Dog walking and Hedge scrumping

I am rediscovering the joys of dog walking. Dennis was never one for long walks - and he was a monkey, preferring to run away from us rather than with us! And for the last couple of years he has hardly done more than a quick walk around the park under duress!
With Candy we are rediscovering old walks that we used to do with the retrievers. We are so lucky here to live within a 2 minute walk of open fields in any direction. And a 2 minute drive takes us to even more possibilities - rivers, canals and woods.
Candy investigates the bridge, not sure how to get across it yet:
Typical springer lollop - tail flying, tongue lolling, ears flapping - so much to see and so little time!

Time for a quick cool off in the river - just the feet, she didn't venture any deeper.

Have to check out the trough as well.

She is a joy to walk! Not brilliant at coming when called, but she doesn't run off far and although she loves to say hello to other dogs, she doesn't want to be seperated from us.

This evening though she blotted her copybook by sliding into a very fresh cowpat. Most of it got scooped up into her collar, the rest was smeared down her side. Lovely!! However she redeemed herself by standing stock still whilst I hosed and shampooed her in the garden. My own fault really - I was engrossed in picking sloes and blackberries and she got bored!

On the plus side, I have a huge haul of sloes ready for gin ( I would never have spotted that bush if it hadn't been for Candy!)