Walkies At White Horse Hill

Well hello there all of you, how the evil are you all? Spring finally seems to have sprung here in Blighty. On Sunday we met up with our good pals Ralf and Molly for a walk in the sunshine at White Horse Hill. Now we hadn't been there before, but we'll most certainly be going back.

Here is the horse on the hill. It is thought to have been cut into the hill during the Bronze Age, some 3000 years ago. It is thought to represent a tribal symbol. It is quite hard to see it when you're near it as it is very large (374 ft or 11o metres long). We found this photo of it online. There are quite a lot of white horses cut into the hillsides around Wiltshire, some ancient like this one, some more modern. The more recent ones were created with the aid of modern technology, but the mind boggles at how the ancient ones were created. You can read more about the white horses here.



This is Dragon's Hill and it lies at the bottom of the hill where the white horse is carved. Dragon Hill is, apparently, an artificial mound with a flat-top, to which clings the legend that it was on its summit that St. George slew the dragon. A bare patch of chalk upon which no grass will grow, is purported to be where the dragon's blood spilled.

The other interesting historical site here is Waylands Smithy. It's a Neolithic burial chamber. It was discovered an excavated in the 1960's and 14 bodies dating back 3500 years were found buried within! You can read more here

Little remains today, but it is still very atmospheric.

Anyway, enough history lessons! Let's get on to the fun subject of four Airedales running free together in gay abandon!

Here's me on the right and Ralf on the left. The girls are in the distance gossiping about something or other. Aren't we a handsome pair?

Cassidy, who lest we forget is a good deal younger than the rest of us (Ralf an Molly are 5 an 6), was in the lead for most of the day. That young girl is one confident pup let me tell you!

There was much bottom sniffing, ear pulling, racing up and own an general fun to be had. The girls id lots of playing, Ralf an I were more content to wander along sniffing and leaving pee mail.

There were hares in the fields on either side of the path. We didn't get to chase any, but they were interesting. Cassidy was intently on the look out here.

The dirty girls were happy to drink out of the puddles, Ralf and I had rather more decorum.

Cassidy has an endless amount of energy, an she was often waiting down the path for the rest of us to catch up. She's a goo girl though and doesn't wander too far away...

...although she did eat a lot of horse poop while waiting for us, yeuch!

Isn't this a glorious sight? English countryside in the spring, the view interrupted only by four fuzzy Dale bottoms! Look at Cassidy, she's gambolling along like a spring lamb!

Poor Molly got tired after all that running up and down with young madame. Her and Ralf are quite woolly at present and it was a really warm morning.

Mind you, I think Cassidy was fairly pooped too - can you see her tongue hanging out in this photo?

There was too much to explore to stop for too long though. We got so many admiring looks from fellow walkers and met quite a few other dogs.

Molly was laying in every puddle we came across, she's a muddy madame!

We climbed and climbed up a steep hill so we could go and see the white horse.

We all had to go back on our leads at this point as we had to walk through fields FULL of sheep. Some of them were pretty mean too. One of them was goose-stepping at me in a rather menacing fashion and I hadn't done anything to him!

And when we got to the top of the hill, who should we come across but another Airedale! She was called Gracie and is American, from Illinois and her mum was so excited to see the four of us. She took lots of photos and Cassidy gave Gracie a welcome kiss. It's a real shame we were in the field full of sheep as we could have had a good old romp as she was doing lots of playbowing and really wanted to have some fun with us!

There were lots of colourful kites flying on the hill. Ralf and Molly's dad said the fancy stunt kites can cost £400 (that's $800)!

And in the distance we could see these windmills used to generate "green" energy. Lots of people protested at them being built as they thought they would be a blot on the landscape, but I think green energy is a jolly good idea and they really aren't that ugly.

Well, I'll leave you with a few more views of the countryside.

It's so nice to see green returning to the landscape after the winter.

How's that for a view? We felt like we were on top of the world!

Here are some of the sheep. Cassidy enjoyed eating their poo too. Mean goose stepping sheep is not pictured.

Three Airedales, King of the Terriers and lords of all we survey.

We will certainly be going back here to walk again, it's a fabulous spot.

Toodle pip

Harry x