Nath decided that the possibility of getting wet from the rain and not wanting to borrow one of my ponchos was enough to stay at home whilst Dolly and I headed out on her walk.

Today I was taking Dolly to Frensham Little Pond.

I loved walking the wolf pack around Frensham Little Pond. So I was excited to be taking Dolly to this spot that I have such fond memories of.

Now Frensham Little Pond and its surrounding area are famous. You will recognise bits of it from films such as Gladiator, Thor, Captain America, Eden Lake to name a few. It’s even been seen in the Witcher tv series.

Even though it’s been over 15 years since I was last there I still recognise it when I see it in something I watch.

Naturally with such a long period of time having passed there has been one or two changes.

The first was having to pay for parking. In the intervening years the National Trust have introduced parking charges for none members. Yes you are correct NT members can park there for free.

Secondly there is a cafe there now. That definitely did not exist back in my days of visiting.

There is more signage round the pond, gated off fishing pitches, hides for bird watching, and one or two more benches.

At the start of the walk there was a little drizzle but not enough to worry about or even get wet. So I didn’t even bother putting on a poncho.

Even with there having been rain it was still quite humid. This influenced my choice of route. Instead of heading off towards and along the ridge I decided Dolly and I would stick to a simple circuit of the pond.

As we worked our way round (not a hard navigation challenge, I just needed to keep it on my right) there were lots of froglets on the path.

I don’t ever remember there being froglets before. The sight of them and the walking challenge they create (ie not stepping on them) reminded me of the ponds at the nature reserve near Crook.

I’d never seen so many frogs, frog spawn, or froglets in my life up there. The share number of froglets back then made the path seem to be a living, moving thing.

About three quarters of the way round Dolly and I stopped for a brew and lunch.

Naturally I had noodles using ingredients I had put together. Whilst Dolly had some beef jerky.

Although water boiled very quickly using the setup mentioned in the caption above. The pot did not sit easily on the pot support I was using with the stove. It wasn’t wide enough for the pot to sit on, and fractionally too wide to fit inside the ceramic ring.

Despite the incompatibility of the pot and stove I did manage to boil water.

First up was water for a coffee.

I think it’s obvious what a coffee snob I am. I do not drink instant coffee. And most definitely don’t buy it.

But due to an economic anomaly when purchasing army wind proof matches and water purification tablets I’ve ended up with some British Army ration pack coffee, sugar, and whitener, among other things.

So that is what I was trying today. It was actually not bad for instant coffee.

My noodles were amazing and a great lunch. The British Army ration pack chili sauce packet (part of that anomaly) I used added a nice touch of heat and flavour. But not enough to over power and take away from everything else.

It was probably best that Nathan never came with us because I hadn’t packed enough biscoff biscuits for us both. There were just enough for me to finish the coffee off with.

After clearing up and packing away it was a short walk back to the car. I even resisted going into the cafe. Ok that decision was made easier by the fact not five minutes earlier having just finished our lunch. Although I’m pretty sure Dolly would have been up for it.

I can’t wait to come back here with Dolly and take her on the longer route that takes in the ridge line.

But we had a great walk.