South Lakes adventures

Quietly sitting with a mug of peppermint tea, the radio wittering away in the background and both Pan and Willow having post breakfast naps is a far cry from our weekend jollies.

Why do weekends vanish so quickly? They must be made of delicate stuff as they seem to evaporate just as you get in to them - hey ho - makes them all the more precious.

We packed up the van, bundled in an overexcited dog, walking boots, camera and waterproofs and headed .... north. No plans, no prebooked campsite just plenty of maps and poo bags. Zeb (van) led us to the South Lakes after a couple of hours of gentle country lane meanderings.

How's that for a sunset view while you eat?

There is something utterly soul cleansing about cooking then eating a meal as you watch the sunset over water and that is exactly what we did.

Mushroom tagliatelle and salad

Willow has been in the van for one night 'adventures' when we have visited the boys but this was going to be a first vanlife dog jolly and she decided that this was going to be her forever life. (us too sweet dog, us too)

Early morning shadows on the sands

We awoke to a lovely warm spring day and having eaten breakfast and strapped on boots and leads, we set off following tracks and lanes up into the wooded knolls above a coastal village where glimpses of a far off sea just made my heart sing. Willow could not get enough sniffs or sticks and almost burst with trying to do everything at once.

Walking on the old railway track between Storth and Arnside

We had, some years ago, going to walk through a little stony stepped path known as the 'Fairy Steps' while we still had Moss and on that particular day she was a bit weary, the weather was a bit rubbish and the detour to the steps was just a little too far, so we didn't go.

The Fairy Steps

We rectified that this weekend and took Willow. It is such a narrow cleft with steps carved in the gap and was, believe it or not, used as a coffin route. Himself and the dog are slim whippet shaped creatures and slipped through fairly easily - I am more your Labrador type and did find it a little claustrophobic - how on earth coffins were manoeuvred through such a narrow gap we could not fathom. We wondered if they actually lowered them over the cliff edge with ropes and only the coffin bearers traversed through the narrow ginnel.

This made us smile

At the top of the ridge, we sat, drank in the view and I was quietly pleased when a small red and white foxdog leant up against my back and rested. These small moments of trust are so precious.

I know she's a petite collie, but that must have been a huge tree

Along our walk, we met a few folk out, not as many as we had anticipated but those we did meet were very kind about a dilly dog even comparing notes on our loose lead training. I was heartened by a couple of people actually saying they'd used this style of training and that yes it was a long process but it was worth it and to persist.

Waiting for permission to come through the slip stile

It was a lovely day and if proof was ever needed - a small dog first devoured her food as if it was a last meal EVER then fell in her bed and into a deep sleep. Which is amazing - she is such a light sleeper and seems to have one eye open at all time, she was completely out for the count and it was so sweet.

Zzzzzzzzzz

And this was just day one!