Catching up on 2025 and February 2026

It's a while since I updated my blog, I have been so busy enjoying myself that there was not enough time to write - well that's my excuse. If I told you I had been telling my human to write the blog you might not believe me.

Last year was pretty much the same sort of super doggy stuff that I normally do, so walking and running in Wales and various different parts of England. I often only run short distances but if I am not slow and want to carry on my human lets me run as far as I want. The human seems very good at judging when I feel tired (although I sometimes suspect that he's the tired one) and now I generally have a few days off between runs.

My humans went away for a couple of weeks in the late summer to a place where they said it would be too hot for me (and apparently I would not have been allowed on an aeroplane) so I went to stay with some different humans.  I had a great time with the new humans, sent some pictures to my 'normal' humans and generally did not miss being at home.

Not so much beach time in 2025 but enough active time to keep making me sleep. A notable new experience was a visit to Chester Cathedral to see the Christmas trees, I had never been to the cathedral so that was new and fun for me. I was very good and did not water any of the trees having been told that is not the thing to do in a cathedral.

      Chester Cathedral, December.

More Christmas lights - Dolgellau. 

The humans have bought me a backpack, not for me to carry my stuff but a backpack to carry me.  I have had a couple of rides in it but I am not convinced about it yet. The humans assure me it is a great idea and will be very useful on longer walks and bike rides, well I will report back in due course on that idea. 

Do I look convinced that this is a great idea?

I had a very nice snowy walk in December on the hills near Bala,  although it was foggy in town there was lovely sunshine once I had climbed the first hill. As the photo shows it made Arenig Fawr appear as though it was part of a very high mountain range.

... more adventures on the way soon....

 

New Year 2025 - January and February

 I hope everyone had a fun time at Christmas, I went to visit my doggy nephew Toby. That was great fun, he’s much younger than me but I was able to chase him around until he was worn out. 

As aways playtime around Christmas produces some interesting things, this was puzzling but seemed to excite the humans, I didn't quite understand why these things (little bikes) were wizzing around the track (or sometimes leaving the track on the bends).

I had a bit of an awkward fall off a hospital bed when visiting a human later on in January and that put me out of action for a couple of weeks as I hurt my leg. Getting back to fitness has taken a lot longer than usual, my human is only letting me do short walks and occasional gentle runs until I am fully fit. I’ve managed to get over to Hilbre Island and to Delamere Forest so far. Some days I feel really tired and when I am feeling like that my favourite pastime is sleeping. I had a short walk at Llandegla with one of my humans while the other one went biking, I was not happy that I couldn’t chase the bike.

There was a pleasant walk to the pub for treats and a drink (water for me),as you can see from the photo I really expected to be given some beer but, nope, I wasn’t allowed any.

That beer you are drinking 

looks really good 😊 

I had a great walk in Delamere Forest away from the crowds so I had lots of time off the lead. When I am off the lead it means I do a lot more exploring and running around without having to try and drag my human with me. The first part of the walk was to a hill called Old Pale Hill, from the hill there is a fantastic view over seven counties, five in England as well as Flintshire and Denbighshire in Wales.

An easy stroll from Old Pale Hill led back into the forest where I encountered Wallace and Gromit, sadly no cheese was available as I'm partial to a nice Wensleydale (or any sort of cheese!).

During the second week of February I had a decent run, with my human, it was mainly off-road and I feel that my injury is fully better now.  The day after my run I had a great walk in Llandegla Forest, the weather was very cold, overcast and there were some flurries of snow but a fantastic chance to be off the lead and do plenty of exploring.

Typical scampering and sniffing at LLandegla!

My walk in Delamere Forest and to Old Pale Hill involved walking on a long distance trail called the Sandstone Trail which is a 55 km trail from Whitchurch to Frodsham in Cheshire.  I have walked and run on most parts of the Sandstone Trail over the years including the area around Bickerton and Duckington in the south of Cheshire so it was nice to go back to the area a few days before my birthday. The hill provides great view over to the Pennines in one direction and over the Dee valley and the Clwydian Hills in Wales.  

Bickerton Hill 93 metres above sea level.

On the way up to the hill fort at Maiden Castle 
and waiting for slow humans!

After being in the countryside one day the next day proved to be a contrast with a visit to town, in this case Chester.  As often happens this involved a bus journey, something I am quite used to, one of the human passengers on the bus was eating a lovely looking sausage roll, I gave them my long stare in an effort to have some of the lovely smelling food.  Alas this did not work and they scoffed the whole lot.

 A very cold wait for the bus followed by a much warmer ride on the bus...but no sausage roll.

Happy Birthday to me, what an exciting day it was.  I got some birthday cards, one of which was edible, and some special birthday treats to celebrate my 11th birthday.

Here's me after my run, I had just had a shower to clear away the mud, I was really, really muddy after the run and my human was a bit mucky too!

My birthday run was in Delamere, I love running there and there's a picture of my route below. Not a bad pace for an 11 year old trail-hound!

           It was a very enjoyable run although the weather was overcast and quite cold, roundabout 3 degrees but quite a strong cold wind on the top of the hill so we didn't stay long on the hill.

The picture of me on the bench is me admiring the non-view and the wooden boar is one of Sandstone Trail markers directing to Frodsham one way (north) and Whitchurch the other way.  I've been photographed here lots of times and it was nice to be back. Although the view from the hill was not good the downhill scamper to the Sandstone Trail led to more interesting things as well as lovely muddy bits and lots of other dogs to meet and exchange sniffs. 

Apparently I am off on my holidays soon, a bit of a mystery as my humans are not coming with me, strange...

Wags and woofs,

Dexter

2024 - The rest of the year.

 Well it's already December, the year has flown by so I thought I would keep you updated on all my activities this year.  It can be a puzzling time for a terrier as my humans have brought some trees into the house, they have decorated them with lights and shiny things, very strange behaviour indeed.  And to create even more confusion for me I am under strict instructions that these strange trees have not been installed for me to have a wee against, as if!

As usual I had some great walks and runs with my humans as well as a wonderful and fun stay with my Auntie and Uncle.  I stayed with them while my humans went to France, I would have been much too hot in France and anyway I think saying with my Auntie is much more fun.

The weather was strange during this year but I was able to make the most of the good days and visit some of my favourite places.

 

Spring was on the way on this run on the Mawddach Trail and around Coed Abergwynant. Later in the year I did the same run and there was lots of storm damage so I had to climb over and under fallen trees.  In May I had a walk in lovely warm weather at Penmaenpool, as you can see from the photos is was a lovely day with a coffee stop at The George pub.

         

A sunny day on the hills above Llyn Tegid and Y Bala gave me chance to have a gentle walk and enjoy lots of interesting smells, the view across the lake over to Arenig Fach was lovely and clear.  When I get to a summit or high point on a walk or run my human always gives me a little doggie-treat so it makes the uphill scampering well worthwhile.

One of my October runs was a shortish run of 7.6 km and a total ascent of 447m , I love these runs because my human is so slow on the steep bits that it is really easy for me. I only have to run fast on the downhill bits! The photo below was taken at the top of Moel Famau, after having run from Foel Fenlli, where I had a treat and a look round.

In July we had tried to do a longer run from Penmaenpool south onto the hill and back via Coed Abergwynant, due to some dodgy navigation from my human this resulted in wading through a bog and general faffing around without completing the planned circuit.  Fortunately my human got his act together so on 24th October we did a lovely circular run of 9.2km and 312m ascent on the correct route, which, as you can see from the photo gave some stunning views back towards Dolgellau and Cadair Idris.  From the highest point of the run there a views over the Mawddach and west to Barmouth.

Late in the year I got to do some running around on some super beaches and the pictures below show how lucky I was to get decent weather for my super-scampers.

(above) Traeth Llanddywn (spot me in the picture) and (below) Ynys Llanddwyn.

 Morfa Dyffryn (above) in October and the Dee Estuary at West Kirby (below) in November.

I have been able to do a lot of walking and running at Delamere Forest this year, my longest run was on the Sandstone Trail in November, I ran 15km with 321m of ascent and wasn't the slightest bit tired, my human was worn out by the end of the run as he thought I would not run very far that day, but I just wanted to keep going.  Most of the run I was off the lead so that was an added bonus! Here's a picture of me on one of the Sandstone Trail markers.

With lots of wags and woofs, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Nadolig Ilawen a Blwyddyn newydd dda.

Dexter.

2024 - January and February

 Well here I am at the start of my tenth year and it has been quite a good start to the year with some running and walking including a very misty trip to Moel Fammau in January.  My human is slowing down quite a lot, especially on the uphill sections, it was a run of 8.5 km with quite a lot (296 metres) of ascent.  I waited for my human to catch up and admired the view...of mist. 

It was well worth the effort and was not at all busy on the hill, a bonus was the lack of sheep so I had much more time off the lead than I usually do on this hill.

I continued to run, but now I have at least one or two days break between each session, many of my runs are short runs of around 5 or 6 km.  I help my human with his interval training, this involves 10 sprints of 100 metres with 100 metres of slow running in between each one. this is followed by 2 sprints of 200 metres and another lot of 100 metre sprints.  I love this because my human starts to get really tired and I can outpace him easily by the end of the sessions.

February started off very well with a trip south to Herefordshire for a few days, stopping off for lunch and a short walk at Church Stretton on the way. 

Carding Mill Valley, Church Stretton.

 

I stayed near Ledbury for a few days in a pub where dogs were made very welcome and whilst in Herefordshire I visited Hereford. I had a lovely walk around the city and went inside the cathedral for a look around (I was allowed in as long as I was carried).  From Hereford I travelled over to Ledbury for more wandering and a visit to a pleasant coffee shop. The weather was lovely, it was exceptionally mild and sunny for the time of year. 

February sunshine at Hereford (above) and Ledbury, Church of St. Michael and All Angels.

I did one run in Herefordshire, it was a fairly flat but muddy run of 6 km on fields and through a cider orchard.   On the way back home I stopped off in Ludlow for a wander, I visited St. Laurence's Church which I last visited in August 2014, a lovely peaceful place where I relaxed and listened to the organ music. It is a very old church dating back to the 11th century and very welcoming to dogs and humans.

Then, the most exciting part of the month for me, it was my birthday on 16th February, I was ten years old and excited to get a new toy for my birthday, a super walk by Llyn Tegid and a special doggy birthday cake.

Wags and woofs, 

Dexter.

2023 Update on my year

My year got off to a great start with lots of short walks in different places, I don't mind short walks, I just like being out and about, although I do prefer to have a lie-in after breakfast if possible. Quite a lot of my short walks seem to involve a coffee stop, I'm not allowed to drink coffee but love going to places where I can meet more humans and be made a fuss of.  Sometimes I meet other dogs but I generally don't make a fuss over them.  

So where did I go in 2023?  Well I covered quite a lot of miles, from Kent in the  south to Cumbria in the north.  Of course a lot of time was spent in Cymru, my favourite place in the whole world.

Many of my winter walks and runs are in Cheshire and the Wirral, I have had a few walks from West Kirby over the sand to Hilbre Island which is just 1.8 km offshore from West Kirby, one of my walks was with my nephew, Toby the terrier, he's from Buckinghamshire so he's quite posh.

It was very cold out on the sand so I was wearing a very smart new coat!  

This walk can only be done when the tide is out and before it starts to come in as the islands are surrounded by deep water. Later in February I was back at West Kirby for a walk along the Wirral Way to Hooton.  This was a great day out, I got the train to West Kirby and the walk took place in glorious sunshine.  Inevitably my human stopped a few times for coffee which is always time for a treat and a drink for me.  I was lucky to get some lovely winter sunshine for one of my local runs as well as a trip to Stowe to watch some small humans running in the schools cross-country races.  I'm happy with the cold in wintertime but I really do not like going out in the rain.

So  all-in-all a great start to 2023 which got even better with a trip to the Lake District in March.  I was a bit annoyed that one on my humans had gone away on a course on my birthday and had been mountain running while they were away...I was told I couldn't go along because Youth Hostels do not allow dogs.  A poor excuse methinks, and anyway my human is far to old to be in a 'youth' hostel.  But, moving on, what a great trip to the Lake District, really sunny and dry but quite cold. We did some runs that I have done before, you will see from the photos below how good the weather was.

The first three photos are on the run to Ullock Pike above Bassenthwaite Lake.  The views were fantastic over to the Isle of Man, the Mourne Mountains and the Scottish Borders.

 

Then these two on a smaller hill called Dodd which is an easy run from where we were staying:

Bassenthwaite Lake from Dodd summit

                    Me admiring the view towards Keswick...

As well as running on the hills in Cumbria I had some great walks in Grizedale Forest and at Loweswater,  Loweswater is quite an isolated lake in the north west of the Lake District with very few humans there on the day I went, rain just started as we finished the walk so I jumped back into the car and then off for lunch. 

I didn't get to do much running after leaving the Lake District as my human running buddy had damaged his leg so walking was the main exercise for a few weeks.  One of my walks was around a castle in Kent, I've never visited Kent so yet another part of the world to add to my list of places visited. Here's a picture of Scotney Castle.

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/kent/scotney-castle

The year continued with plenty more running and walks in different places, there was a very hot part of the year so my humans did not take me out at the really hot times of day but I did manage to get out and exercise.  I carried on with  running when I could and as always had some lovely runs and walks in Gwynedd. 

So a lovely walk by the Afon Treweryn one day, then on another day a walk to see a steam locomotive that could run backwards or forwards but I couldn't tell which end was the back !

Here I am at a lovely spot overlooking the Mawddach, it was a sunny day in May but not too hot for a brisk scamper:

 

I am a very modest little chap but I have to tell you that I won lots of rosettes at the Bala Dog Show....

Powis Castle made for a lovely day out and a walk in September.

As always, lots of wags and woofs,

Dexter