More hills and forests.

I've  had another great few weeks of running and generally being out and about on hills and in forests.  I have been out on Llyn Tegid in the canoe a few times so there was plenty to see and sniff when I was on the water.  During the last month I have not visited any new places which may sound a bit boring but it's not!  Everywhere I go I see and smell new things, my super-nose can smell thousands and thousands more scents than my human.  So every new visit to somewhere I have visited previously is exciting and interesting for me.

Moel y Garnedd hill runs now involve a bit of road running and a short distance alongside the lake and although they are short runs of around 8 km there is always a fair bit of elevation gain.  The elevation gain soon mounts up as you head away from Llyn Tegid and is usually around 200 metres.  The water in the lake moves and sparkles in a different way every time I see it.  As you ascend onto the hill the view opens up, first over the town of Bala, then the Berwyn Mountains and then over to Snowdonia and south to Cadair Idris.  If I'm lucky and there are no sheep on the hill I get to run without a lead although I don't go far from my human. 

Another great short run for me is the ascent of Moel Emoel, lying to the north of Llyn Tegid and Y Bala, although the summit is only 549 metres, it is an easy climb up the south shoulder of the hill from the lane above Llanfor.  The views from the hill are great in all directions.

   A succession of lovely views on the climb to the summit cairn on this late afternoon run. 

In the picture below you can see Llyn Tegid to the left and just a glimpse of Cadair in the centre distance. 

It was quite dry on the hills most of this month although my human and I managed to find a deep boggy bit on the descent from Aran Benllyn.  Once again the summit of Aran Benllyn was in the cloud, although the sun was trying to break through, you could just see a hazy outline of the sun.  

On the ascent and upwards into the cloud, however looking back towards LLyn Tegid lovely clear views.

Quick look around and a treat on the summit then off again...

Surprisingly it wasn't cold on the summit but we didn't linger and had a cracking fast scamper back down only delayed by extracting ourselves from the boggy bit. 

Once again the Mawddach Trail provided me with a speedy scamper whilst my humans followed on their bikes, there was a really high high tide on the day and as usual the views were stunning. As usual I did lots of loud barking when we started off, just to make sure the humans realised that I was in a hurry to get going.

High tide on the Afon Mawddach near Coed-y-garth, looking up-river.

Yet more of my favourite running, this time in Coed-y-Brenin on the MinorTaur Trail. This is a blue grade mountain bike trail and makes for an awesome scamper-fest.  There are some 18% gradients on the trail, my human can only just ride up them so slooow! 

I'm not scared of the MinorTaur !

Cracking view of Rhaeadr Mawddach after a step climb that's easy for me but my human only just managed to cycle up the hill. You can see the Mawddach is a bit narrower here than it is nearer the sea in the photo near Coed-y-garth.

Later in September I went back to Coed-y-Brenin for a run with my human, two other humans and a super-bouncy Sproker called Efy, wow that was fun.  We were out on the trail (called the Goldrush Trail) for 1 hour and 43 minutes, I did 13.5 km but I think Efy did twice that distance.  The weather forecast hadn't been brilliant but in the end it was clear and sunny.

Coed-y-brenin and Goldrush Trail - photos by Rebecca M. 

You can see from the photos what a lovely day it was, a perfect run in great company.

I went back to Cheshire with my human in October so my running is more low level running in places like Delamere Forest and around the Sandstone Trail at Alvanley and Frodsham. Even on the Sandstone Trail I get the chance to do lots of climbing, one of my favourite runs has more than 381 metres of ascent in just over 10 km.  A bonus on this run is that it is lovely soft ground to run on and super high-speed downhill bits. 

Calm and sunny in Delamere 

Autumn colours begin at Delamere (L) and the Old Pale view towards the Pennines (R).  Contrasting views of Delamere.

Finally, a couple of views of the woods at Snidley Moor, a great place for scampering with my humans.  Sometimes walking and sometimes going for a run with lots of hilly bits.

Wags and woofs, stay safe,

Dexter 🐾🐾