Four legs good, two legs bad

SCIENTISTS can only be months away from inventing a dog-mounted GPS tracking device – and when they do, I’ve got just the candidate.
Milli (age: three years, 10 months – or 26 in dog years) is today running rings around us. Literally.
The plan is to run Leg 2 from Dunmail Raise to Scafell Pike and back. Estimated distance somewhere in the region of 23 miles.
It’s raining when Jarv, I and Milli (wearing a flourescent jacket for warmth) start the climb up Steel Fell. It’s raining when we return to the car about eight hours later. The bit in between is slightly better. Apart from the sleet, hail, gales and low cloud.
From the off, Milli’s up the fellside like she’s been fired out of a bazooka – and then down again to give us the canine ‘Come on! ‘ treatment. Then back up again. Then back to us. Hmm, pacing themselves is not what dogs do best.
Over to Calf Crag and we meet a couple of runners from London doing a Bob Graham recce. No time to stop for a long chat – Milli’s on the move.
Near to Sergeant Man, she dives into a hole. Out pops a large vole. It doesn’t look happy. l try to keep the two apart. The vole shouts ‘squeak’. It really did. And dives into another hole. Milli gives me a look which roughly translates as: ‘that would have been elevenses.’ I hope she doesn’t hold a grudge. Feed her a Jaffa Cake just in case.
Over the Langdale Pikes, around that boring bit in the middle, and up to Bow Fell, where we then pick off the summits of Esk Pike, Great End (except I couldn’t be bothered with that one), Ill Crag, Broad Crag, and finally Scafell Pike. It starts to sleet on the summit. There’s a Christmassy feel to it all. The intense cold gives me hypothermia-related hallucinations. I even begin to think there’s a Christmassy feel to it all.
Turn about and back across the rock-littered summits. Milli’s paws seem to be holding up well on the stones, so a visit to the extreme dog-walking website http://www.snowpawstore.com/ for Vibram-soled booties (I’m not making this up) may not be necessary.
Down Esk Hause and on to Angle Tarn, then straight up and over to Sergeant Man. Another heavy rain shower and then Milli falls in a bog. Spinning her four legs just seems to get her in deeper. I haul her out. I think we’re friends again. I can’t be certain as I’ve eaten all the remaining Jaffa Cakes.
Not one of my best routes off Steel Fell brings us back to the car and a quick conversation with the support crew of an anti-clockwise Bob Graham attempt. I bet they wish they’d chosen to do the attempt during the summer.
Distance for Jarv and I: 23 miles. For Milli: 84 miles.

Photo of Jarv, Milli and I taken somewhere completely different, in different weather conditions, and at a completely different time of year (ie April).