Barking

My day didn't start well.

Because of the road closure a few hundred yards to the west and the start of today's walk being in that direction, I decided to leave early and walk there - it's about a 35-minute walk away - rather than go by car and have a four-mile diversion. I would later leave the walk before the end and return home the same way.

At the bottom of my road a women was walking her (young-looking) dog and it seemed excited to see a passer-by. Despite it being on a lead, as I leant my hand forward to let it have a sniff, one of its paws caught the back of my hand and scratched it, drawing blood. Thankfully, I had antiseptic gel and tissues, but it wasn't the start to my walk I was anticipating. (I am not, and never have been, a dog owner so happy to accept that any fault for the scratch was mine.)

Our Ramblers walk today was in Castlecary Woods and was a bit of a there-and-back affair. The ground on some parts of the walk had obviously been very muddy but thankfully there were only a few small patches where we had to watch our step and take a short diversion. The good weather of recent days has obviously helped.

On our outward journey we met a professional dog-walker with eleven canine companions, some on leads, others not. They were, to be fair, well-mannered and while happy to wander between and around us and have a wee sniff and say hello, there was no jumping up on us or aggressive or over-excited barking or anything like that. We went our separate ways, but the fun came on our return journey.

This time, one or two of the dogs who were not on leads decided we would be better companions than their professional human and tagged along for a while, ignoring her calls to come back to her. We eventually stopped at a junction in the path and waited until the two dogs started to turn back towards their 'leader'.

Hoping they were now on their way to being reunited, we set off again only to be joined a minute or so later by more of the 'pack' wanting to join in the fun. Our walk was obviously far more fun than their own. The dogs were no problem at all to us, they were quite happy doing doggy things (no, not these doggy things!) as they walked alongside and among us but we had to stop a wee while later while the handler, all the while still calling their names, caught up with us (with all her other dogs in tow) got leads on the wanderers and headed back from where she came and towards her van. She earned her money today and it was just her bad luck that we were out on the same path.

But I have had enough of dogs for one day. I prefer my walkies to be canine-free.