Cauldron Snout

The weather was perfect today for a visit to Upper Teesdale and a walk round to the impressive waterfall of Cauldron Snout. Part of this route is on the long distance footpath of The Pennine Way which for quite a time closely follows the bank of the River Tees. This area of Teesdale is part of the Moor House Nature Reserve and is a prime site for the rare Black Grouse.

I have posted more photographs and a short video on the website.Cauldron Snout, The Teesdsale Gallery

Ben A'n, Loch Achray

Before heading to the Scotland Trade Fair in Glasgow .we planned to complete just one more of the walks in the "100 Best Walks" book (we do have other walking books, honest!) It is only a 6km route to the top of a small crag but well worth the effort. The views down along Loch Katrine must be glorious on a clear day. The path was still pretty icy near the top despite the low height. To see the rest of the photos from this walk- click here

After the walk it didn't seem to take long to drive to the Trade Fair in Glasgow where we were able to meet some of our regular artist suppliers and get some great inspiration for new stock. More information will be posted shortly.

Ben Vrackie

There is more than one Ben Vrackie in Scotland but this is the one thta sits just outside Pitlochry. Yet again this walk is featured in Cameron MacNeish's book on Scotlands 100 Best Walks. I reckon that on a nice sunny summers day this would be a great half days walk. Today the main part of the route had a good covering of snow. Sadly the views to the distant hills were disappointing due to low cloud but it was still a great day to be out on the hills.

Made extra special as this was Bailey's first hill with us, hopefully the first of many. To see the rest of the days photographs click here.

Glen Ogle Trail

Just south from Killin is Glen Ogle where there is a walk which has been featured in the book Scotlands 100 Best Walks by Cameron MacNeish so as we were in the vicinity it would have been a shame not to try it out. The walk may not include any summits but by following the old railway line in the glen you can enjoy the surrounding scenery without much effort. The second half of the walk returns to the start at Lochearnhead by keeping on the old Military Road. Sadly, like most of the weekend the weather was overcast and dull so consequently the photographs are hardly stunning but hopefully they give you a flavour of the day.

                           

To take a look at the ptographs from this walk- click here.

Heading North

Each year we pay a visit to Scotlands Trade Fair which takes plase in Glasgow at the end of January. We take this opportunity to have a bit of a weekend break up in the Trossachs. A couple of years ago we located an excellent B&B in the village of Killin at the end of Loch Tay. In fact it is more of a self-contained cottage in  a converted barn. We hoped to get a few good walks in but this year we would restrict our outings due to both the serious winter conditions on the mountains and of course remembering that we had Bailey with us and we are not too sure yet about his fitness and obedience.
On the way up the A82 we stopped for a bit of a "leg-stretch" near the Drovers Arms just north of Loch Lomond.

If you would like to see the photographs from this walk click here.

Baileys first day at the gallery

As you may know, I am fortunate to have the dogs with me 24/7 and this includes having them in the gallery with me. The dogs have a nice basket in front of the open fire so I suppose its just like being in someones front room to them...hopefully!
The plan was to give Zeta and Bailey a good walk first thing so that it may help to burn off some of his energy. It seemed to have worked becasue within an hour or so he was settled in next to Zeta. Obviously when anyone came into the shop there were barks a' plenty but I'm sure that will soon pass. I suppose thats one of the advantages of getting him at this time of the year, less people passing through the gallery door.

Note that as a precaution Bailey still has his lead attached!

Bailey comes home

Exciting day today, it was the day I went to pick up Bailey. After a short talk at the Dogs Trust, Bailey was brought from his kennel and signed over to me. He is full of energy but I'm sure he will calm down once he understands what has happened to him. I didn't want to risk anything so he travelled home on his own in the back of the car but within a mile or so he was settled down and went to sleep, a good sign.
Plenty of excitement on arrival home (of course the cats disappeared upstairs!). Hopefully he will soon settle in to his new life.

Icicles near Bowes

Today was a day for a short walk from home. I planned to head west towards God's Bridge, a natural Limestone bridge across the River Greta. There was plenty of snow about, in fact the A66 has been shut west of Bowes for about a week now. My route would take me past an interesting feature, a large wall of icicles on the bank of the river formed by the slowly dripping water off the fields above freezing. It was impressive enough last year so hopefully after this long spell of low tempreatures it will be just as good.

and I wasn't wrong! if you wish to see the full set of photographs then click on this link.

God's Bridge and Icicles

2nd visit to The Dog's Trust.

This was the day that we both were to have a look at Bailey. We travelled to The Dogs Trust with a touch of excitement. There were to be a couple of criteria to meet before we even had the possibility of taking him home with us. The Trust is pretty particular about letting their dogs go and besides, what if Zeta didn't take to him, and what about the cats? All the dogs are assessed but this isn't a 100% guarrentee about the dogs personality.

After a brief chat to the team we were able to go and take a look at him. We did take a look at all the dogs just to make sure that Esther agreed with my choice, fortunately she agreed with me that Bailey was the one. We were allowed to take him on a short walk into the exercise field and boy was he keen! Despite the fact that he is underweight he can pull for England! He did calm down (slighty) after a while enough for me to get a couple of photos.

He was even introduced to Zeta and they got on fine, in fact he really took no notice of her.

So that's then, it seems as if Bailey has got himself a new home. I can't wait until Wednesday when if all goes well I will return to take him home.

A Visit to the Dogs Trust

As I had to be in Darlington for an hour or two today I took the oportunity to call in at The Dogs Trust at Sadburge. After we lost Zoe last March we have been too busy to bring in a new dog into the fold but now we are a bit more organised I thought it was worth a visit to see what dogs at the centre needed a good home. It's a great set up there and the staff are more than helpful. I suppose I was really keeping an eye out for a dog about Zeta's size, preferably a "gundog" type as they prehaps have the stamina needed to take out onto the fells. Of course there was plenty of choice with about 100 dogs looking for the right owner.
There were a couple which really took my eye but this one was possibly the one which seemed to tick all the right boxes.

This is Bailey, a young Setter/ Lab cross. He is looking a bit thin at the minute, possibly due to the stress of being in the kennels. All I have to do is persuade "the other half" that he would be a great addition to ouir team and of course I hope that he wants to come home with us.

Snow and Sun

This snowy period of weather continues so I managed to get out and about to capture some of the scenes around Bowes and Barnard Castle before going to the Gallery. Luckily the sun was making an appearance early on so it lit up some of the landscapes wonderfully.

Bowes Castle in the early light.

To see the rest of the photographs click on the link.

Sun and snow