This is Sam dog staring intently at his favourite toy, a ball. Actually he has several balls to play with and any that are thrown are his favourite.
We took Sam dog for a walk around the back of her Parent's place, which has a canal and river path to follow in a small forest.
It was very muddy in places and we even came across a few mountain bikers along our route. They looked quite muddy and at times I wished I could have joined them on their ride.
Along the path is an old unused rail line that leads to a retired power station, which must have been run with local coal.
This is one of the wrecked buildings along the path.
There were lots of locks along the canal as it was quite hilly around the area. There was also a lovely stream running alongside the canal. I could easily imagine that Wiki would really enjoy paddling along the canal in her canoe, while Susan would much prefer the choppier river.
Sam dog appeared to be happiest when his ball was thrown into the water where he could swim out to retrieve it. We were sure that once he deliberately pushed his ball into the canal so he could swim after it.
The forest was where Debbie and her sister grew up as kids. This was basically their back yard and they had many a fun time exploring the area and hanging around there with their local friends.
Debbie used to climb this hillside in her youth, what an excellent place to have as a playground.
It was a really pleasant route to walk and my back didn't hurt too badly while we were walking either! Some day I'll have to come back along this route and explore more of it with my mountain bike. Maybe Debbie will come with me on her bike too...
