Got the rest of Sam's bits and pieces for his snowboarding trip together and then met up with a big group of friends, 21 humans, 5 dogs including Maisie above for a walk to a village a couple of miles away. Unfortunately our dog has to be left at home on occasions like this because she has a bit of 'form.' Despite the fact that we did all of the puppy training/socialisation stuff she still harbours some psychopathic tendencies when it comes to other dogs which is a pity. I would like to be able to blame this on the fact that she is a rescue dog with a bad history, but actually she came to us at eight weeks old, so I guess we must have done something wrong somewhere.
Steep slopes, terrible mud and two foot snow drifts still hanging around in places, made the walk a bit more taxing than the amble I had been hoping for. Unfortunately I had to wear trainers (Aldi's finest) because I have had a problem with my achilles tendon for the past couple of years (yes, years) that makes wearing wellies or walking boots agony if I do it for any length of time. By the end of the walk I looked like a townie who had ended up in the countryside by mistake. Terrible. I so must get my heel sorted out but have been putting it off for so long because I know that the treatment is going to be painful and I am worried that it is going to end up with surgery and don't know how I can keep things going here during the recovery period.
We ended up at one of my favourite pubs. It has recently been taken over by new landladies. The previous people had been a lovely welcoming couple of the 'don't worry about muddy boots, would the kids like a lolipop? Would the dog like a dog biscuit?' variety. So it was going to be interesting to see how their successors compared.
I had warned my friend who organised the walk about the change of ownership so she phoned in the morning to check that they would be OK with such a large, muddy adult/child/dog group, and she was assured that they would be very happy about it. Don't know what happened in the meantime, but the welcome was nothing short of frosty and most of us ended up sitting outside in the beer garden (3 degrees Centigrade) after clearing the snow off the benches first, because the promised room which we were told would be reserved for us to eat and drink in was already occupied. One person serving behind the bar resulted in queues forming while we ordered £70 rounds of drinks while there were several staff just hanging around in the kitchen. They ran out of most soft drinks and people who had been planning to order meals didn't do so. So it doesn't bode well. Pubs in remote rural villages like this one are closing down in this area on an almost weekly basis due to lack of custom. On yesterday's showing I give that one six months - remember where you heard if first. Shame.
What a magnificent shot. What lens did you use to get this please? I only ask because my 7D refuses to produce anything like the clarity of this shot and always has done regardless of which lens I use.
Stunning shot of Maisie. Such a shame about the Frosty Non-welcome on your trip to the Pub. The new landlords are only spiting themselves by doing that :)
@steampowered Thanks so much Paul. I used my Sigma DC 18-250 f3.5-6.3 Macro lens. Shot in RAW, edited in LR4 (Didn't think I would ever type those two things fifteen months ago!) but sharpened in PSE8.
That is one beautiful shot Jan...just wonderful, well done....shame about the pub, when will these stupid people who go in to the 'hospitality' trade ever learn that its about people?! a huge fav
You shoot in RAW I am well impressed, my grandson shoots in RAW & I can never download them when he does that !
How very inconvenient an active outdoor person like you not being able to wear wellies for long!!! The animals always come first too!!
Love this beautiful shot of Maisie, what a pity she has to stay at home but we can't all be perfect!!!
Pub is doomed...a no no not welcoming walkers in the country!!
@happypat I had been putting off shooting RAW til earlier this year Pat, because I thought it sounded scary. In fact it is no different to JPEGs except that the file sizes are much bigger and you have to edit them more because no editing has been done in-camera, but it does give you much more control. you can save them as JPEGs after editing, so they will be smaller files and there should be no problem with downloading them. You should give it a go - you wont look back once you have
Faved, she looks so like Cookie, it is uncanny. she is beautiful, and great story and that pub will not last long, and the last owners sounded so lovely, pity
Gorgeous doggy portrait and lovely idea for a cross breed. We have trouble finding village pubs open for lunch when we go midweek. The best one ever though we're ready to send put search parties in the snow (thanks to Monty and a herd of deer) and provided water, dog treats and steak and kidney puddings - that's the way to run a pub.... I don't understand when new landlords don't do their research - we went in one famous for it's homemade soups, always completely packed to find a new landlord who said 'Did they do food?' - demolished now.....
How very inconvenient an active outdoor person like you not being able to wear wellies for long!!! The animals always come first too!!
Love this beautiful shot of Maisie, what a pity she has to stay at home but we can't all be perfect!!!
Pub is doomed...a no no not welcoming walkers in the country!!