Walking in the woods.

Looking back to Penn Woods from
halfway up the field

We took Hugo and Pip for a really good walk through Penn Woods, just off Selsley Common yesterday. We had to walk down a steep path to get to the kissing gate which lead in to the woods and this was hilarious to start with - the path was covered with slippery beech leaves which are bad enough when you are on your own, but when you have two excited Akitas pulling you hard you can imagine the consequences! We slipped and slithered down the hill, and couldn't stop laughing - it was by sheer luck we didn't end up on the ground. Why is it that although there is a perfectly good kissing gate the dogs prefer to go underneath or through the railings of the fence instead? We ended up in a right pickle with me in the middle of the gate, Toby on one side of the fence and the dogs on the other and the leads tying us all up together - just glad no one was watching.

Once in the woods the path went down and down, through mud and leaves, Hugo and Pip pulling Toby and me down the hill with them - we could have done with a sledge really but they do like to go through the trees! Rather than going back the same way we had come we skirted round the bottom of the hill and cut across a field to get back to the common and where the car was parked. Although it was shorter it was much steeper but Hugo and Pip were full of energy and really enjoying themselves. At the bottom of the path was an old bath tub used to water the horses who lived in those fields so Hugo decided to have a drink - he really made himself jump though when his name tag clanged the side of the metal bath! Silly boy, he's a bit of a wuss really!

On the edge of Penn Wood

This morning was bright and frosty. Pip had sneaked up on our bed about 5 o'clock and was fast asleep but Hugo decided that 7am was LATE and he huffed in my face till I went and let him out in the garden. The pair of them went absolutely potty, skidding across the frost on the decking and licking everything that had crystals of ice on it. 

Toby and I took them back on  Selsley Common this afternoon but only on the flat bit on the top - our legs couldn't cope with the hills in the woods two days running. It was a beautiful afternoon with bright sunshine and quite warm but, unfortunately, this also meant lots of other people and their dogs were out walking too so Hugo was being a bit of a nightmare pulling in all directions to try and get to them. After about 5 minutes of this I had had enough so dragged him round to me, made him sit and held his face so he was looking at me and told him very firmly that he WAS going to walk nicely - amazed it seemed to work and he was fine after that so very pleased with him.