Herd about the sheep

This is only loosely knitting related. On my one and only stay in the Lake District I came across some of the weirdest looking Shetland pony/sheep crosses wandering across the deserted roads. I thought they were so bizarre I got out and took some pics. I reckoned they must be sheep as they had that totally belligerent, cynical look about them instead of the curious pony look. The one at the front looks relatively benign and even a bit cute but the others looked a bit mad including the one planning an ambush from behind the bush.

You can probably tell I am not that fond of sheep. Despite hating the smell of sheep my Mother drags me to farm parks at lambing time so that she can have a cuddle of a wee newborn lamb. And yes, she'd happily trample an unwary toddler to skip the queue! To her intense annoyance I am always the one to get 'adopted' by a mummy sheep with lambs at heel which follows me round and round the whole farm trip. All very lovely and sweet from a distance but I can still smell them! 

I had stayed overnight in a lovely B&B which also had couple of Yurts in Wasdale and it was an amazing, rural, bleak, stunning and utterly entrancing landscape. On my way home I headed up to Wastwater which is the deepest lake in England to see Scafell Pike which is the highest peak and they were truly stunning. You can tell from the pics that the road towards the lake is somewhat 'underdeveloped' and includes sheep bollards which you don't always find in the city.

When I got back from the Lakes I had a word with my friend who had given me Red as a kitten. She has a farm and I thought I'd find out what exactly these roaming beasts were. Sadly, I didn't have the pics to hand and all she did was laugh at my description and suggested I'd been at the cooking sherry and probaaa-bly shouldn't have been driving!

Later, I found out these mad looking sheep/pony beasts were actually a very special and famous breed of sheep called Herdwicks native to the Lake District and no ponies were involved! Hopefully, the next time I get a chance to explore this stunning place I'll be less freaked by the Herdwick's, tho' I'll still be wary of the nutty one behind the hedge!