Feeling the need to get out of the house and take some exercise I loaded Sparky into the car and set off for our old stomping ground, Paices Hill Country Park and Fishing Lakes.
Finding it inexplicably barricaded we continued until we reached Silchester, where there is a car park and a sports ground.
The sports area is well laid out, mainly for cricket, but today’s idea was for me to move about a bit rather than just lob a ball for Sparky to bring back, so we turned our back on this.
We headed into the trees, behind which are a couple of football pitches marked out, and after a couple of games with the ball, we headed further into the woods.
Soon we came upon an open area for more ball play, followed by the pond, beside which was a fallen tree, ideal for some exercise in “Dogger Jillity”.
Continuing around the pond we found that someone had been at work cutting trees to make a wildlife habitat, and then, thanks to a very dry January we were able to circumnavigate the pond and find our way back to the car park, avoiding the impenetrable gorse.
I let Sparky lead the way, generally following his nose, but not this way…
And so we returned to the car park, where Sparky paused to pick up some “pee-mails” before returning to the car.
Exiting the car park with a large 4×4 was a little worrying, thanks to a local vandal with a sense of humour…
General Whiskers' semi-historical wanderings 