Devil’s Dyke on a Sunday morning
We headed south this morning to meet up with our friends Mel and Kathleen and their gorgeous schnauzers, Schnapps and Darcie. Darcie arrived with them on New Year’s Eve and we first met her back in March when she was still very traumatised from the terrible puppy farm experience she has survived. She is probably a similar age to Susie-Belle and shows similarities in behaviour that are common psychological scars inflicted by the puppy farming industry. The great news is that Darcie has made steady progress with Kathleen and Mel, who are just the very best family she could have and every time we meet up, I can see improvements. The toughest challenge is getting her to let go of her overwhelming fear of being touched, which remains with her. More on Darcie can be read here.
Mel and Kathleen are very lucky to live near Brighton a vibrant popular coastal town, behind which lies the fabulous South Downs, a part of Britain that despite being less than an hour away from where we live, we’ve yet to explore with Susie-Belle and Renae. The South Downs Way is one of Britain’s National Trails and runs from the ancient cathedral city of Winchester on its western edge, east along the coast to Beachy Head at Eastbourne, 100 miles of beautiful, off-road trails. It lies within Britain’s newest National Park, the South Downs National Park officially came into being in 2010. Quite why it’s taken us till today to get down there for a walk is a bit of a mystery, but now we’ve done it once, we’ll definitely be back for more of the same, it was a perfect location for a walk.
Not only was the location perfect, the morning was ideal, the frost had cleared by the time we arrived, the sun shone and as we headed up and up to enjoy the most amazing panoramic views, we all glowed in the autumn warmth……or, put less politely, we sweated our way to the top of a steep and muddy path……
……to enjoy the most amazing panoramic views.