Middleton Sands ... but Longer

What I actually wanted to do the day after we went to Middleton Sands was convince all of my kids to go back there with me. But getting three teenagers to leave the house when they don't want to is a lot harder than getting three primary school children to go outside. When they're small, you can just pick them up and put them in the car – but two of my boys are now over 6 feet tall, and much more able to pick me up and put me in the car. Anyway, they wouldn't come with me, so I took Freya by myself.

Just look at it, eh? Absolutely stunning. It's almost better when there are clouds because the sky looks more dramatic. It makes me feel like painting ... but I probably won't because I really have no skill.

Today I decided that we would walk further than we had the day before. The tide was clearly well out, so I wasn't planning to see if we could reach the sea – and the further you go out, the more likely you are to encounter sinking sand, I would imagine. But I do notice that, if I have a decent walk on Saturday, I have lots of great energy for another good jaunt on Sunday. Funny how exercise does that. And a real shame that working hard at a desk doesn't have the same effect. But anyway, let's not dwell on work!

My plan was to do a big loop of the beach and turn back when we were fairly close to the power station, so that's what we did. Very clear view of the snowy mountains on this day, look.

LOOK! The trusty iPhone camera didn't do too badly this time at zooming. Some people around these parts will know the names of them there hills, but I am not one of those people. Just as I don't remember the names of trees, I don't remember the names of mountains I've never conquered. For example, my brother and I call one of them t' Pike o' Stickles Bliskets because we can't remember its real name, and actually, I don't even know where it is anymore. Or if it even exists. We possibly just made it up in the car on the way to the Lakes once. I can remember the names of only a couple that I have hiked up, but I'll save them for when we're allowed to go roaming again. 

Don't you think this looks like an Arctic basecamp? I do. That could be a little group of scientists, off to collect some core samples. 

Over yonder is ... I was about to say Clougha Pike, but I think that is actually Hare Appletree and Grit Fell. We already know I've walked up there, but for our new readers, you can see those stunning views here. Doesn't the view from the beach here look all ... glacial, though, eh? I can imagine the glacier making its glacial way glacially down to the sea, carving the rock on its way. Of course, you'll know I've made that up – I don't know at all if those formations were made by glaciers.

Back on the beach, Freya found lots of little islands, and each one we passed close by had to be explored. She ran to them gleefully, looking back to see if I was impressed when she reached the summit. Of course, I was. Then she spent some time exploring each island, sniffing, sampling the vegetation, looking for tiny inhabitants. She found none. She did eat a lot of grass and muddy sand though.

We capered about for quite some time, all the while assessing the wobbliness of the sand we were walking on. Okay, fine, yes, Freya didn't do much of that, but continued to dart about, getting covered in stinky mud, drinking seawater, getting sand in her eyes, shouting at seagulls, fetching me the drenched and smelly tennis ball and having the best time of her life. I gazed on fondly, thinking how wonderful it is to finally have a dog that I can set free for a while – I totally love it. Look how far she went from me! But she came back every time I asked her to.

We walked for seven days. Eventually, we came within shouting distance of the nuclear power station, and we could even hear the tannoy, though I couldn't make out what was being said. 'By the third stroke, the time sponsored by Accurist will be ... boop ... boop ... boop ...'

I don't know why I just said that. Obviously going completely off my rocker. 

Buoys. Very fascinating. 

Whelk egg cases. Yes, you know me by now, I Googled this just a second ago to find out. But if you ever thought this stuff was white seaweed, like I did, now you know the truth. Not particularly poisonous for dogs, but might make them a bit sicky if they eat it. Freya used it like a football.

Incidentally, you'll notice Freya's ears trying their hardest to stand up like German shepherd ears are supposed to. I'm not sure if they ever will properly, but it's cute that they're trying. Ten out of ten for effort. Assisted by the wind though – they never stand up when she's in the house.

This was the only point at which I lost her attention properly. There were some type of wading birds who seemed oblivious to the fact that they were within range of a herding dog, and she caught sight and scent of them and was off! I had no chance with my little chopped up bits of ham. I hollered and hooted and danced around for about three minutes, but she completely ignored me. Which is why we don't yet go off lead in places where there are roads and such! She came back eventually, when she realised she was never going to catch the little birds.

I was quite excited about reaching this pebbly bit because I wanted to test whether Freya would stay with me or get it into her head that she had been granted permanent freedom and could now consider herself to be a beach dog, with me visiting her every now and then to bring treats and throw the ball. I kept up the relentless offering of little bits of ham, so she kept coming back to me in between her sniffs of stones, grass and seaweed. When we reached the carpark, that was the real test. Would she know what I was up to and give the car a wide berth, or would she jump happily into the car because that's what cars are for? 

I opened the car door, said 'in you get, young lady', and she obliged. Astonishing! I'm not big on bragging, but, honestly, best dog in the world. Well, maybe second – she could be better at not chasing innocent birds.

After that two-mile walk (it's quite a big beach!), young miss would quite happily have larked about for another hour or two. But I know better than she does – within one and a half minutes after we'd set off home, she was fast asleep on the front seat, completely zonked. Brilliant.

Before I go, I would just like to welcome our new readers. Hello, new readers! So lovely of you to join us. There are lots of you! Some of you have said hello already, but some of you are quite shy, and that's okay – I'm shy too. Stay a while, if you've a mind. We're not going anywhere, except for our local walks. Read as much or as little as you like. 

Until tomorrow, lovely people,

Linda and Freya