The Cat and Fiddle Walk – enjoying a staycation

Somehow this year we’ve failed to get a camping trip in.  April yielded glorious weather, but it didn’t seem such a good idea with a 5 month puppy that we couldn’t walk very far.  Vet advice had suggested no serious walking until he’s 12 months.  Of course we’ve broken these rules we do have an energetic Border Collie who has the potential to become destructive if he’s not tired out occasionally.  And of course our local pub by the canal is about 15 minutes too far if you  follow vet’s advice and you all know how much Ziggy loves the pub.

And of course later in the summer and the weather just hasn’t been right.  Our recent trip to the cottage in Coniston was the result of a poor forecast.  Now in August,  we have a 4 day weekend and alternating sunny and wet forecasts.  I don’t mind a bit of rain but I want to know that tent is going up in the dry and coming down dry. So we’ve settled on a “staycation”.

Ziggy – in the garden

making the most of his staycation

We decided to introduce Ziggy to one of our favourite walks.  It conveniently starts at the Cat & Fiddle Inn, http://www.maccinfo.com/cat/.  Runs across the moor to the three Shires Head for lunch.  Walking across the moor seemed to have been an opportunity for Ziggy to seek out every peat bog in existinace.  Fortunately to limit his walking we kept in on the lead.  Otherwise we’d have decided to rename the blog – Peat Bog Dog Blog.  Catchy!!!!  Ziggy loved it at the Three Shires  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Shire_Head   http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v489/btraffordphotos/Leek/?action=view&current=3shiresheadhdrlong.jpg  and  took the opportunity to have a good old splash around in the water.

On entering Wildboarclough  http://www.peakdistrictinformation.com/towns/wildboar.php   we took a detour to The Crag Inn  http://www.whatpub.org/guide/000000/Pub000190.htm  on Ziggy’s insitance of course.  We dropped on the 1^st Sunday of the month and they had a live Jazz Band.  We only stayed for a swift pint before moving on.  Usually the walk takes in Shuttlingslow part of the Gritstone ridge that runs through much of the peak district, Staffordshire and Cheshire, but Ziggy is still just 8 months and with at least 2 miles ahead of us, we thought the extra climb might just have been too much.

It’s a fabulous walk and one I know next year we will do as a complete circuit with him.