We spent the weekend at Grizedale forest in the Lake District. The main reason for our visit was a cani-cross race on Sunday, but we decided to make a weekend of it so set off at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning, arriving just in time for lunch.
The weather wasn’t great and the idea of having lunch outside the visitor center cafe wasn’t overly appealing, but then we spotted the following sign:
Yep, the Lake District is so dog friendly that doggies are even allowed inside human eateries. Beanie could barely believe her luck and insisted on reading the sign for herself!
Of course the sign only said that wet doggies were welcome. It didn’t say anything about dry but noisy Beagles. Regardless, we went inside, and things started out very well. We found a nice table, ordered our meal, and were able to consume most of it without any lightening raids on our plates. Things were looking good, but then another Beagle strolled past our table and Biggles’ woofer burst into action. In an attempt to distract him we turned him to look out the window. There was a moment of silence, then the woofing erupted again, this time fueled by righteous indignation. Not only were there even more doggies outside, but there were humies riding bikes and wearing silly hats. Outrageous! Beanie of course joined in the woof-fest, and we gulped down our tea and tried to make a hasty retreat through the busy restaurant with two crazy baying Beagles spread-eagled and lunging at anything and everything edible. Once outside they forgot what all the fuss was about and we headed off on nice long walk around the forest.
Part of the Go-Ape aerial assault course
The forest was beautiful even on a dull day, and filled with attractions both natural and man-made. What it didn’t have however was an adequate supply of poo bins. Beanie decided to make her first deposit well away from the start of the walk, forcing us to carry her potent air-defreshener with us for a couple of miles. Biggles didn’t want to be left out either, though his contribution was a bit too large to fit in a poo bag, so we checked that no-one was looking, and quickly left the scene of the crime!
Why would anyone make a wooden sculpture in the shape of a Biggly bottom sausage?
After a good long walk of about 10k we headed to our hotel in nearby Ambleside. As soon as we got into our room Beanie and Biggles lept back and forth between the twin beds trying to establish who was sleeping where….this should have given us a clue about what was to follow at bed time! They settled in right away apart from a bit of barking from the Biggly Boy whenever anyone walked past our room. We had dinner in the bar (a conerted stable) and found a nice little alcove with a strong iron ring to tie the dogs to. Bliss – a meal without having to contend with Beanie’s food raids. They settled down for a nice nap:
We considered letting the Beaglets sleep in bed with us, but given their tendency to hog the bed and the fact that we had a race the next day we settled them in their crates. This didn’t go down at all well with Beanie who kept up a steady whine for three or four hours. Eventually I weakened and unbolted the crates. They lept into bed and snuggled down for a deep sleep while Paul and I clung to the edges of the bed trying to catch what sleep we could.
Bloomin’ Beagles!