Ending the year on a high note.

Just a few days of 2017 left but still chance for me to get a few more kilometres completed, and increase the elevation gained figure from the year total of 15,798 metres.  With good sunny weather Saturday was a perfect day for me to have a scamper in Delamere Forest, I've not been there for a while so it was great to get away from the misty lowlands and out into the sun.

Here's the view from Old Pale in the early morning sun, great to know that the days are getting longer know - hooray.  Then it was back home for a warm shower and a sleep, note the long hair, my 'Ewok' look!

Wags and woofs,

Dexter.

The year has flown! 2017 pictures.

Enjoying a rest - summit of Y Llethr  August 2017

This year has gone really quickly, my last post was in March so now it's time to bring you up to date with some of the things I've done in 2017 before the end of the year. Most of the year has been spent in Wales although I did get out to Yorkshire to run on the Pennine Way in the Grassington area.  I've had some great runs and walks in the hills and mountains.  As always I've managed to get out on the water for sailing, rowing and kayaking.  Being a lover of water I've improved my swimming so I'm happy to leap in and retrieve sticks that my humans throw in for me.

I covered over 800 kilometers walking and running with distances ranging from 6 to 16 kilometres and some ascents in excess of 800 metres on the higher hills.  It has been a great year for a terrier and the best way to explain it is to show you the photographs of my adventures. In July I walked to the summit of Cadair Idris (Penygadair) from Dolgellau then along the ridge eastwards over Myndd Moel and descending via Gau Craig and Bwlch Goch into Dolgellau. Over 19 km but apart from the slog up the north face of Cadair (and 
the lack of a view from the summit) it was a great day out.

A steep climb followed by nothing to see at the top but the weather improved as I moved east along the ridge. 

(right) Mynedd Moel and clouds in the background, this is Gau Craig just before the descent.

The top day of this year was a proper fell run to the summits of Diffwys and Y Llethr, the weather was perfect, clear and sunny but not too hot, the ground was brilliant to run on and my human took plenty of water for me. My human was a bit slow towards the end of the run but I kept encouraging him by running ahead and waiting.  The views were spectacular, south-west over the Mawddach, north along the Rhinog range and over to Penygadair to the south.

The start of a perfect day.

Diffwys summit.

Penygadair - the ridge.

It wasn't all running this year, sometimes I just chilled out on the lake or beach, or did some sightseeing. Some little humans came to stay with me in the summer and I had so much fun with them, they are even more bouncy than me.  They wake up a bit too early for me so I try to get some extra snooze time when they have breakfast.

Llyn Tegid - my favourite place.

Playtime in the sea.

Anyone got a match ?

I got to know some new areas of the Berwyn Hills, south of Corwen and also above Cwm Pennant.   It's quite tough running in some places with very few paths and a lot of boggy stuff.

On the Cynwyd to Corwen and back to Cynwyd circuit, some fast running down off the hill into Corwen!

Tough going from Cwm Pennant and over the hill back to Llandrynog.

 

On a train. 

And one or two strange things happened during the year that were puzzling for a small terrier and for my humans too...

I met Darth Vader and R2D2...

...and in December coconuts washed up on the beach at Llyn Tegid!

Lots of wags and woofs,

Dexter .

Boggy running

I've had a great weekend with lots of activity out in the hills. On Friday my run was a very challenging  6 k on the boggy and trackless bits of Moel Y Garnedd, added to this the weather became worse with rain and low cloud. It took over an hour so really the 'run' 

Hidden boggy gloop all over the place!

A bit of a view but not much today.

was more like a slow walk!  The humps and bumps on the ground were almost as big as me so I had to jump over all sorts of vegetation including some really spiky stuff (gorse). However all this leaping around gave me a record day on my fitness tracker, yes I've got a fitness tracker which measures my BarkPoints for the day...whatever next? 

On Sunday morning I went for a hill run with two humans on Wenallt in much better conditions and no blanket bog in sight.  Followed on Monday by an easy walk by the Afon Wnion.

So overall a great weekend.

Wags & woofs,

Dexter.

Three today!

It's my birthday today so now I'm really grown up!

I got a new squeaky toy (a duck), new ball, some treats and a special doggie birthday cake.  And, of course, a birthday card.   To help celebrate I thought some dog themed beer would be a great idea, as you can see one bottle for each year...

Cheers, wags and woofs,

Dexter.

   

I'll soon be three!

I've had some great runs recently; one at Craig yr Allor and for the second time this year I was on sunny hillsides with the valley clouds below me.  It was quite a long run but not a problem for even with quite a lot of ascent (467m).  

The highest part of the run is on the left of the photo then I my route involves a run into the forest and then back onto the hillside at a point just above the tail of the aircraft.

A few days before this I had a tough (14.6k) run on the Clwydian hills, there was a lot of mud on the level tracks and then as we got higher the cloud base was low with snow and very poor visibility so it was great to be running in the sunshine.

On 11th February I headed off for the Clwydian hills again, this time with a bike, my human is soo slooow on the uphill bits but keeps to my pace on the downhill tracks.  It was gloomy, cold and there was snow on the ground but I was able to get really, really mucky which is such a joyful state for a terrier. Then home for a lovely warm shower.

In complete contrast to the weather on the 11th I went for a run at Frodsham on 13th in lovely warm sunshine and blue sky.  Soft sandy tracks made for a very easy run for me, I spent most of the time running ahead of my human and then running back.

Wags and woofs, nearly 3 years old!

Dexter

Happy New Year 2017

I've been very busy over the last few weeks and now I'm wondering what adventures the New Year has in store for me.  My running is going well on all sorts of different terrain, yesterday I ran to the top of Moel Famau which proved to be a very wet run.  Not only was the ground really muddy but from 450 metres upwards I was in cloud with low visibility and rain.  

In contrast the run today was on pavement and flat tracks through woodland, I think it was my best ever 5 km time, 5.2km in 28:37 at a pace of 5.28 km.  It didn't feel that fast and my human says if I had fewer toilet stops I'd be even faster.    (Update 18/01/17 - best ever 5 km time - pace 5.19 km) I haven't many new photos to show you but here is a selection from places I've been to over the last four weeks.

The first two pictures were taken overlooking Llyn Tegid from the Aran Ridge at the end of December, a lovely clear morning with some mist remaining in the valleys.

And finally; Llyn Tegid at the end of a run on a fantastic sunny day.

Lots of wags and woofs,
Dexter.