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 

2022 Another year has gone!

The year has flown by! Since the last blog back in October 2021 I've carried on with my usual active lifestyle but with a bit (well quite a lot) of sleeping in between. I was a poorly for a few weeks in March with a liver infection so I couldn't do much exercise but my humans and vet looked after me very well. I am back to full fitness again and have done nearly 1000 km of running and walking so far.

I had a great eighth birthday with a special cake but not the wine, the humans had all of that, as always!

 The Loggerheads 5km Canix Race, I didn't feel well!

My last race before I was poorly was a 5 km Canix race in Wales in March but I had to walk most of the course as I really didn't have any energy.  My human gave me lots of cuddles and we went to see the vet.  I had to go to Vet Hospital for a few days but soon came home for rest and cuddles.  I did some gentle walks, then short easy runs before my first hill run in mid-April.  

Sadly my nephew Terry went to doggy heaven earlier this year, we had our last scamper together on a really wet, windy and muddy day in the Chilterns, here is our last picture together. Gone, but not forgotten.

Then is was off to the Yorkshire Dales for a few days walking, running and sightseeing.  I stayed at Kirby Stephen in County Durham in an area called the Westmorland Dales - yep, that is confusing but it is an area on the border of two counties.  While in the area I visited Richmond Castle and sat on a throne, according to wording behind the throne it was the the seat of power and my word (woofs) carry weight and whole  communities depend on what I might say next (really?) which just proves I am the boss. 

                                                  

 The River Eden, Cumbria.

Whilst in North Yorkshire I popped over the border into County Durham for a little stroll on the Pennine Way in Teesdale.

The River Tees and High Force on a lovely sunny day.

Here's a picture of me chilling at Richmond Castle.

Castles and stately homes were a recurring theme this year with visits to Norfolk as well, Norfolk having the added bonus of beaches. 

I visited Blickling Hall and Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk, they were very interesting from the outside but only humans were allowed inside but that was fine because I went on long walks in the grounds of the houses while one of my humans went inside.

   Blickling Hall (left) and Oxburgh Hall                                         

The first beach run of the year was on New Years Day, it was a great day, my friend Bobster the Border Collie was there with another Border Collie and we ran around chasing a ball, sometimes I got the ball before the Bobster, by the end of the afternoon I was so tired I slept in the car all the way home.

 

New Year on Treath Harlech

Brancaster Beach in May 

Summer time at Traeth Llandanwg

Sunset at West Kirby beach

Exploring rock pools on Little Eye at
West Kirby.

Apart from beach scampers in different parts of the country I did some mountain biking running and some hill and trail running although not quite as much as in previous years partly due to my illness earlier in the year but also because we had some really, really hot weather in Wales.  My human won't let me run with him in hot weather so he goes off on his bike while I laze around trying to keep cool. I've added some photographs of some of the places I've been for runs and bike rides and you'll see that I managed to get to all my favourite places.

Here I am at the top of Pale Heights during a ride around  Delamere Forest.

A photo overlooking Llyn Tegid and a video of me on the Trig Point at Moel y Garnedd.

I may have mentioned that I do not like early mornings, I enjoy my breakfast but after that I prefer to snooze until mid-morning.  I am prepared to make an exemption to this routine if, and only if, something exciting is planned.  In early May I had an early breakfast then it was off to  Dolwyddelan for an 8 o'clock start of a walk to the summit of Moel Siabod (872 metres). It was a bit overcast an quite windy but the early start enabled us to get to the summit and return by Llyn-y-foel before the forecast bad weather set in.  The summit was clear of cloud so there was a great view of most of the high peaks of Eryri.

On the ascent of Siabod.

At the summit looking towards Tryfan.

As usual Moel Famau runs were fun and easy for me, as was the running on the Mawddach Trail.

The view west from near Moel Dywyll and strange encounter near Coed-y-garth on the Mawddach Trail.

Having encountered the River Eden in Cumbria I was taken to another river with the same name, the Afon Eden, in Coed-y-Brenin.  

Nope, I did not get my paws wet!

To finish the year off I went to meet my new nephew, Toby, he's a lively young chap but after some boxing, chasing round the house and a walk in the snow he was worn out.  These youngsters have no stamina!

Me and Toby.

Snowday !

Lots of wags and woofs.

Have a wonderful New Year!

Dexter.     🐾🐾

Out and about

 

Y Lethr, Diffwys & Moelfre in the distance

Hi everybody,

It has been almost six months since my last blog and in that time my adventures have ranged from the west coast to the east coast.  My travels have given me the opportunity to experience some brilliant scampers on beaches as well as the usual hilly stuff and forests.  

My humans found a new beach at Llandanwg, this was great for sniffing and exploring rock pools, as well as having lots of rocks to climb.  

Llandanwg

There’s not much sand at high tide so my best run was further south on the beach at Abermaw. 

Llandanwg

After a long drive I arrived in Norfolk. I have never been to Norfolk, it’s not as flat as I had heard and I had some awesome runs and walks at Brancaster Beach.  

Brancaster beach

Brancaster beach

On the last day before I went home I had an awesome run on the marshes and beach, but best of all my human stopped for ice-cream and gave me some.  This is the treatment I expect from now on.

 

I have done plenty of hill running over the last few months but so far this year I haven’t ventured up into the high mountains.  Lots of runs have been in the Clwydian hills and the hills around Llyn Tegid and Bala.

My human took me running with some of his friends around Llanuwchllyn on a really wet rainy day and then chose another wet day for us to explore a new run near Dolgellau.

Waiting for my slow human on
 the ascent to Moel Fammau

Halfway there!

At the top and a good look around before the mad dash down!

Below are two photographs taken on a new route overlooking the Mawddach with Abermaw in the distance, this run started off dry then it rained and rained and rained!  The first photo shows the bridge at Penmaenpool, I often start my Mawddach cycling adventures from there and then relax in The George pub after a good run. 

As well as running and walking with my humans I have been cycling with them.  Now, I can’t ride a bike as my legs are too short (or so I’m told), so I run alongside them.  They tell me that they are keeping the speed down so I don’t get tired, I suspect that is their excuse for not riding fast, I know that I can run really fast if I want to.

Delamere Forest

Anyway, my running with the bikes took me to the Mawddach trail and Delamere Forest and I managed to keep up easily.

When I’m out running with my human I never meet any other running dogs but in October my human and I took part in the Loggerheads 5k Canix race.  This was awesome as I met lots of other running dogs, I did notice they all had longer legs than me, and we went off through woods and over crags with lots of woofing.

Post-race drink and treats

I've another race planned for December and a few Parkrun events over the next few months.

Wags and woofs,

Dexter