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Long Walks With a Small Dog



 
 
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  #1  
Old October 16th, 2013, 08:24 PM posted to rec.travel.europe
Keith Fletcher
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Posts: 5
Default Long Walks With a Small Dog

One of the cheapest and most fulfilling leisure activities, that anyone in reasonable health can enjoy, is a good long walk. Whether you are a city dweller or country bumpkin, one of the greatest free pastimes is to pull on a pair of sturdy shoes and head off into the outdoors. Fair weather is always preferable, sunshine is an added bonus and rainy days are best spent indoors unless you're a really determined individual.

The United Kingdom is blessed with thousands of miles of public footpaths to explore, and even in the largest of cities you can find good walking routes through parks and open spaces to get away from the hectic hustle and bustle of modern living. If you are heading off into more rural and remote places, you'll need to better equipped and prepared, so check out the Ramblers Association website for more information if you're not familiar with the great outdoors, and better still pair up with some experienced walkers.

Add in a small dog as a walking companion (Poppy the Yorkshire Terrier in our case) and a long walk becomes an endless game of canine amusements. She is always a good talking point when we meet fellow walkers on our journeys, and it's nice to have a reason to talk to complete strangers as long as they're feeling sociable.

Living in rural Wiltshire, on the edge of the market town of Chippenham, there is no shortage of good walking routes to choose from both in the town and the surrounding areas. Town centre walks include gentle ambles around Monkton Park, strolls through John Coles Park or longer walks along the banks of the River Avon following the North Wiltshire Rivers Route linking Melksham, Lacock, Chippenham, Calne, Cherhill and Avebury

Some of my favourite routes are around the olde worlde local villages of Biddestone, Castle Combe, Lacock, Corsham, Kington St Michael, Kington Langley, Derry Hill, Langley Burrell, Sutton Benger and Christian Malford.
Going further afield allows us to explore the ancient abbey town of Malmesbury, the medieval wool town of Tetbury, the industrial textile town of Bradford on Avon, the World Heritage Sites of the Avebury, Stonehenge and the historic Roman city of Bath.

For our walk today we set off from the western outskirts of the town at Derriads Pond, across the bypass and through the fields down to the A4. After a short stretch on a tight lead along the footpath running along the side of the busy Bath Road, we crossed over at Chequers Farm and into the Corsham Park estate. The sheep were in the first two fields so Poppy had to stay on her lead, much to her annoyance as she tried to charge at any sheep within easy reach. After a few failed attempts she calmed down except for the occasional sheep that was quite happy to tease her by not moving out of our way quickly.

The third field was mostly sheep free and offered some wide open spaces to let Poppy off the lead and play her favourite game of chase the ball. Yorkies were bred to be rat catchers in northern textile mills during the industrial revolution, so it's always amusing to see the real passion that a game of ball brings out in her. The rubber balls have a short life as they soon get shredded by razor sharp teeth, or left behind when she gets distracted by something else more interesting.

She is a crafty little dog and one trick she has learned is that if she wants to go in a different direction to where we are heading she only needs and drop the ball and carry on walking after me. When I notice she no longer has it, I have to go back in the direction she wanted to go. Despite much chastising for this little trick she still tries it on most walks - and today caused me to retrace my steps across half the field to recover yet another dropped ball.

As we came within site of Corsham Court we entered the Capability Brown designed parkland leading down to Corsham Lake. The history of Corsham Court and the Methuen family who built and still own it is well documented as a quick online search will reveal. It is now leased to Bath Spa University as a centre for art and design, although a notice on the entrance today states there is an on-going dispute with the owners about the current usage of the building.

Corsham itself has a very picturesque high street, which today was decked in flowers and garlands as part of the annual Corsham in Bloom event. Plenty of people were milling around and one or two smiled at the sight of such a small dog in my company - little do they know that she thinks she is really an Alsation!

After taking a few pictures for the blog, we headed back to the grand gated driveway leading back to Corsham Court, then followed the public footpath along the side of the lake and out of the eastern side of the estate. I was now in new territory as we hadn't walked this way before so the Ordnance Survey map was suddenly in demand as we worked away around various farms and lanes through Easton and back onto the A4 to retrace our steps home.

This was a long walk for Poppy, after nearly 3 hours and with such short legs, but there were no signs of her tiring. She's still a youngster unlike me who was by now feeling a few twinges in the feet and legs. A welcome bowl of water and tin of food awaited her in the kitchen, for me a cup of tea and some chocolate biscuits hit the mark very nicely.

Poppy now has a younger sibling called Max, who is not yet old enough to venture out on our long walks but is starting to explore the outside world in lots of small leaps and bounds. It won't be too long before an episode of a long walk with two small dogs will be on the cards for part 2 of this article!

For more information about Walks in Corsham and Wiltshire, together with many other great UK destinations, please visit my website at:

http://www.neverbebored.co.uk/things...n_corsham.html
  #2  
Old October 17th, 2013, 10:54 AM posted to rec.travel.europe
Surreyman[_3_]
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Posts: 303
Default Long Walks With a Small Dog

On Wednesday, October 16, 2013 8:24:01 PM UTC+1, Keith Fletcher wrote:
One of the cheapest and most fulfilling leisure activities, that anyone in reasonable health can enjoy, is a good long walk. Whether you are a city dweller or country bumpkin, one of the greatest free pastimes is to pull on a pair of sturdy shoes and head off into the outdoors. Fair weather is always preferable, sunshine is an added bonus and rainy days are best spent indoors unless you're a really determined individual.



The United Kingdom is blessed with thousands of miles of public footpaths to explore, and even in the largest of cities you can find good walking routes through parks and open spaces to get away from the hectic hustle and bustle of modern living. If you are heading off into more rural and remote places, you'll need to better equipped and prepared, so check out the Ramblers Association website for more information if you're not familiar with the great outdoors, and better still pair up with some experienced walkers.



Add in a small dog as a walking companion (Poppy the Yorkshire Terrier in our case) and a long walk becomes an endless game of canine amusements. She is always a good talking point when we meet fellow walkers on our journeys, and it's nice to have a reason to talk to complete strangers as long as they're feeling sociable.



Living in rural Wiltshire, on the edge of the market town of Chippenham, there is no shortage of good walking routes to choose from both in the town and the surrounding areas. Town centre walks include gentle ambles around Monkton Park, strolls through John Coles Park or longer walks along the banks of the River Avon following the North Wiltshire Rivers Route linking Melksham, Lacock, Chippenham, Calne, Cherhill and Avebury



Some of my favourite routes are around the olde worlde local villages of Biddestone, Castle Combe, Lacock, Corsham, Kington St Michael, Kington Langley, Derry Hill, Langley Burrell, Sutton Benger and Christian Malford.

Going further afield allows us to explore the ancient abbey town of Malmesbury, the medieval wool town of Tetbury, the industrial textile town of Bradford on Avon, the World Heritage Sites of the Avebury, Stonehenge and the historic Roman city of Bath.



For our walk today we set off from the western outskirts of the town at Derriads Pond, across the bypass and through the fields down to the A4. After a short stretch on a tight lead along the footpath running along the side of the busy Bath Road, we crossed over at Chequers Farm and into the Corsham Park estate. The sheep were in the first two fields so Poppy had to stay on her lead, much to her annoyance as she tried to charge at any sheep within easy reach. After a few failed attempts she calmed down except for the occasional sheep that was quite happy to tease her by not moving out of our way quickly.



The third field was mostly sheep free and offered some wide open spaces to let Poppy off the lead and play her favourite game of chase the ball. Yorkies were bred to be rat catchers in northern textile mills during the industrial revolution, so it's always amusing to see the real passion that a game of ball brings out in her. The rubber balls have a short life as they soon get shredded by razor sharp teeth, or left behind when she gets distracted by something else more interesting.



She is a crafty little dog and one trick she has learned is that if she wants to go in a different direction to where we are heading she only needs and drop the ball and carry on walking after me. When I notice she no longer has it, I have to go back in the direction she wanted to go. Despite much chastising for this little trick she still tries it on most walks - and today caused me to retrace my steps across half the field to recover yet another dropped ball.



As we came within site of Corsham Court we entered the Capability Brown designed parkland leading down to Corsham Lake. The history of Corsham Court and the Methuen family who built and still own it is well documented as a quick online search will reveal. It is now leased to Bath Spa University as a centre for art and design, although a notice on the entrance today states there is an on-going dispute with the owners about the current usage of the building.



Corsham itself has a very picturesque high street, which today was decked in flowers and garlands as part of the annual Corsham in Bloom event. Plenty of people were milling around and one or two smiled at the sight of such a small dog in my company - little do they know that she thinks she is really an Alsation!



After taking a few pictures for the blog, we headed back to the grand gated driveway leading back to Corsham Court, then followed the public footpath along the side of the lake and out of the eastern side of the estate. I was now in new territory as we hadn't walked this way before so the Ordnance Survey map was suddenly in demand as we worked away around various farms and lanes through Easton and back onto the A4 to retrace our steps home.



This was a long walk for Poppy, after nearly 3 hours and with such short legs, but there were no signs of her tiring. She's still a youngster unlike me who was by now feeling a few twinges in the feet and legs. A welcome bowl of water and tin of food awaited her in the kitchen, for me a cup of tea and some chocolate biscuits hit the mark very nicely.



Poppy now has a younger sibling called Max, who is not yet old enough to venture out on our long walks but is starting to explore the outside world in lots of small leaps and bounds. It won't be too long before an episode of a long walk with two small dogs will be on the cards for part 2 of this article!



For more information about Walks in Corsham and Wiltshire, together with many other great UK destinations, please visit my website at:



http://www.neverbebored.co.uk/things...n_corsham.html


Ever been bored?
  #3  
Old October 17th, 2013, 05:55 PM posted to rec.travel.europe
Erilar
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Posts: 599
Default Long Walks With a Small Dog

Agreed. I can't manage the "long" part any more, but my small dog makes
regular shorter walks entertaining and regular. The country road in
Wisconsin we live on is particularly lovely this time of year.


--
Erilar, biblioholic medievalist with iPad
 




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