High Pike and Carrock With Company

Bank holiday Monday put our 'Weekly Walk' back to Tuesday to avoid all the trippers. Jay was joining us today for her first foray into the Lake District Fells, so we thought we'd stick to familiar territory that gave us plenty of options to alter the route to suit. So off we went up High Pike for a change, in wall to wall sunshine for the first time this year. Not too sure who the guy in the background was, but he didn't stop there long (and neither did we!)

 Jay's first visit to High Pike summit coincides with Breeze's second, and we've lost count of how many times we've been up there

 With beautiful weather, and everyone feeling like going a bit further, we headed across the bogs over Miton Hill and Round Knott towards Carrock.

 Breeze had no trouble crossing the bogs, in fact the smellier the better as far as she is concerned.

 Carrock Fell summit, a first for Breeze and Jay and another one to add to the many times for us again.

 A quick dip in Carrock Beck after our descent as we headed back to the car. The bast way to clean a spaniel - except there was more bog to come!

After all that exercise there is only one way to spend the afternoon, relaxing in the garden - if there is any room left on the bench that is.

Breeze With Ease & Fred

Just for a change there are no pictures of spaniels in this post. I rarely post pictures of James' horses because I rarely take any - mainly because I'm normally on them at the time. However, a new(ish) mobile phone means that a few snaps at the races (when I am obviously NOT on top) is easy. A beautiful day and a trip across the penines took us to Sedgefield this afternoon, where we had two runners. Of all of James' horses, these two have probably had more attention from me than most. Breeze With Ease (Breezey Wheezey), was a bag of nerves when he first came into the yard, and at the time, James was away, so I rode him daily for a while. He took a lot of patience and needed a quiet approach, but he really settled down. Now you know where the inspiration for a certain Young Ladies name came from!

 And Predatuer (Fred). This chap is a big powerful chaser, who has come back from a horrendous injury. When he started back in work, we thought he would never make it.

I am so pleased to say how wrong we were. He is loving his racing, and though today wasn't his day, he has done us proud on previous outings.

Roughton Gill

Off for our 'Weekly' (well that's the vague plan anyway) walk, and with wind gusts of 40 odd mph, we decided to leave the fell tops to the idiots and head for one of our favourite local spots, where in just under 6 miles you can wander up the valley

 to the mine workings at the head of the valley known as Roughton Gill.

 Where, after a brief stop for a spot of sustenance and to admire the route we have just taken, we head back down, albeit on a slightly higher path.

Not a soul in sight. Just how we like it.

Achieving The Impossible?

At the tender age of 45, I still haven't quite mastered the art of biting my tongue. Looks like Breeze is a quicker learner than me!

The Hot Tub Arrives

I know I've always said that we want our garden to blend into the local environment, so we don't want man made structures an unnatural additions, but sometimes a little bit of luxury makes even the most determined minds sway. So after a bit of a wait, our new 'hot tub' has arrived. This is a real Cumbrian hot tub.

(picture taken yesterday during a hail storm!)

Someone didn't take much persuading to give it a try...................

                                      and had a great time, jumping in and out all afternoon, splashing about, generally having fun

 So now after the daily walk when this is a dry day............

 we can end up with a nice clean spaniel. She's so pleased with her new bath, she's brought us some treasure in to say thank you (that's leaves to you and me but she thinks they are treasure).

Hot tub kindly donated by J&G - it had been in one of their fields since the previous owner used it as a water trough (allegedly). Delivery courtesy of Andrew, once his loader tractor was repaired, hence the delay!

Souther Fell

In an effort to keep up the momentum of doing a bit more 'proper' walking, we had decided to head up Souther (pronounced Sooter) Fell today. Another which is very close to home and always nearly deserted. It's also always wet underfoot, and today turned out to be pretty Breezey on top too. Breezey enough to knock us nearly off our feet.

 I have neither the patience nor the gear to be a good photographer, but faced with 100mph Breeze - both dog and wind - all I ever seem to manage these days are a white dot on the landscape.

 It wasn't really photo weather anyhow, fairly damp in low cloud and drizzle, but wonderful to be out all the same.

 Breeze is certainly getting the hang of Fell Walking, although she's more of a Fell Runner than Walker. Perhaps I should enter her for a few of the fell races this summer?

 Did I mention it was Breezey today?

Oooops!

The forecast was for strong winds. They were right, gusts of over 40mph overnight, power cables down causing a power cut through the night (not unusual here mind!). Waking up to find this was the only damage was a pleasant suprise. This is one heavy bird table and it has never moved before.I bet that gave the frogs a fright.

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Happy Birthday Breeze. 1 year old today.

 By way of celebration we thought we'd give her the chance to get very wet for a change. After a month of dry weather, she was ready for a good soaking, and true to form, she was wet through within minutes. A quick pose on the way up to Bowscale Tarn - just to prove that when asked to, she does sit still.

 And again - posing for the camera and sitting still. She's learnt a lot in her first year!

 Mostly though it's full speed ahead, well all the time unless told otherwise.

 All this space to charge around in, and snow to play in as well. What more could a pup ask for on her birthday?

 How about a tarn to paddle in, Bowscale Tarn in fact.

 A quick dip

 And off she goes again, down the other side of the fell, and if you look closely at the slopes of Carrock Fell opposite, you will see a change in colour - that's a rainbow in the valley below us.

The First of Many?

Working on the 5 minutes per month rule, we have been careful with how much exercise Breeze is given. As everything she does is at 100 mph, it would be very easy to just keep going and pay for it in years to come. Consequently all of her 'fell' walks to date have been on the slopes only.

That was the intention today, but as she is nearly 12 months, we decided part way up High Pike, that the summit seemed like a good idea.

So, her she is celebrating her first summit with her Dad. It was bitterly cold, but who cares? It's no good living in Cumbria if you don't like weather, and you can put money on it, if the sun had been on the top, so would a few more people.

A lot of Brown

It is fair to say that everything around here is very brown. Nothing has started to grow and the fields are as brown now as they were in January. Everything in the garden is brown, including the moss on the walls, so photographing the odd visitor (most of our visitors are odd :-) ) is proving very difficult as they all blend in. So with a bit of false colour added to try and brighten up some very dull shots, and then some nice red circles so you know which brown bit to look at, here are a few of our latest visitors.

This Tree creeper is an infrequent visitor on the tree, but must be nesting close by as there seemed to be quite a bit of moss collecting going on.

 We seem to get a few Mistle Thrush nesting nearby each year, and here they are doing their annual forage in the field behind. It's hardly suprising to note they are quite a bit later this year

And not technically our visitors as we were walking on the estate this morning, but such a rare sighting in daylight (and a crap picture), we stood for quite a while watching two badgers busy foraging on the slopes about 100 yards from us. For a long while they were oblivious to our presence. Shame I only had the phone to try and capture the moment.

Blowing In The Wind

There's only one thing to do with snow drifts, that's play in them

The Abominable Snow Dog

Later in the day, we went back out and did a bit of training for Search and Rescue

Vernal Equinox?

Ok, so I'm a couple of days late, but three mornings this week we woke up to this (Sun, Mon and Tues)

Today for a change we woke up to this.

It has been blowing and snowing all day, most of the roads in the area have been closed at some point and Breeze has been having a hooley chasing snowflakes. The Joys of Spring!

Hedging - Part Two

If a job is worth doing, it's worth finishing. So having cleared all the unwanted growth in J & G's hedge and given J a few days to lay all the thorn we left in place, it's time to reconvene for a bonfire party. This time Alan joins us with his silage grab.

Get Out Your Bucket And Spade

Someone seems to like the seaside

Steady Tiger

How to Dry a wet Spaniel

Following a walk on High Pike and a few swims in Carrock Beck - in freezing temperatures.

Hedging

Another working party suddenly happenend this week. John and Gill  have decided to lay the hedge in one of their paddocks in preparation for refencing. So that's about 30 years growth to fell before the thorn can be laid. Many hands make light work, and with a good 150 yards to do, many hands make much firewood too.

A well earned break for the workers - well three of the four at least

Gold Rush

A new record for us today, around 70 Goldfinchs in the garden for a good lot of the morning. Twenty odd is not unusual, but a charm this big was unbelievable.

It made for good viewing.