Delamere and a dotty collie

So before Sunday lunch and heading back to London to have friends around for dinner (yes a packed weekend) we went for a walk in Delamere Forest. Where I found Keane were playing outdoors next June. So booked myself in for that. (Little did I know that Delamere Forest is more accessible than I thought - it has a rail station!)

Anyway we "climbed" (it really isn't steep) up Delamere Old Pale - essentially a small hill in a generally flat part of the country. At its peak there is a large granite monument (below) which is surrounded by several others (henge like) each noting the county that you can see beyond it. So I photographed each one. Although the views of each county aren't terribly distinctive....

So, Lancashire..

Which looks very similar to Yorkshire...

Derbyshire

Staffordshire

Shropshire

Denbighshire (not updated for all the new Welsh counties in Welsh. Well, after all, the name is literally set in stone...)

And Flintshire

And here is the general view of the top

The little white disc in the misty distance is the Jodrell Bank radio telescope.

The full ensemble; Dave, Alison and Poppy

The views are unfortunately shared with telecommunication towers. But hey, we want to communicate so they have to go somewhere

And finally a word about Poppy, my friends' lockdown dog, the "dotty collie". As you can see, still on its lead even up here and in a pond. Not trusted to come back if allowed off it. The real problem, which is I am informed common among collies, is that it is truly a sheep dog. That is its instinct; what it was bred for. Unfortunately, living in a small town, my friends don't have a flock of sheep. And so Poppy instinctively wants to herd whatever moves - cars, cyclists, joggers. She goes potty at the sight of any of them. (And other dogs.)

At home she is what can only be described euphemistically as "enthusiastic". She welcomed me to the household like a new best friend. Fortunately I don't mind a dog jumping up at me, even though her front paws when "standing" are exactly the right height for whacking me in the groin. It was the desire to lick me which I found weird. Could just about keep her off my face, but, as below she, did like going for my wrists. Why?

But her other weird trait is in the evening, just before settling down, she suddenly hurtles a few laps around the living room behind the furniture, completely out of the blue. Like suddenly finding yourself in the middle of a small greyhound track. Or in fact, a one dog Collie race.

Still, main thing is it takes her owners out for a daily walk and gives them someone to talk to that doesn't talk back. And something time consuming to look after now the kids have grown up. Personally I can make  do with a good book, or going out with the young of my own species. At least they can be relied upon to eat the food put in front of them and not eschew it in favour of a used wet wipe found on a hillside. But each to their own😄