One Sunday morning, I woke up to rain and grey clouds. My suggestion that I take the visiting ball-guy for a nice walk while she went to work was vetoed, but by the time she came back, so had summer. The sun was shining, the day was getting hotter, even if it was blowing a gale… so when we had eaten their lunch and she asked if I was ready to go on another adventure, I jumped at the chance!
We didn’t have all that far to drive this time, ’cause they were taking me somewhere they had been before… Whiteleaf Cross, up on the Ridgeway. She talked about it a bit (and about me!) in the podcast she did the other day. It wasn’t long before we were parked and heading into the woods.
I like woods… there are lots of new smells to ‘vestigate, and with it being late in the year, loads of crispy leaves on the ground to run through and crunch. There were lots of other dogs too, so they kept me on the leash a bit longer than they needed… just in case the other dogs weren’t all that friendly.
Now, I have to mention that leash, even though they soon let me off. The last one was nice and soft. Easy to bite my way out of. Try crunching this one and you’ll break your teeth, ’cause it is made out of chain. Sneaky. Not, I hasten to add, that they have made me wear one of those mean and horrible choker things… or even worse, one of those vicious things with spikes inside… it is just unchewable and much shorter than my favourite leash! She says it serves me right for biting through the last one, but that she’s got me a new long one too.
Anyway, we headed through the trees to a gate on what they told me was the Ridgeway. Now, I didn’t know its name, but I know about these ancient tracks that go across the country. You two-legses have used this one for about five thousand years and it still goes for nearly ninety miles… even though you have built your cities in its path. It used to be around four hundred miles coast to coast, from the south-west to Norfolk in the east… but some of it still remains and all along its route there are ancient and sacred sites.
We had come to see Whiteleaf Cross, a huge chalk figure cut into the hillside. She says it is over three hundred feet tall and no-one really knows how old it is. It might only be a few hundred years old, but it could have been made much earlier, then changed into something less pagan-looking, she told me, but she wouldn’t tell me what she thought it might have symbolised before it became a cross…
But the Cross isn’t the only thing to see. There is a dyke as well, that goes right back to the earliest times… and trenches that only go back a hundred years where soldiers trained for the trench warfare of WWI.
There are barrows just above the Cross too… ancient burial mounds. Only one of them still really looks like a mound, and when it was excavated a Neolithic burial was found inside… a man with worn teeth, abscesses and arthritis so he was probably quite old for his time. There was a child’s cremation buried in there too, much later in the Bronze Age, and they found bits of Roman stuff as well, so it has always been an important place.
And there were other things that interested me ‘specially… like motorbikes and horses. ‘Course, they didn’t think I should be off the leash with them around… which was good in the end, ’cause the ball-guy took me off exploring till they had gone.
I had a nap in the car and was ready with the ball as soon as we got in, but between the hills and the wind, I had quite worn them out by the time we got home. No stamina these two-legses! 
Still, I won’t complain… we had a lovely day and I quite enjoyed their dinner too.
Wonder where they’ll take me exploring next?
Much love,
Ani xxx
Another wonderful adventure. 😀
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🙂
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Looks like a great voyage and a fine doggish day. Don’t worry about the chain. Your Two Legses will come around 🙂
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It was a fun day out 🙂
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The humans get tired way too easily, don’t they? I often offer mine a game with the ball when we get home, but they almost always complain they need to rest a while before they can play. Like you said, no stamina. Anyway, sounds like this was a fun adventure too, even if there was that unfairness of the shorter leash you had to wear that was made of chain. Lots of licks, Lilie
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Thankfully, I’m back to the long leash again… which is great as I never like to be too far from my two-legs.
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That’s great to hear. Lots of licks, Lilie
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That sounds like so much fun Ani, I love to do that too when I go on holidays with my two legs they take me to lovely places too.💜💜 Love Ruby 💜
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Hi Ruby… I’ll bet your two-legs could use a holiday right now too! look after her. ❤
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Well I will but she’s in bed today and I am not allowed upstairs 😣. Though I did sneak up and see her quickly.💜💜
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You can guard the stairs for her against pigeons and postmen ( they are usually the worst 😉 xx
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Okay , that will be something new for me I have never had to guard the stairs before! I was allowed up but now they say it will make my Arthritis worse…..they think they know it all💜☀️
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My two legs says her arthritis got worse when she no lnger had stairs to climb… 😉 xx
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See , two legs they are so contrary 😜
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Tell me about it 😉 xx
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Lol 💜😀😀
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A lovely adventure and thanks for the link to the podcast. I really enjoyed it.
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Thanks, Mary. She doesn’t talk about me enough though 😉
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That view is stupendous! (Perhaps not a big deal for you, Ani, but we two-legs love that kind of thing!) 🙂
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Yeah… mine kept saying so too 😉
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Sounds like a fab day Ani. I was laughing at how you enjoyed ‘their’ dinner. LOL ❤
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It’s a service I provide regularly 😉 ❤
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LOL ❤
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Thank you for another sequel of “A.I.” (Ani’s Investigations). 😉 You are a wonderful fourlegger, with now great experiences in the history of your landscape. Best wishes, Michael
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There is a lot to explore 😉
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Fore shure, Ani! But save the bigger stones for others. Lol Best wishes, Michael
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I’ve met some very big stones 🙂
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Had seen, Ani! 😉 Good work.
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