Welcome to Doghikes.uk! This is the first post on the site.
Before I started this blog, I asked myself: Why?
Especially considering many on the internet have already pronounced the death of blogs many years ago.
(If you are interested in this story, check post notes at the bottom of the page. Spoiler alert, blogs are not dead.)
In fact, I asked myself two questions: Why to have a blog in 2022? What are my motivations?
After giving it some thought, I realised that, first, I wanted to do it because I love writing. I don’t believe I write particularly well, but I do love writing. 🙂 I also love long walks with the dogs. Further, it is worth mentioning that most of all I love my dogs. They are stars in our house. If you would like to “meet” them, please read this post.
The above, combined with the fact I could not find structured information online about hiking with dogs, made me think that it could work as a source of information for people looking into long walks with their pooches in the UK, or anywhere really.
It also allows me to write about books and gear related to the topic and enhance my writing skills.
Finally, it gives me one more place to post more pictures of my dogs without anyone complaining about it being too much.
So, if I could do all of this while also helping people, that would be a win. And here we are, the answer to those two questions translated into doghikes.uk.
Concept
Doghikes.uk concept is straightforward. We go for walks with our dogs and try our best to document and rate the trails. For that, at the time of writing, I use my phone for photos and apps and a GoPro for video footage.
As for the rating, I am going with a simple idea. I pay attention to the terrain, distance, facilities, and risk to the dogs. Then I rate it from 1 to 5 in the hope that it will be helpful to other people. With more posts I will hopefully nail it and will then post more information.
The difficulty I rate is based on how easy the walk is for both humans and dogs. For example, if a person needs to carry their dog for a stretch of the walk, it is no longer an easy walk. If the elevation gain is more than 50m, it is again not longer an easy walk. If our dogs are tired and need any sort of assistance at any point… you guessed it, it’s no longer an easy walk.
The posts are supposed to be interesting, fun, and with enough information for you to plan your own hikes to those locations. Currently, I am using the Wikiloc application to record the trails and will make them available on the Wikiloc site for you if you wish.
The other side of the site’s concept is that I will occasionally add links to books and gear which are affiliate links from which I might get a few pennies if they become a sale. The plan is to only do that conveniently and seamlessly for the visitor without compromising the content.
I hope you enjoy reading the posts as much as I enjoy writing, and leave a comment below if there is any particular trail in the UK you would like to recommend we cover or to simply say hello.
Cheers,
Ademar
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