Doggy Gear Testing
A few weeks back, I was amazed to find that an outdoor company – Simply Hike - had contacted me to see if I was interested in doing any gear reports on some stuff from their dog camping department. Of course, many of you other bloggers out there will have no doubt had these sort of offers before, but not me; this was my (Dixie’s) first!
Mind you, the offer did come some time before I broke my ankle, but the doggies still need to be walked so I tasked my slave to do the walking and testing for me.
So I chose an item from their pet camping department - a Mountain Paws Harness.
A harness was something I’d been thinking of trying on Dixie for a while. My previous boxer – Cleo – always walked in a harness. She pulled far less in that than in an ordinary collar (don’t really know why), so when Dixie was a baby puppy I got her one too. It was a complete disaster – she just behaved like she was in the Iditarod - so she was then duly kitted out with a half-choke collar for her walkies. However, Dixie is now fully grown up and much calmer. Maybe a harness would now work?
The requested item arrived from Simply Hike within 48 hours and I unpacked the harness and showed it to Dixie. It passed the sniff test, now for a fitting. The harnesses come in two sizes, small and large, and I’d ordered the large one for her. Fully adjustable, it fit her fine, but at some point I will have to shorten the strap which goes around her chest as there is too much spare webbing flapping around. (This is something I could do with a broken ankle!)
I left her in it for a while around the house. She was obviously perfectly comfortable with it on, as within 5 minutes she was snoring away happily on the sofa.
The harness is surprisingly light and I did wonder how strong it would be, but that certainly hasn’t been an issue as yet. It has a bit of fleecey stuff on the chest strap to stop rubbing, a D-ring for a lead at the front, and a handle down the back.
Dixie is certainly very happy walking in it and doesn’t seem to be pulling at all. It’s nice to think, though, that if she did pull for any reason, she wouldn’t end up nearly strangling herself like she normally does. The handle on the back comes in useful occasionally, as an aid to helping her up and over steep or high stiles. (She’s not as young as she was and can be a bit arthritic these days!)
Of course Geoff has been the tester’s chief assistant on this project and he did have a couple of things to say. (Frankly, I’d have been very surprised if he hadn’t……)
Firstly, he found it a bit of a faff to put on just for a 20 minute walk around the village, so has only been using it when going out for a long walk and secondly, he says that the positioning of the attachment ring for the lead at the front of the harness, tends to make the front bit fold back on itself when in use.
Now personally, I don’t think that I would find it a nuisance to put on, even for a short walk, but it might well be something to consider if you are of a slightly less patient disposition…
As for the second comment, I wonder if some fiddling and tightening of the bit that goes around the front of her chest might sort it and as I generally like the idea of using the harness, by the time I’m up and about again and using it myself, I shall be looking at this. It cetainly doesn’t appear to bother Dixie though, or be uncomfortable for her.
Being fully adjustable, she would be able to wear it over her coat in inclement weather, but I have to say that I think even I would find re-adjusting it while out for a walk a bit of a faff, so would no doubt revert to her collar if conditions dictated that she be warmly wrapped up!
Mountain Paws Hang On Large Dog Harness, £24.99
Dixie Says She’s Gonna E-Mail The RSPCA…
She says it’s just not on. Mum and her leg have totally taken over the sofa, and now her and Tilly have to share a chair!
Hop-Along Update
Saw a very nice Orthopaedic Registrar today. He told me that I didn’t have to have surgery on the ankle but because of the way my fibula has broken (I heard it snap by the way), I do have what is known as a ‘potentially unstable’ fracture. This means therefore, that it needs very careful management. So, I have had my cast changed for a very snazzy blue one (they didn’t have pink) and I have to see him again next Friday. I’ve also got to have another week where I can’t put any weight on it at all and have to spend as much time as possible with the leg elevated…
And I have to say that Geoff is doing an excellent job of being my slave – making me delicious meals, feeding and walking both the dogs etc, with very few mutterings under his breath – and even appeared with some Greens and Blacks white chocolate the other day.
So, fingers crossed, will hopefully be wandering around again by Easter!
Went Out…
Went out. Fell over. Broke ankle. P****d o*f.
Ever The Intrepid Explorers…
Well, Friday evening’s planned escape up to the Dales was effectively curtailed. Within an hour of me getting in from work, not only were all major trans-Pennine routes either closed or treacherous, there was so much snow outside our house we’d have had to put the snow chains on the van, just to get off our road.
Saturday morning brought slightly easier conditions in the village, but still Snake, Woodhead, Cat and Fiddle, Holme Moss, the Otley by-pass, etc etc were all still closed. By the time everything had eased further, it was realistically a bit daft to be charging up to Malham for one night. But what to do? We had a motorhome laden up with dog food, human food, 70 litres of water, wine… we couldn’t waste it all, we had to go somewhere.
‘I know,’ says Geoff, ‘How about going south?’
‘South???’
So, we went to Teversal – the other side of Chesterfield. Caravan site practically empty, but with a shower block that has won National Awards (how sad is that?) and a dog shower no less (which we used twice just for the hell of it, much to Dixie’s disgust) – what an adventure!
And this morning, ever the intrepid explorers, we mounted an expedition and successfully managed to scale the highest point in Nottinghamshire:
Nine Ladies And Robin Hood
Dixie and I arrived at the little village of Elton, in the White Peak, just before 10am. Very good timing for me actually, as we were due to meet James and Reuben outside the church at 10am. I parked up on the main street and got my boots on, just as James drove past looking for a handy parking spot. I went over to say hi and Happy Birthday to Reuben before getting Dixie out of the car. Dixie can have a tendency to liven the proceedings somewhat, but to my surprise was clearly on her best behaviour from the word go!
James had sorted us an interesting route of around 8 miles, taking in both Robin Hood’s Stride and the Nine Ladies stone circle. The only one of those I’d ever visited before was the stone circle and that had been quite a few years ago. I’d certainly no memory of the route we’d taken.
Although windy and grey, the weather was dry, but I’m sure that anyone who knows the White Peak will be able to imagine how muddy it was in places after all the rain we’ve had recently!
Anyway, leaving James to do all the navigating, we set off across the first muddy field. I nearly went flying in the first few minutes as Dixie enthusiastically pulled me sliding down the slope – it was a bit like the Iditarod without the snow. Things underfoot soon improved however and, as happens when chatting easily with someone, we came upon Robin Hood’s Stride almost before I’d realised it.
Now before I go any further, I have to admit that I knew virtually nothing about this feature at all. When I got home though, I had a look through a Mike Harding book I happen to have – ‘Walking the Peak and Pennines’ – and found out all sorts.
Apparently the feature has two names, the other being Mock Beggars Hall. This name is supposed to stem from the fact that from a distance, in some lights, the stones look like the chimneys of some grand house and beggars would be fooled into thinking that it might be a good place to visit to see if they could get some food.
The Robin Hood name is supposed to be because Robin once escaped some pursuers here by jumping from stone to stone. I think this is what James had in mind when he scrambled up for a photo opportunity.
I did my best, but I’m afraid I didn’t quite do James justice, as I was having difficulty working the zoom one-handed while holding the two dogs in the other hand…
It might not have been high here compared with the Dark Peak, but the views were still pretty good.
Another feature you could see from here is the Nine Maidens stone circle on Harthill Moor. I didn’t get any photos of this as it was in a field, but there are only 4 stones that remain standing. Don’t know when or where the other 5 went… Like the Nine Ladies circle which we visited later in the day, these stones were all supposed to be women that had been turned to stone for dancing on the sabbath, or – as Mike Harding so aptly put it in his book - ‘Neolithic ravers who danced themselves rigid.’
The wind throughout the day was bitter at times and quite gusty. Perfect weather in fact for James to be trying out one of his Christmas presents. This was a very neat looking anemometer. Occasionally on the walk we would be quite sheltered but would then suddenly move into an exposed position where the wind would gust noticeably. This would be the signal to each guess what we thought the wind speed would be and then check it with the anemometer. It was very interesting as we would invariably guess a higher speed than it was – say 25mph, when it might only actually be 19mph. I was very impressed with it. It also gave the air temperature – which if I remember rightly was about 8C – and the wind chill temperature, which was 2C. Not much above freezing in fact – no wonder my face felt a bit battered at the end of the day!
The next feature we visited was the Hermit Cave.
Mr. Harding doesn’t say much about this, other than there is a crucifix and a bench inside it. Clearly the cross had long since gone. It was a bit of a sheltered spot though, so it seemed a good place to stop and have First Lunch.
In the absence of a trig point, James got Reuben to pose on a rock for a photo:
And just look at this beautiful sit:
We continued the walk by dropping bown to Birchover, going past the Druid Inn and the Rowter Rocks. These rocks are a 150 feet high outcrop which has been carved into all sorts of fantastic shapes. There is also supposed to be a connection in the early 1700s with a guy known as the Reverend Thomas Eyre, who apparently liked to sit in a specially carved out study area in the rocks to compose his sermons. Apologies, as I didn’t take a photo…
One of the features of walking in the White Peak of course, is the intense navigation required. All the field boundaries, stiles, lanes etc have always been a good excuse for an argument between hubby Geoff and I. James did a grand job though, patiently getting the map out at every junction and muttering quietly to himself before setting off purposefully again in the right direction.
After Birchover, we climbed steadily again up to Stanton Moor. The first feature we noticed here was the Cork Stone.
Historians believe that this was once the centre stone of a large stone circle. These days it’s on its own, with footholds and iron hoops to help people climb to the top for the purpose of sitting on it. James casually suggested that I scaled it for photography purposes…
Moving on around Stanton Moor, we came across the aforementioned Nine Ladies stone circle.
We didn’t hang around here for long as it was quite busy, but went over to the edge of the moor to find a spot for Second Lunch.
I also attempted an arty shot.
Once again, Dixie and Reuben seemed to get on really well all day.
We were highly amused though, to notice that on 3 or 4 occasions when Dixie paused to investigate a nice smell, Reuben cocked his leg and wee-ed all over her head! Dixie didn’t seem put out by this in the slightest – obviously some sort of friendship ritual that I certainly haven’t come across before!
We finally got back to Elton at around 3-ish, just before it started to rain. In fact driving home, I went through some really wild and wet stuff on the main road from Tideswell to Peak Forest.
It had been a good day out – many thanks to James for sorting an extremely interesting route and doing all the navigating…
Two Walks In One Weekend!
Well Saturday had been a lovely walk and Sunday dawned with very promising looking weather too.
Even with his man-flu feeling a bit better, Geoff couldn’t do a longish walk today. He was off to stay with Abi for the night and go to the cinema to see ‘Warhorse’. I’d told him there was no way I was going to see it with him, as I would only end up crying all the way through. I can feel myself choking up every time I see the trailer on TV…
Tilly’s poorly paw was still hurting so she was out of action, and possible icy conditions up on Kinder made it not the best place to take Dixie. Dixie would be fine herself, but a dizzy, daft, pulling Boxer on the lead is not always the best combination when there’s ice underfoot.
So, I was on my own. Very peaceful!
I sorted myself a route:
Home – Kinder Res – Sandy Heys - Kinder Downfall – Red Brook – Three Knolls – Broad Clough – Kinder Res – Home. About 9 miles.
I got my suff together then went out to the campervan to get one of my walking poles that was in there, and couldn’t believe how cold it felt outside! So on going back inside, I went straight upstairs and added long johns to my attire. They don’t look anywhere near as fetching as James’ though, so it’s a good job I had trousers on over the top.
All seemed quiet and peaceful as I set off through the village.
On approaching Bowden Bridge however, you could see by all the parked cars that there would be an influx of walkers on Kinder today.
The weather wasn’t all blue sky like yesterday and I’d be surprised if the temperature got above freezing at all on the summit, but it was clear, fresh and felt good to be out.
I didn’t see too many people as I walked around the edge of the reservoir and crossed the stream at the bottom of William Clough.
My route to the plateau was up Sandy Heys. It’s pretty direct and fairly steep in places and always catches any wind that’s around. Today was no exception. As I crested the shoulder of the ridge, gusts suddenly appeared from nowhere threatening to knock me off balance.
There was a good view of Mill Hill rocks.
Just before I reached the edge path I stopped for First Lunch in the shelter of a couple of rocks, with superb views all around.
As often happens, once on the edge path the wind was breezy but not as strong as climbing up Sandy Heys. It was suddenly very busy though and not only with walkers. There was obviously some sort of fell running event on. I did my good deed for the day when one runner came up to me and said,
“Do you know if there’s a trig point near here? If I miss it out I’ll be disqualified!”
As it happened we were fairly close to the trig point known as ‘Sandy Heys trig point’, so I gave him instructions on how to get there. It’s not visible from the path but very easy to get to once you know the handrail to follow.
Once at the Downfall there was the usual mass of people having lunch. I thought it looked a bit dark and brooding today.
I continued around the edge path to the top of Red Brook.
From here, I left the edge and started off down the Three Knolls path. Immediately the crowds disappeared and I was on my own. This is why I like this particular path so much, hardly anyone walks it. It’s also usually devoid of sheep too, so if Dixie’s with me she gets a chance to be off the lead.
I managed to get a snap of one of the helicopters that had been buzzing around all day – transporting heather seed up to the plateau I suspect. (Now here is the point where I admit to both liking helicopters and collecting die-cast models of them…)
Second Lunch was had in between the second and the third ‘knoll’.
The path eventually contours around under the mass of Kinder Low End.
It was getting a bit cooler now as the sun was getting lower, and as I made my way around the edge of Broad Clough and down through the fields back to the village, the setting sun was casting an atmospheric light over William Clough on the other side of the reservoir.
Frost And Blue Skies
What wonderful weather it’s been today (Saturday) – far too good to waste on mundane things. A walk was definitely called for.
Geoff is currently recovering from a bout of ‘man-flu’, so didn’t quite feel up to going on Kinder, but was nevertheless keen to get out. So we decided to do ‘our circuit’. (It’s a bit sad really, but we have names for routes that we regularly do.)
This circuit is just under 7 miles long and takes in Lantern Pike and Matley Moor on the western side of the A624, and then crosses over to the eastern side of the road to take in Carr Meadow (at the bottom of Hollingworth Clough) and Middle Moor, before dropping back down to go past Park Hall. The A624 is then crossed again at Little Hayfield and a path picked up to go back to Hayfield.
The road that you initially take out of our village is known as the Sitch and this climbs up towards the track that goes off towards Lantern Pike.
Looking back towards the village:
Lantern Pike is usually quite a windy spot, but not today. There are some great views of Kinder from the top.
On the far side of Lantern Pike a track is picked up, which takes you round to Matley Moor.
This route also happens to go past the farmhouse that I grew up in as a teenager.
When we bought the farm mind, in the early 70s, it didn’t look anything like that. It was only half the size and practically a ruin. It only had one ‘habitable’ room in it and no electricity or running water. We moved in regardless though, and my dad spent all his spare time for about seven years, doing it up and building an extension which doubled the size of the place. After we moved in it was about 12 months before we had any electricity and then a further 6 months before the running water got sorted! It was actually great fun, and I have wonderful memories of it.
This was the view of Kinder that I used to have from my bedroom window.
I’m sure I didn’t really realise how lucky I was!
After crossing the A624 we stopped for lunch just above Carr Meadow.
A bridge takes you across the stream in Hollingworth Clough and then there’s a short climb onto Middle Moor.
Dropping down to Park Hall there’s a small ford, leading to a short, picturesque lane that takes you to Little Hayfield.
Little Hayfield is then only 10 minutes walk from home.
It was a lovely walk, in beautiful weather and has only been marred by the fact that Tilly has obviously hurt one of her front paws with all her manic dashing about, and is currently hopping round the house on three legs, feeling very sorry for herself!
You Look Vaguely Familiar…
Following Pete’s recent amusing ‘relative’ post on Writes of Way, it brought to mind a story involving a ‘relative’ that happened to me, which I also thought might provide a little light amusment. Furthermore, my incident actually happened on a walk, so it almost fits in with the blog anyway.
One lovely, sunny day - about 4 years ago – Geoff and I decided to go for a wander around Kinder. We left the house and set off walking up Kinder Road. Geoff was about 10 yards in front of me when a car went past and stopped next to him. I assumed the man was asking for directions.
As I drew near, Geoff motioned to me to look at the driver. I did so, expecting him to speak. He didn’t and after a few seconds I began to wonder if I was supposed to know him. I certainly didn’t recognise him at all, but not wanting to upset him or appear rude, I said,
‘You look vaguely familiar, but I can’t quite place you…’
‘What do you mean, I look vaguely familiar?’ exclaimed the guy, ‘You were only married to me for 7 years!’
Crikey, it was husband number 1!
Husband number 1 then went to park up near Bowden Bridge and came over to join us on our walk….and I went through the ever so slightly strange experience of introducing husbands number 1 and 2 to each other.
He then proceeded to accompany us for the next couple of miles, chatting away quite happily and I have to say that it did occur to me that I was probably the only woman on Kinder that day, out for a walk with two of her own husbands in tow.
Geoff was unusually quiet all morning…
