Exercise Monday

As I think I mentioned, we've had Sally today so that Elanor could go to a job interview in her lunch break. She tells us it went quite well, and the job would be an improvement on her present one, but only time will tell how she got on, of course.

Meanwhile, the present run of dry weather has meant that the towpaths and footpaths are now much easier walking; routes which were made difficult by mud slides and huge pools are passable again. Setting off from the marina a bit before ten, Sally and I were able to do the route past the side of the gravel pit bird reserve that we couldn't complete a couple of weeks ago.

We walked the towpath west out of Willington until we came to the turn off to cross the railway line by a tall footbridge. On the other side we turned left along a track towards the still functioning bit of the gravel pit, only turning right at the last moment to go down the side of the reserve. Here I could let Sal have a run off the lead which she much appreciated, bounding about in search of bunnies, all of whom had read their Br'er Rabbit and were hiding in the briar patches.

At the far end, the track back to Repton Road was now accessible, though covered in loose gravel as a memento of its earlier submersion. With Sally back on her short lead we returned through the village, Sal doing her impression of a model hound, not least because she was quite weary. Indeed, by the time we were well along Findern Road, she was almost lagging behind, just keeping her shoulder at my knee in the approved fashion.

What a change from the explosive, almost unre-homeable hound of less than three years ago. She truly is a credit to Elanor's patience and hard work.

After lunch and a good post prandial nap, we all three went round the marina, stopping to be admired on the far side by fellow boater Mike Coates, who's not short of expertise in the matter of assessing hunting dogs, being a gamekeeper's son.

The rest of the day's passed quietly. Sheila's been running her Monday washloads; I got through to the surgery this morning to make an appointment for a week on Friday to get my repeat prescriptions sorted out for the summer.