Unfortunately due to Ted’s recent bad experiences with other dogs, he has become quite reactive (we are getting training for this) and you can see how uneasy he is out on walks worrying about running into one. Something that has really been helping him enjoy walks recently is getting up early and going out before most people (and dogs) are even out of bed. We’re trying to do this at least once a week as its a great training opportunity and also allows us to explore beautiful walks that are usually quite busy. I thought it would be useful to document these walks incase anyone else (reactive dogs or otherwise) would like to make an early morning expedition for a peaceful walk just them and their dog.

Location/ Route

A few weekends ago we went for a lovely hike to Lud’s church. You can walk across The Roaches to get there but we wanted to start off easy so we only did half of the full route. We parked in a lay by at the end of The Roaches which has a signposted route guiding you to Lud’s Church.

We had our pick of spaces since it was so early. There was no one else there when we arrived and even when we got back to the car there were only a couple of others arriving. We then did a circular walk which looped us back around to the car.

Unfortunately Lud’s church itself was so muddy that we only walked half way down then had to turn back and come out the way we went in so we went a slightly different route than we had planned. Poor Ted was practically swimming through the mud – thankfully they have since put down a wooden walkway.

Time

This was actually our first early morning hike so we didn’t do too well at getting up – we woke up at about 6 but didn’t actually arrive and start walking until half 7. Luckily we were still early enough not to run into any dogs, we didn’t even see many other people – just a runner and a few walkers. In terms of how long the walk took us, we were back to the car for 9.30 so we were out for 2 hours. You could easily do this walk in just over an hour but when you’re like me and stop for photos every 5 minutes it adds on quite a bit of time.

Rating

Difficulty:

The walk was relatively easy, mostly flat! If it hadn’t have been for the steps down into Lud’s Church I would have given this a 1 paw difficulty rating but they are quite steep. Ted was actually a bit scared of them so I ended up carrying him down.

Enjoyment:

Overall this was a great walk, very quiet at this time of morning which is just what I wanted for Ted. I’ve had to knock one paw off due to the fact we almost got stuck in the mud whilst we were walking through Lud’s Church but i’m sure if the weather has been nice you wouldn’t have this issue!

Photos

That’s all from us! If you try this walk be sure to let us know how you got on by tagging us in a photo on instagram or tweeting us: @cheshirecanines

Love,

Ellie & Ted