The Hound of Kendal

As we approached the top of the Helm, looking down on us from above, as we squinted into the bright sunlight, was the silhouetted form of the diabolical, slavering beast of Kendal, a modern day version of the Hound of the Baskervilles.

Most sightings of large predators in our landscape these days are of big cats, usually big black cats, the rare in the true wild version of the leopard - the black panther. They are everywhere, so often seen, but never truly found to the satisfaction of science. There was even a tiger reported prowling the outskirts of Paris last week. The study of these unproven large beasts is called cryptozoology. In his book Feral, George Monbiot describes the man who spent fifteen years hunting for proof of big cats. In pursuit of the Beast of Exmoor, the only thing he caught was himself when he accidentally sprung his trap when we was baiting it. It was two days before he was found, during which he subsisted on raw meat.

But here at last is evidence of that much rarer sighting, a giant hound - alive and menacing on the top of the Helm in Kendal.

ps Thank you for all the stars, comments, and hearts for yesterday's Castle in the Bay. I shall be back later to say thank you in person. Time now to take another smaller and gentler hound to the woods for his evening walk.

pps this isn't Gus.