Order from Chaos

Last week, Porridge and I stepped out for a walk to our favourite place, Chaos du Gouët

with our chums Lucy and Mol.

We were both armed with cameras, and I noticed, in the way of men in the changing room, that her apparatus was considerably larger than mine. I look forward to seeing her results on her blog. So I have decided to leave the arty blow ups alone for the moment and concentrate on action shots.

At least, that is what my new intelligent camera decided for me.

We set off along the river bank clicking away happily:

There were great big rounded rocks and flat table-like stones crying out to have a picnic eaten off them.

Some of us found the rocks a bit too big, but they were very brave.

Some of us were very interested in the swimming opportunities.

It was difficult to decide which pool to choose.

But they were all rather good.

Occasionally, sticks were retrieved.

But only if we felt like it...

Sometimes the gaps between the rocks looked too big and dangerous, especially with one's nearest and dearest on the other side of the river. The only solution was to sit down and do a lot of nervous barking...

Sometimes we even lost our chums altogether.

But then we found them again..

Well there we go, first major outing for the new camera. If you click on the pictures some of the dogs are actually in focus, which will do for now. I hope to get a bit more proficient when we go on holiday down South to Limoux...

STOP PRESS...go and see a superb slideshow of the same walk at Lucy's

Chaos du Gouët

Those of you who are worrying that I am working too hard and/or wasting away on a diet entirely composed of soya beans in various shapes and forms can now breathe easily.

I have been researching a beauty spot which is a mere 8 minutes drive from my house, and, to my shame, I have only just discovered it after living here ten years!

There are twenty kilometers of pathways along the valley of the Gouët river, and I have made it my business to find the very best route with the largest lumpy rocks and the noisiest roaring water. The most marvellous part is called the chaos. I think it must be because of the great round rocks strewn randomly in the path of the river, abandoned by a glacier which I hope will not be coming back quite yet.

The sound of the water is so relaxing, and some of us quite enjoy swimming in it.

I tend to prefer watching others when it comes to physical exertion. I dont chase sticks either.

But sometimes even the wettest, muddiest and smelliest amongst us have to rest.

Luckily, Mysweet came along to take some pictures.

Stormy Weather

Porridge is on heat, so we went to the estuary with Lucy and Mol to try and shake off pursuit from her many suitors,


but you know what it's like when girls get together...






There is often one who tries to lead the other astray.





And then they find themselves out of their depth...








But the closest Porridge came to love was a spot of voyeurism from afar...






Meanwhile I said:



Look at those clouds and listen to that thunder rumbling...
I don't like storms...
We'll be struck by lightning...
I'm taller than the rest of you...
It'll get me first...
We must all lie flat on our backs...
But my nose is biggest...
I might have to panic!

And Lucy was very cool, calm, collected and unruffled...until she looked behind her...

And so we got quite wet.

And then we got dry again.

Because we walked a very long way.

We saw some very pretty scenery...

And I tried to take photographs of it, but my camera decided that the grass stem was even prettier and it wanted to look at that instead...

We walked so far that we had to sit down and have a little rest. Some of us sat on a bench:

But one of us was too big to do that, so she went and sulked under a bush...

To the lighthouse...

with Lucy, except there wasn't one.



So we played in the tide pools, while the dogs looked out to sea in contemplation.

And we tried to photograph things but the dogs always came and jumped on them at just the wrong moment. Except for these wriggly things which they couldn't reach.