Asher & snow again

After more substantial snowfall over the weekend (fortunately nothing like as bad as they suffered darn sarf!!) I took the opportunity to get out and about once more. Meg had been released from all other duties such as barking at the milk, postmen etc and was free to come with me. Henry the springer spaniel we inherited from my sister was deemed too independant to come with us. Basically Henry is a dog with his own agenda i.e. he is far too intelligent to respond to his owners commands which is a bit like me and Cheryl...I think I shall leave that one to the readers imagination.... just remember I am the good guy.

Anyway I had had a bout of Winstons "black dog" over the past few days (if you are well read historically you will know what I mean) so it was good to be out and active in the fresh air. We decided to do the Ashover route in reverse which meant a viscous initial climb from Tansley in difficult conditions underfoot. Meg however was excelling at showing how easy it was, only pausing to eat snow. Is snow to dogs what beer is to obese males? She certainly had her share on the stretch over but since it failed to inhibit her motion or activity I can only assume not. Anyway we made decent time only losing our way once and stopped once more at the Crispin for suitable refreshment.

The post lunch meander turned out to be anything but easy. Firstly the cloud dropped meant we were walking in a light blizzard. Having decided to extend the route this also meant we were walking across roads and fields we had not been before despite only being five miles from home. At one stage we entered a field where allegedly there was a path. With the clouds down restricting visibility and no sign of anybody having walked this way since the snowfall we were almost completely blind. Suddenly out of the murk a black cow (or rather twenty) appeared heading menacingly towards us. Yes I know they are gentle animals but one running towards you is still a lot of steak in motion. Meg, ever the loyal and devoted protector of her master promptly legged it leaving me and Ermintrude to face up. Fortunately my deliberately cultivated obese status made Ermin (we were getting familiar by this stage) realise it was not such a one sided contest. Oh and me yelling at her to F*** off helped.

Anyway....... that little diversion aside we finished the walk. Meg had decided to do the loyal thing three miles from home meaning she was knackered running away from the cow. I wasn't talking to her after her previous show of devotion and calmly let a retriever chase after her close to home....ha now you know what if feels like dog! 12.5 miles completed at the standard 3 miles per hour showed I am definately getting fitter if not slimmer although I welcomed the hot bath at the end. I reckon this obese thing is definately saving on the gas bills however... less water and deeper baths.