Another GREAT weekend...continued!!

After we left Indy & Alf we headed up the motorway to a place called Basingstoke...this was so we could go visit my mate Charlie (& his Mum & Dad...Aunty Sally & Uncle Steve). On the way there we decided to check out a new walk that Mum & Dad had seen on a cool website called Driving with Dogs - this website really is brilliant if you ever go driving on motorways with your owners...it tells them (coz we can't read...yet!!) all about walks that are within 5 miles of motorway exits!!

Anyway, back to our walk...this one was off Junction 10 of the M3 & was at a place called St Catherine's Hill near Winchester. This walk was a real winner for Rio & me coz our favourite walks are anywhere with water as we just love swimming - on this walk there was water, water everywhere (plus loads & loads to drink!!). Here are a few pictures of St Catherine's Hill & the fabulous views:


The Itchen navigation canal



Apparently this is called a "Kissing Gate"...yuk...luckily
Rio didn't try to kiss me on the way through!!



This is an Iron-Age ditch...just imagine...it would have been dug by hand!

 

This lovely crown of Beech trees marks the very top of St Catherine's Hill - this was the centre of a human settlement around 3,000 years ago with a fort being built here in the 3rd century BC.



This is called a "Mismaze". It's 624 metres long & is made up of nine
nested squares cut out of the chalk in, it's thought, the 17th century.

On the North East edge of the beech copse lies the buried the remains
of a Norman Chapel that was built in the 12th century AD.

   

This is a view across the Itchen Valley toward Bushfield Camp,
which was once used as an Army barracks.

 

The Hospital of St Cross can be seen in the centre of the view.

 

In the foreground you can just see a series of ancient parallel pathways (known as 'Dongas') that criss-cross the area. These paths were formed over centuries by people walking their animals into market & from travelling between ancient sites & monuments.

 

Here you can see a view, in the distance, of Winchester

  

Believe it or not, this used to be the Winchester By-Pass!!!

  

Another GREAT weekend!

We were busy, busy, busy last weekend which was brilliant. It started on Saturday with Rio joining us "big boys & girls" at agility training for the first time - I was so proud of my little bruv...he does proper jumps now though only at the lowest level but I don't reckon it'll be long before he moves up to "medium" as he already jumps really high! I was also real impressed with how he did the "dog walk", "A-frame" & the weaves...no problem - I can see I'm going to have some competition particularly as he is REALLY quick!!

Then on Sunday morning we got up really early & met our mates Indy & Alf at our most favourite place for a walk...Mill Lawn. We all had a great time running through the undergrowth & splashing around in the stream. Here's a Smilebox with some of the photos Dad took:

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My mates...Charlie & Ezsti...

This afternoon Rio n me had a really great walk (& swim) at Hengistbury Head...&, guess who we saw...our mates Charlie & Ezsti - they'd brought along Ezsti's Mum & Dad (Mandy & Ian) so that they could get a bit of exercise too...though I didn't notice any of the humans doing much running around...they did do quite a lot of talking though! I hadn't seen Charlie for ages n ages...in fact I've only seen him once since our brilliant holiday in France back in January...it was SO good to catch up with him again...it was a shame his Mum & Dad weren't there ('pparently they were at something called a wedding)...it would've been good to give them some special Radar & Rio kisses!!!


There's Charlie sitting at the back (coz he's the most growd-up!!), then in the front "row" there's (from left to right) Ezsti, me n Rio...you can see Mudeford in the background!

We were pretty good at posing don't you think?!! Here's a couple of videos that Dad took of us all getting ready for the posing pictures...Dad reckoned it was really funny watching the "preparation"...

Rio's turn for agility photos!

Mum & me were taking part in an agility competition yesterday but Dad stayed at home with Rio & the camera (!!) so there aren't any pictures of me this time. By the way, I did three runs...got 5 faults in one but had two clear rounds...!! Dad came along in time for Rio's lesson...here's a Smilebox with a few of the photos he took of my little bruv:

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And a quick couple of videos (one was such a big file that Mum had to put it on UTube first!!)...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EsCU1IWA-Q

Agility Stuff!

It's Wednesday so that means it's agility for me & Rio...our favourite!! Coz Dad was home he was able to come to my session & took loads of photos of me & my agility mates...I hope you enjoy the Smilebox that Mum's put together:

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Busy old weekend!!

Loads of great things happened this weekend...first & foremost, Dad came home! He's been away for AGES...me n Rio have missed him loads & loads! He actually got back on Saturday night...we waited up specially so that we could give him BIG licks & nibbles...I think he wished he'd been wearing armour coz we well & truly mobbed him!! He did look a bit different tho...he'd got all this fur on his face...maybe he was trying to look like us...it didn't half tickle when I gave him kisses!!!!

Our Dad...!

I spent some quality time with Dad on Sunday...just me & him...yeah!! This was coz Mum took Rio to another of those show things...this time they went to the Hungarian Vizsla Club Championship Show in a place called Brackley. Guess what...my little bruv did us proud again...he came first in the Minor Puppy class...he was also Best Puppy Dog...AND...he got Reserve Best Puppy in Show...what a clever boy. As usual Mum forgot to take any pictures of him at the show so Dad took one when they got home - here he is "standing" with Mum in the garden...just look at those rosettes & trophies:

And here's one of me...

I don't do "standing" but I do a very handsome sit!!

After all the excitement of Dad coming home & of Rio's show success, we were pretty tired so, coz I was so proud of him, I let Rio share my duvet when we went for a little nap:

Yesterday, Rio n me just wanted to stay close to Dad...just in case he decided to go to sea again:

Rio camping out on the bean-bag in Dad's office!

  

Here's me "lying" guard at the office door!!

Yesterday afternoon, Dad & Mum took us to a new beach called Studland...& guess what...to get there we had to go on a thing called a ferry...was that exciting or what?!! Here's a picture that Dad took of Studland beach...it's looking back towards Sandbanks & if you look real carefully you can see the ferry:

We had a really great time...we did loads of swimming & there were masses of sand-dunes to run around in:



Mum using the ball chucky thing...just to encourage us to run around the dunes...as if we needed encouraging!