New Saturday Routine
Today was my first attempt at what I would like to be my new Saturday routine. I cycled out to the Assisi Animal Sanctuary, on the far side of Newtownards, walked a dog for a bit under an hour, and then cycled home again.
I went to Assisi for the first time on my birthday. I love dogs, and I loved having a dog when I was a teenager, but have to accept that my lifestyle isn’t ideal for having one – if I had a dog, they would spend a huge amount of time on their own while I’m at work, which wouldn’t be very fair. So instead I am participating in the Assisi dog-walking scheme. They have a place full of dogs that need walking, so they are keen for volunteers to come and walk them, on a Tuesday or Thursday evening, or Saturday or Sunday during the day. I walked a dog for the first time last Saturday, when I took Jacko out. Today I was out with Sox.
There’s a nice walk through the Whitespots Country Park, which is an old lead mine works just off the dual carriageway, and fortunately the dogs are well used to walking alongside the traffic. It’s probably good exercise for my ankle, as it’s got quite rough paths with a lot of ups and downs through the hills. And there are plenty of things for the dogs to sniff, so they love it.
The only problem with the whole idea is cycling to and from Newtownards, where the hilliness of the ride makes up for the fact that it’s not very far.
On the way out, you have to get up the hill at Dundonald, which is quite hard going. But on the way back, the hill out of Newtownards is murder. Not helped by the fact I was riding my mountain bike rather than my road bike. Nor by by wind which was not at my back. And definitely not helped by the fact that I had already cycled 20 miles, and walked 2!
But I hope I can make it work, at least while the weather is good, as it’s a nice way of combining a ride with doing something useful!
Tags: Cycling, Dogs, Saturday Afternoon
August 5th, 2013 at 13:25
Try using your road bike on you know the road to Newtownards :0)
Seriously though for anything more that 5 or 6 miles you will really notice the benefit of taking the road bike rather than the mountain bike. Also if the hill out of Newtownards is too much on the way back try taking the old Belfast road. It circles round the hill rather than going over it so less of an incline and only slightly longer, but the lack of the incline more than makes up for the slightly longer distance.
November 6th, 2013 at 00:54
An alternative route that might work for you is greenway to Comber, then to Ards. Undoubtedly longer, but the run to Comber is straightforward (i.e. no hills to write home about), Comber to Ards is quite level too (albeit a titchy bit hairy at West Winds estate). Of course you’d have to go through a small bit of the town to get out the Bangor Road towards Assisi, but you’ll have that anyway.
It’s about 4 miles longer, mind 🙂
(BTW, I’m running *slightly* behind with some blogs. Perhaps this might be useful for next year)