Mugged by a horse!

Last night it was a beautiful evening, and I'd been shut indoors all day working, so we decided to go for a walk. We needed milk, so we walked along the river Ivel from our village to Sandy - about a 3 mile round-trip.

Once you're past the ugly factory (the factory is ugly, they don't manufacture ugly there), it's a lovely walk along the quiet river bank. There's a small weir about 1/4 mile along the river. I love the sound of falling water - and the smell of the Ivel gives me such strong childhood memories. We used to swim in the river during our summer holidays, and I remember everything smelling of the distinctive river smell.

Over the bailey bridge onto the opposite bank, the path winds along the side of the river. It's very peaceful, despite being sandwiched between two busy roads. We had a fantastic moment when we came across a whole family of long-tailed tits. It was hard to count because they kept moving around, but I think there were about 9 tiny babies. They were SO cute and seemed totally unfazed by us, even though we were standing just a few feet away. Mum came along after a few moments and called them all to her.

We also saw some birds nesting in a hole in the sandstone blocks of Girtford Bridge. They came and went so fast we couldn't see what they were though.

Once we'd got our milk, and impulse bought some yummy looking croissants, we headed back. I fell into a hole, nearly broke my ankle, twisted my knee and back. Ouch!

Next was a bloke walking two dogs. One of them was on a lead, but the other (a lurcher I think) came running at us full-tilt barking and snarling. NOT GOOD. I'm not a dog person. I'm very nervous around them, they are loud, smelly, stupid animals that are only just domesticated. I just don't trust them, and when one is staring you down, growling and barking I get totally freaked out. I tolerate dogs at the best of times. So many dog owners just don't get that not everyone loves their dog. They seem so offended if you're scared. They always say the same thing "It's ok, he won't hurt you, he's just being friendly." I'm sorry, but that doesn't help if you're frightened of dogs. I don't blame the dogs, it's the owners who are generally responsible for their behaviour.
I had to shout to the owner of this dog and ask him to call it to him. He just didn't get that I was scared. He still didn't put it on a lead. It came back for another go at us a minute later. This time I was pretty much frozen with fear. Mark was brilliant. He stood between me and the dog and protected me. He's so awesome. He'd do anything, ANYTHING to protect me. I love him so much, but I digress...

The dog experience put a bit of a downer of our pleasant walk for a while, at least until we were well out of sight of it. The rest of the walk back was just nice. We saw a swan, several ducks and other water birds, and watched a tern diving into the water. They are incredible birds, so agile in the air - almost bat-like.

Back past the ugly factory, across the cycle path and through the spooky tunnel under the old railway line. When I was a kid I used to be so scared of this tunnel. I thought it was really long and dark. It's actually only about 20 feet long. It's fine, as long as you don't look at the walls and roof of the tunnel, which is completely covered in spider webs and nests. Just look at the floor and keep walking...

Walking back along the riverside towards the weir there's a pretty white horse in the field. When we'd walked past him on the way out he'd pretty much ignored us. On the way back it was a very different story. Mark was carrying a plastic carrier bag with our milk and croissants in it. Maybe the horse's owners always bring him carrots in a plastic bag? Whatever it is, the horse became VERY interested in Mark's bag as soon as he heard it rustling. So interested in fact, that he WOULD NOT let Mark get past him.
Every time Mark tried to get by, the horse got in front of him. It was trying to shove it's mouth into the carrier bag and it was not giving up. Eventually it managed to knock the bag out of Mark's hand. It started slobbering all over the bag, trying to get it's nose inside. Mark finally was able to get past the pesky creature, but now our shopping was on the floor. I quickly nipped in and grabbed the bag, but the horse WANTED IT. In the end, the only way to get away was to give him one of our croissants to distract him, then leg it.

It was so funny, watching Mark getting mugged by a horse. But when an animal that's 4 times your size is shoving you and getting in your face, what can you do? We walked the rest of the way home, with our horse slobber covered carrier bag, laughing and making up exaggerated stories of the 20 foot tall killer horse, with big teeth and claws, wearing a balaclava and a bullet belt, brandishing a knife and demanding "croissants or death".

I shared my remaining croissant with Mark when we got home. xx