
I will
update the website with photographs on my return.
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KESWICK MOUNTAIN FESTIVAL WEEK REPORT 1
Tue 20 May 2008
We
came back from The Lake District at the weekend after a fabulous
week of walking. The weather was stunning up until Friday –
wall-to-wall sunshine in light breezes, just right for fellwalking.
During the week I climbed another eight Wainwrights bringing my
total to 186. Beattie raised her total to 92.
On the
first Sunday, we climbed Mellbreak (photos).
It was a steep ascent and it was a bit of a shock to the system as I
usually manage ascents quite well these days. I find that the best
way is to keep going if possible and establish a rhythm, but on that
day I had to keep stopping to recover! Unfortunately, the hazy
conditions spoilt the views, as you will see from the photographs.
Beattie picked up a tick today, which was lodged in her front leg.
It was a tricky job to extract it using the tick remover. Spring
and autumn are the prime time for ticks, so I was prepared for the
possibility and checked her out every night.
Although I was fortunate to have sunny conditions, away to the east
the storm clouds were building up and later in the afternoon I could
hear rumbles of thunder. There was a lightning strike on Grisedale
Pike and the heather on the fell side caught fire. Luckily, the
fire was soon brought under control.
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KESWICK MOUNTAIN FESTIVAL WEEK REPORT 2
Tue 20 May 2008
On Monday,
Beattie and I completed our
North
Western Ascents Challenge. This is an annual Challenge to raise money
for various charities; in this case, it was
Cockermouth Mountain Rescue Team.
They cover the area known as the North-Western fells. In the Wainwright
guides, a total of 95 ascent routes are described and each member was to
choose one of the ascent routes as a challenge.
I had chosen
the ascent of Maiden Moor from Little Town and I was planning to combine
this with a popular ‘horseshoe walk, known as ‘The Newlands Round’. This
nine-mile walk takes in Maiden Moor, High Spy, Dale Head with a descent over
Hindscarth. I had completed this walk with A
in 1999, but it was new to Beattie so she
would be able to claim four new fells (photos).
On High Spy, I
met up with a Society member on his own ‘challenge’. We walked together
down to Dale Head Tarn where he stopped for lunch.
Beattie and I were not eating until we had
completed the long slog up to the summit of Dale Head. There is a
magnificent view of the Newlands valley from here. We enjoyed the view
whilst eating lunch. I usually have cheese sandwiches –
Beattie has the cheese and I eat the
bread! It’s an arrangement that suits Beattie
very well on these long walks. She needs something tasty like cheese to
give her enough energy to complete the walk. At least, that is what she
tells me!!! As she doesn’t put on any weight, I cannot imagine it does any
real harm.
Walking up on
to Hindscarth, we met up with a couple of Society members and I did know
these two. Recognition was not instantaneous as we were all wearing sun
glasses, but D recognised Beattie before
me! She is becoming a minor celebrity on the fells!
This meeting
resulted in an invitation to dinner that night at The Wheatsheaf at Low
Lorton with some other Society members. It was a very jolly evening with
lively conversation and good food. We were joined by an inebriated fly, which
had contrived to go swimming in
Andy Beck's pint
of beer. He fished it our and the poor drunken fly staggered around the
table in a most amusing way before managing to jump from the table on to the
arm of the chair! Quite a feat!
Sadly,
Beattie was excluded from the fun as we
were in the dining room where dogs were excluded so she was banished to the
boot of my car. What a shame!
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Photographs taken with a Fuji MX-2900
Zoom or a Canon EOS 20D
Copyright © 2008 Derek Cockell All Rights
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