Pi and Molly set out on a new walk taken from my recently purchased book. It is 41/2 miles starting and ending at the Seven Sisters Country Park. The weather is mild, dry and sunny. The walk starts well despite the fact that we are meant to be able to see 2 wooden sculptures shortly after exiting the car park. Needless to say we do not see them. The dogs are in fine fettle with their noses to the ground, enjoying the autumnal smells of rotting leaves and fetid rabbit corpses (more of which later).
Aiming for Litlington and an enchanting looking tea room but take wrong turn. Luckily we meet some locals who kindly point us in the right direction. Pi, however refuses to pass the couple, so we end up waiting for them to pass us before we can continue. Strange dog.
Find tea room, which looks delightful. What's a walk without a cream tea??!!
It's closed on Mondays!!??
Use the loos (well we've both had children and you know what that does for the bladder) and continue - past a white horse carved into the hillside. Apparently it was made by a local farmer in the 19th Century - no TV, no internet, no wii - what else are you supposed to do of an evening?
Walk returns along the bank of the river Cuckmere. The book clearly says "Do not cross the bridge". On the advice of a blackberrying couple we cross the bridge. No trolls - phew. Lots of cattle on the path. Dogs go on leads. H is terrified of cows. Most of them move away but one remains, stubbornly on the path. It is staring at H. Did I say that H is petrified of cows. I give her Pi to hold whilst I do my cow whisperer act. The cow lowers its head and still refuses to move. I windmill my arms and try to look authoritative. The cow moooooves. As we pass H points out the bull. We walk a little quicker.
The beagle takes a dip in the river. The current is swift and even though she's doggie paddling strongly she makes no progress. She paddles quicker. I'm about to climb down to haul her out when she scrabbles amongst the reeds and rejoins us. Later she paddles in a puddle and emerges with her legs coated in black mud. It stinks. Hope this dries off before we reach the car. H is glad it's my car.
The path narrows and we are relieved it's not high tide. Molly, who usually stays glued to H's legs has stopped some yards back. We retrace our steps to find her nibbling on a dead bunny. Thank goodness Bob wasn't with us. He tends to swallow them whole then spends the next 10 minutes crunching on the bones with fur dangling from his jaws.
Pi has been surprisingly well behaved today and we celebrate with sandwiches at the Golden Galleon pub.
Molly has tummy ache.
