Mud and Duck tape

Beagle Welfare's very own "GI Jane" aka Clare C has been up to some serious training for the walk. However, it was not walking she was doing.
Last weekend, Clare, daughter Annie and Beagle Nelly took part in the Ruff Dugger and completed the 5k course in an amazing time of 33 mins 33 seconds.
For the uninitiated among you, this is a very, very, very muddy trail and obstacle course that you do with a dog strapped to you.
Most people do it to raise money for good causes or to challenge themselves but not our Clare, she did it for fun!!??
This is the before photo

Not only did she have to wade through mud pits and streams she also had to drive for 6 hours (bank holiday traffic) to get to the venue.
Luckily help was at hand from seasoned professional Kenny Watt, who obviously having witnessed the carnage that is the ruff dugger many times, taped Clare's trainers to her feet to ensure that they stayed in place - genius idea!
Carefully negotiating a stream - Nelly is not looking impressed!

Oh yes she did do some running too!

The event is very popular with a broad spectrum of people getting down and dirty including kids "The Mucky Pups".
The after photo the girls look way too clean  - unlike poor Nelly!

Definitely not my idea of fun although even Clare was disappointed by the lack of mud!
My own training in the last couple of weeks is pretty dull in comparison, just walks around the same places currently. Have had exercise in the decorating department which has kept me otherwise engaged, however, nearly completed so back to the tracks in the next week or so.

The boys have been very quiet about their training, although I suspect they are getting the miles in more from them next time!

North vs South

It seems that the path of simple fundraising events does not run smoothly and so I have had to change my plans for our fundraising walk in August, its nothing to do with me not wanting to listen to Clare's singing for 5 straight days, or the fact that there is a haunted inn that we are booked into, but unfortunately, my domestic situation has altered and I am unable to leave my beagles for 5 days whilst I head up north to join the others for the walk.
My plan is still to actually walk 100 miles or so, but not in the midge ridden highlands of Scotland, but the beautiful Devon coast.
I have not quite planned my route as yet, but it will involve mostly coastal walks and will take in a lot of the South West Coast path. I have my Fitbit which can track my mileage so I wont be cheating and it might just get a little bit competitive, who knows! More about that next time.

The others will still be in Scotland and following on from earlier blogs, there journey on day three will take them from the hauntings at Drovers Inn at Inverarnan to Crianlarich, which is the official half way point of the walk and takes them past a "Sheep Creep" apparently a low tunnel! From here the journey continues to Tyndrum which is famous for St Fillan's chapel which Robert the Bruce raised to a priory in 1318 - why do so many men come with "the something or other" after their christian name, it was a bit like that in a pub I used to live near, where many of the locals were referred to in this way; Mick the sniff, Mark the book, Dave the plank, Mark the bathroom!
Sorry I digress, what is or was "the Bruce"???? (Answers on a postcard or failing that please tell me what that was all about in a comment if you feel the need)
I suspect Nicola Sturgeon would be happy to have him around now!

It's then onwards through glens and mountainous scenery to the Bridge of Orchy over the river Orchy, which according to wikipedia, is the finest white water river in the UK! On a further couple of miles to their overnight stop at Inveroran.

might need to change the cow picture from a Highland cattle to a Devon ruby red cow for my walk!

An olympic athlete..... and blisters

So its been a busy couple of weeks, well that's my excuse for the delay in this post.
I have however discovered that I am in fact an Olympic athlete.
What?
It's all down to GPS.
I don't often use the "track my exercise" on the Fitbit, but over the last couple of weekends I have started walks which I have not done before, just getting out and seeing a bit more of the Devon countryside.
So I packed the boys in the car drove out to the edge of Dartmoor parked up and just went wherever the dogs wanted to go, well nearly.
Occasionally I get the "I don't want to go that way" stand off usually from Alfie

however Freddie has now picked up this little way and if he wants to go a different way will just plant his feet and refuse to move

With a little coaxing and some tugging at the lead I usually win.

So we head off towards nowhere in particular with the track exercise on. I don't usually take much notice of the route on my phone as I am going along, however, I was quite astonished to find about 20 minutes into our walk we had actually covered around 3 miles, and better still after an hour we had walked around 10 miles! When I looked at the track it was a little off our route, poor GPS, although probably what the beagles had actually walked as it zig zagged along the path that I had walked. I console myself with a sandwich and the boys get a quick treat, before we head back.

I suspect on any walk we do, they always cover twice as much ground as me in their quest to sniff out the best rubbish dropped by people.

It does infuriate me somewhat that people moan about the amount of dog dirt that lazy owners leave, when others just think it acceptable to discard fast food half eaten and even a whole bag of pick and mix that I had to try and prise out of Fred's mouth the other day!

Just digressing even further, I had to chuckle at the news in London recently about the DNA testing of  dog poo and that the first place it was going to happen would be in Barking!How apt.

So I probably wouldn't get far in any Olympic try out, but we are enjoying the nice walks that we are discovering.

My now, not so new boots, are also getting a good "wearing in" and no blisters so far, unlike Neil's friend Mark when he tried to do the Great Glen Ways 2 years ago with new "un-broken in" boots and was rewarded with this little beauty!

A lesson to us all, make sure new boots are well broken in before heading off on a 100 mile trek!

Varying levels of training are being undertaken by the girls, Claire B did a 15k walk this week, Clare C won the weekly challenge when we did one two weeks ago and we have no idea what Suzanne is up to as she has lost her Fitbit! 

More Scotland next time