We’ve just spent a long weekend in London, visiting family and of course the dog came too! It usually takes us about 4 hours to make the drive down to Bromley which is South East of London. It’s a pretty straight forward drive, basically get onto the M1 and then head down to the M25 and round. However, everyone needs to have a stretch of the legs, including the dog, so we always have to find a good place to stop. Motorway services don’t quite fit the bill, as very few of them have any decent places to take the dog, so instead, I always refer to my trusty little book, Walking the Dog – Motorway walks for drivers and dogs which I keep in the glove compartment of the car. This time, we found a particularly good walk, which I wanted to share with you. It is almost exactly halfway to London from the Peak District and can be found a few minutes off Junction 15 of the M1. The walk is in Salcey Forest and there are wonderful tracks and trails for both you and the dogs to wander along. We took a picnic and sat on logs in the woodland, while the dog happily raced around the woods, leaping over ditches and felled trees, constantly circling around us to make sure she knew where we were.
Salcey Forest also has a cafe and toilets, so it is a great countryside alternative to the usual motorway service station. There is a pay and display car park, which cost £1 for an hour, we found this was the perfect length of time to have a quick walk, picnic and use the facilities, before carrying on with our journey.
I would throughly recommend getting a copy of this book and keeping it in your car, as it gives lots of useful places where you can stop with your dog along many of the motorways in our country.
