The lakes – rain, sun, snow, hail, gales – why wouldn’t you?

It pays to get up early around here, Windermere in the early morning

Sad news from the Southern Lakes, Rumpole, resident of Crook near Kendal and recent star of a RufusRambles tale, had felt very unwell over recent weeks and so Peter and Vivienne decided that it was time to visit Diplock and his other friends in doggy heaven.  Annie decided this meant a visit was in order to say hi to the team and to walk on the fells with Vivienne. and Diplock2.   

February is always great in the Lakes so a trip up to Keswick followed….Skiddaw, Little Man, Bakestal, Lattrig, Cat Bells, Maiden Moor, Glaramara and Allen Crag all got a visit, plus a few mini crags.  Rainy, snowy, sunny, windy….its the Lakes after all.

Annie finally bags Skiddaw and a few other Wainwrights to boot! Yee hah..

Who loves a Herdy, everyone does, they were expecting a snaffle and instead got a flash, sorry guys, no Rufus, no Grizzle no picnic.

Go on, give us a bit of yer bun, you know you want to....

Glaramara is a great walk, a relaxed stroll up a steepish stone path with views across to Scafell Pike and beyond.  Well worth a tramp from Stonethwaite in the Borrowdale Valley.

Cracking view from Glaramara across the valley...picnic stop I think.

A slippery walk up a steepish stone path took us to the top of Kings How, only 392 m but good for views across the Borrowdale Valley and down to Derwent Water. 

Kings How gave us snow tops and rainbows - another great day in the Lakes

The Wilson wanderers stride out on the borders

Today was to be a shared adventure, courtesy of Fiona Wilson, previously famed as a Pony Club whizz and now the Queen of local walks.  Twenty Six years married to the reknowned puppeteer Mak Wilson; master of the hound Jet, (a manly Black Labrador – Rufus you may be a dude but Jet wins the prize for good behaviour), and quaffer of fine champagne.

A crisp day with a frost on the ground met us at Rhydycroesau, (see links to walks), an appropriate location for Mak’s wife as it is famed for its local pantomimes, Sue certainly put on an act when her brand new Brashers gave her a farthing sized blister!  Sue call yourself a walker…what a fuss?   

Where is the Compead, spare boots at the ready…

The walk was more of a muddy meander than a challenge but took us past wonderful scenery, including local farms and their farmers, each looking at us whilst shaking their heads wondering why these mad women were walking aimlessly rather than working hard in the fields or chopping wood as they all were. 

Sue and Jet our little sun beams.....

Another great day in the Welsh hills, not quite long enough or hard enough for a pint but good enough for a Welsh Tea Cake, well done all.

Room with a view

A visit to the North Cotswolds – worth the trip

Muppet here, standing in for Rufus…I am a black Labrador who lives in the North Cotswolds and who is looked after, ummm well that’s what they think, by the Trotter family, not a biscuit all weekend…looked after huh!

Muppet's house

Boys went off to play club rugby on Sunday, a try was scored, and the girls, Xanthe, Lou and Annie took me for a fine trudge through the mud, Conor decided the Red Lion and the Sunday papers were a better option so declined the offer of sensible boots and Barbour.  Conor did take a trip a little later, want a laugh, check it out on YouTube…

Me looking out for the pub.....crisps beckon...

The march took us through the fields behind my home which is on Vicarage Lane in Long Compton just 1.30 hours from London, unless Conor and Annie are in charge of directions!  All fab, like you Rufus I was looking forward to the after-walk pub with crisp strewn floors, superb to have some grub on the horizon, with no treats at home these days it is small wonder I am always hungry, woof.

Annie and Xanthe chilling out in a great Cotswolds barn

Anyway I digress, the walk rose sharply past billions of ripe Sloes, I ate the last of the Blackberries off the bush and decided to try a Sloe, yuk, don’t do it Rufie they are grim, grim, grim.   The walk was a neat and not challenging circular ending at the Red Lion pub, which I was not taken to, thanks a lot guys, but which, by all accounts was excellent fun, apparently a YouTube video of a classic Conor incident will be linked here soonest.

Trotter family at the Red Lion in Long Compton