Where the fells meet the sea
Big Big Stretchies where am I? Dads here, mums here…..ah yeah adventures in Betsy. All’s well curl up and snooze some more. Didn’t get much of a snooze, soon we were off. I played with the camp puppy on the way to the road at the bottom of the hill. Mum had a bag of rubbish so we went via the pot wash to the bins. Dad what’s that? Can I play with it? “Don’t normally see rabbits in the pot wash Poppy, it’s only a baby” said dad, Can I play with it? “No poppy its only a baby” Grrrrrrrr.
Soon we were on a path going to a castle and I was off leash. We passed the roman baths and went to the end where mum said she saw a sign post. When we got there the sign post said nothing about a castle so back up the hill we trotted. Dad saw a peoplsee and asked him which way to the castle, he pointed to a path, dad thanked him and off we went. We walked for ages, stopping to try and see the woodpeckers, up and up we went. The path took us through woods, by water and eventually fields.
When we got to the castle the peoplsees wanted £12 each to get in, worse I would have to go back on leash! Dad said “If poppys have to go on leash we’ar no goin”. It didn’t stop him using their rest rooms! Back down the hill then? On the way down Mum commented on how we have not seen a single person on the path, no sooner than she said it four groups of peoplsees came up the path. Soon we were at the bottom of the hill the sky had changed colour and we could see the sea.
I was getting hungry, can we go back to Betsy for dinners? Ok Tink, you win we will go back to Betsy.
At the field beside Betsy’s space where the ba lambs play I could not see Betsy. Dad where’s Betsy? “She is hiding Poppy” said dad. Mmmm, nope don’t see her.
After lunch the skys were blue, can we go to the water? Mum and dad put their coats on and we plodded down to the village. After a quick game of ball on the beach we followed the path to a big big bridge. This was like no bridge I have been on before, you could see the sea far below between the gaps on the floor.
Glad to be off that! On the other side I could go to the sea, mmm sea, sand ….BALL! Look how the village looks different from over here. More Ball! The path was odd. It looked like a path but cars used it. Don’t know how cars would do when the sea is high. Even I could tell the sea comes in higher than the path road.
Where are we mum? “We are coming into Saltcoats Poppy” said mum. Yay are we going to see Granny? “It’s a different Saltcoats Poppy” she said. Mum was not wrong this is nothing like Saltcoats!
Soon Saltcoats was a memory and we were on a long straight road that went on for miles. I was off leash and the only person we saw was a solo jogger. It was getting warm and soon Dad regretted wearing his big coat.
The road turned away from the sea and towards the railway. Then I saw the funniest thing. Three dogs going for a run!? There mum was on a buggy zooming along and they were all running beside her. Maybe they were not that daft coz their mum was giving them treats as they went. Mum, Dad, look at that nice mum. “Do you want us to run Poppy” said dad. Mmmmm maybes not.
We left the road and went down a lane towards a farm. Soon we needed to enter a field with ba lams in it. Dad put me on leash because he said farmer would shoot me. Shoot me? What for? I don’t have anything to do with sheeps! We left the field into another, Do you know where you are going Dad? The field rolled down to a glade of trees as and we got closer I found out it was a gully with a river flowing through it. Dad mum come quick I found a bridge!
Mum and dad looked relieved, hurry up lets go across! Dad can you see what’s over here!
On the other side we followed a path across the fields under powerlines heading towards a church steeple in the distance. The field ended and we were back in country lanes shrouded in trees with lots and lots of new smells. The lane took us into a small town called Drigg. The local dogs in Drigg are not nice, they all barked at me as I went past. Let’s get out of here Dad. When we got to the train station I needed a rest so lay down. Just at that moment a peoplsee in the signal box shouted down to us, “Better not rest there lass, cars whiz round that corner, don’t want to get squished do we lass?” he said. No squished is bad.
On we went beside a big fence along the side were pheasantsees, every time I got close the flew away. The fence went on for ages. Eventually Dad said “I think we have took the wrong road”. We had to double back.
Where are we going dad? “We are going to the sand dunes” said dad, Sea sides? “Yip Sea sides”. WELL, to get there we had to cross a couple of fields, They went on forever! Over bridges, stepping stones, bog, marsh.. After an age mum said we should go back. Dad wanted to go on, I wanted to see the dunes so we gave it a final push. Every time we got to the top of a hill there was another. Eventually we gave up. I ran ahead to go back to mum.
I ran and ran, through the bogs and marsh to catch up with her. Mum Mum I’m coming. When I got to mum she took one look at me and screamed “Poppy, look at you, you are all two tone! They might not let you on the train like that!”
All back together again it was a long plod back and we were all very tired, I was even more tired because I have only got wee legs and I did have a big run to catch up with mum!
At last I got a nice rest and a big drink at the train station. It was good to do a bit of sunbathing. There was nobody at the station bar the peoplsees in the signal box listing to the radio and chatting away. “Not a bad job that” said dad. I was allowed to sniff about because the fence was across the tracks and that meant no trains were coming.
Soon one of the signal box peoplesees climbed down the steps and moved the fences, dad put me back on leash and the train thundered into the station and stopped. We jumped on and I went to explore. Well that went right out the window as dad had me on a short leash. It took us hours to get to Drigg and it only took a wag of the tail to get back to Ravensglass by train.
The train stopped at Ravensglass and we all jumped off. There it was the hissy noise again, Grrrrrrrrrrr, Grough! GROUGH! GROUGH! Snake! I’ll get it dad! I soon tracked it down, mmmm that’s not a snake! What is it Dad? Grrrrrrrrrrrrr. “It’s a steam train” said dad. It’s too wee to be a steam train, look at the size of it.
Back at Betsy dad sat outside with a pint of daft juice, I stayed out for a bit but it was getting cold and snoozys were calling. Dad came in and watched tv with Mum. The sky changed colour, time to settle in for the night.
