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I had Pressendye as my alternative for if I couldn't get parked at the Hill of Fare last week, but I could so this week I decided it could have the honour of being the plan A walk! Again this is another great walk that I am shocked at myself that I haven't done before! It started off with a 2 mile walk along the road, normally I hate road walking but there were hares and newborn lambs to provide plenty of distractions!
Once off the road I decided to keep the dogs on the lead, while I couldn't see any sheep and lambs the field I was walking alongside (separated by fence) a looked like a sheep field so I decided to err on the side of caution and not let them off just yet until I knew we were clear. Just as well because in the next field were ewes with their newborns!
Yes, they might have been a fence between us but I don't think Moss would have had any difficulty in leaping over the fence if she decided that she wanted to! As it was, on the lead she just watched them. Unfortunately the path took us through a gate into the very field of ewes and lambs, and on the path itself was this ewe and her two lambs!
Fortunately the sheep were very spread out, and there was only one other ewe with her lambs a bit further on, so we moved further into the field and did a big arc around the little group to avoid them. I don't think the lambs had quite found their feet yet but the ewe seemed happy enough with us giving them a wide berth. There is another gate not far up the field where the track leaves the sheep field and heads into woodland. Once a good distance away, the dogs could finally have some freedom off the lead! And that was them off lead until we were back onto the road towards the end of the walk.
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It was only a short stretch through woodland and then we passed through a deer fence onto the open moorland and we followed the trail through the heather. Moss stood on some poor lizard that scurried away in annoyance! At least it wasn't an adder though! The heather was hanging over most of the track, so I kept the dogs behind me and made quite a bit of noise when walking along, just in case there were any adders about. But it is only a short bit before a wider track is reached and the dogs could return to adding up the miles by running backwards and forwards. I swear, I'm going to put my phone in Moss' rucksack to see how many miles THEY do one of these days!
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- Another lizard, not the one that was stood on!
We went over Broom Hill and the dogs started running down the other side ahead having spotted something ahead...
A lovely, boggy pool! This was the first water we'd came across since the ditches by the side of the road, despite Moss searching the forest for a muddy patch to lie in! She just loves mud, so was very happy with this pool that she found and I found a bit of wood left from them building the new deer fencing to throw in for them. Must remember to put the water toy back in my rucksack!
If there had been somewhere to sit I'd have had my lunch here, but there were no rocks near the water to sit on so we left the pool and headed upwards towards the summit of Pressendye. There was a lady on a bike with a dog at the summit, who despite being a bit timid initially soon made friends with my two and they had a wander about together before we headed into the wind shelter for lunch.
We started heading back down again, I'd seen on the notice board the red route went just off the blue route to a small hill called Pittenderich and I could see the summit of the hill as we descended, I figured we might as well have a quick nip up there as well turning off at the red waymarked post.
It was a nice little addition to the walk and we retraced our steps to get back into the main track that took us round the edge of the forest.
The forest was left behind for some more moorland, then we were back into farmland with crops growing in the fields either side. The path had trees closely planted together on both sides making it almost like a long corridor. I have to say, this was one of my favourite bits and I spent some time getting photos of the dogs here!
The corridor ended at a gate which opened onto a road, from there it was a case of following the road to a grassy path alongside some new looking buildings and houses, this turn wasn't waymarked, and along the streets back to the centre of the village and our car for the journey home. Another great localish walk to add to the list!
