Sunday was a perfect Autumn day in Troutbeck, so we packed a picnic and bundled various kids and dogs into the cars and headed for Pooley Bridge an the North end of Ullswater. We parked by the bridge in the pay and display and walked up Heughscar to the stone circles. We picnicked by the cairn from where we had a fantastic view of Ullswater with all of the yachts darting to and fro. Halfway through lunch we were amazed to see a pack of hounds fly past on their own. Apparently they were hound trailing - this was the first time I had ever heard of this
From the web site http://www.trailhoundtrust.co.uk/faq.htm I found out that
"Hound trailing is a sport which takes place all over the Lake District between April and October. It dates back over 200 years. Individual owners get their hounds fit, then take them to race meetings, which are held most days throughout the summer. The hounds run a circular route of 10 miles (5 miles for 1st season puppies), over field and fell, following a strong aniseed and paraffin scent. "
(By the way - you can adopt a retired trail hound from this site.)
Walking on to the stone circles and High Street (the old Roman road) we made up ghoulish stories of human sacrifice to scare the kids (but with no real success).
Coming back down to Pooley Bridge via the limestone scar we had a view down the entire length of Ullswater - stunning!
One small person described this as "the best walk we have done so far". High praise indeed!
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