An Autumn Walk With Friends

Yesterday Susan and I met up with Charlotte and Shane for a walk in Tollymore Forest Park. For both of us this was our first outing since before the lockdown back in March. To finally get out again was just wonderful. Tollymore is always pretty but yesterday it seemed even more beautiful than usual.

Shane is a Labrador so he loved the chance to swim in the river. Susan stayed dry on the sidelines.

Watching Shane. Not looking to go after him, though!

Shane was a good poser.

Susan was also on fine form. I noticed that she was much steadier and calmer than the last time we were at Tollymore, last November.

Between afternoon sunshine and autumn leaves, the forest was magical.

This made me laugh! Shane got his lead tangled around this huge tree trunk. Charlotte walked around it to untangle him but he followed her around the tree so they were just as tangled as before!

There was quite a strong current so there wasn't much swimming for Shane. But he enjoyed this calmer section of the river.

Posing on the steps to the Hermitage.

Beautiful light.

Susan on a stump.

A dog on a log.

Shane in amongst the golden trees.

A dog still on a log.

Susan ended up in the puddle - but not for long! I think she didn't realise how deep it was. It came up to her tummy and was not pleased!

Our plan was to walk along the river for some distance, cross a bridge and then come back along the other side. 

This didn't quite work out as recent flooding has washed away one bridge and caused damage to the footpath next to another. We ended up having to turn back on ourselves, making the short climb to a path that runs parallel to the one we were on, only slightly further away from the river.

The forest is a bit more open here.

One of my favourite photos from the day.

Shane doing some posing.

Susan posed too, of course.

Almost at the end of our walk and the dogs (and the humans) were a bit tired.

Susan jumped up on this wall all by herself. The sheer drop on the other side didn't seem to bother her! Very glad she was safely on a lead.

Gosh, I love autumn.