Duke is Art Trailed Out
- Sept 2024
Repawter: Duke
At the end of my last article, I showed you a sneak preview of what I might be doing during August. Well during August, I completed not just one more Art Trail but 5 in total. Four of these I completed in full, so where do I start.
I started with the March of the Elephants trail which was a local trail covering the areas of Sutton Coldfield, Tamworth & Lichfield (March of the Elephants | Wild in Art). Early one Saturday morning in July I went out and completed all the ones in Lichfield, starting in the park, where I usually go for a greyhound walk, and then headed into Lichfield town centre. Some were in Lichfield Cathedral and mum was ready to wait outside with me whilst dad went inside. Then after I did a bit of whining mum noticed that dogs are permitted in the cathedral Mon – Sat when no special events are being held, so up we got and I got taken inside. More details about Lichfield Cathedral can be found here Visit - Lichfield Cathedral (lichfield-cathedral.org)
After a few fusses by the people of Lichfield, a bit of retail shopping by mum enroute and the odd treat given we headed back to the car. I was all ready for a snooze on in the car, when I heard dad say, shall we go to Tamworth to pick up the ones there. The next thing I know I was in Tamworth and had a walk round the park to see some more and a wonder round the town. Thankfully, it started to get warm in the afternoon so once we found all those ones we headed home.
So where next? Well I did Cambridge earlier in the year finding Giraffes so of course it was time to head to Oxford but this was to find Ox’s (OxTrail | Wild in Art). We headed out early on a Sunday morning in August and got a big car park. Then I got on a bus and the next thing I was in Oxford city centre. The park and ride are just £5 for 2 adults on the bus and the buses run frequently and takes less than 10 mins. It wasn’t long before I found the first Ox. We’d actually got up so early that none of the shops were open, so we found some of the outside ones and then waited to visit the Trail Shop where I got a fuss, met some mini Ox’s and the hoos spent their treat money on Ox’s memorabilia. We only found 36 of the 138 Ox’s as the city was very busy and they were very spread out. 
I found some in a park and then everyone was getting tired and a bit hot as the sun made an appearance so we headed off to Mowgli for a meal before heading home. Mowgli is a great Indian tapas style restaurant which is dog friendly. We sat inside unlike most other folk as it was cool with the air con & mum can’t cope with flying things. It is up on the roof terrace of the main shopping centre, which is also dog friendly. After this it was back to get the bus and a snooze all the way home in the car.
Then shock horror, the following Wednesday the hoos had booked the day off work and we headed to Luton town centre. It was another art trail, this time the Short Tail trail which had two different sculptures being hares and tortoises (The Short Tail Trail | Wild in Art).
This trail was positioned across 3 places with a group being in the town centre, and the others being in two of the parks. We completed the ones in the town centre first, and although the main shopping centre stated no dogs permitted, a kind homeless man and his dog told us we could go through it with no problems, so I donated a treat or two to the pooch and the hoos gave the man some money for his help. We did see security guards but they were more intent with deciding on if they should place a bet on me than telling me to vacate the shopping centre. 
Off we then went to the parks which were very nice parks just a short drive from the town. We started at Stockwood Park and found all the sculptures there and then drove to Wardown Park, which had a big lake in the middle. This is where I met Elvis. We completed this trail in full finding all 88 sculptures in one day. 
Another couple of days rest whilst the hoos returned to work, and then we headed to Worcester on the Saturday. Another trail, this time the great waddle of Worcester with 82 penguins scattered around the city(The Great Waddle of Worcester | Wild in Art).
We started our trail walking along the river finding the penguins as we went. By now, mum needed a comfort break, so we had a quick pitstop at a dog friendly hotel, Diglis Hotel Dining - Diglis House Hotel where well behaved dogs are welcome in our dining lounge, terrace, garden and bar.We then headed into the town, which is very dog friendly as dogs are allowed in all the shopping malls. You just have to check if individual shops allow dogs but we found majority did. We found all of the sculptures here too so 82 penguins found. 
To finish my art trails off, we headed out on the bank holiday weekend to find the remaining elephants in Sutton Coldfield when a disaster happened. The hoos insist on taking a picture of me with every sculpture, I’ll let you do the maths! Well, we had done all of the ones in Sutton Coldfield and the local town Boldmere and headed back home after having been out for a couple of hours.
On arrival at home, dad noticed my bandana was not around my neck. He checked the car, no not there, so I must have lost it on my 2 hour walk I just did. Luckily, mum could track which elephant I was wearing it at and then when it was missing at the next one, so after some lunch we headed back out and dad retraced our steps and found it. It was my Hounds of Twitter one as well.
To celebrate we headed back over to Tamworth to find the last remaining elephant as this one had been removed when we visited the last time due to it being damaged. So now I have found all 74 elephants.
If that wasn’t enough, the following day we got the train into Birmingham City Centre and did a small trail of bears We're Going on a Bear Hunt Birmingham | Wild in Art. This was a trail of just 10 bears. I heard bears but dad heard beers so whilst in the city we visited his favourite dog friendly pub The Colmore Tap Birmingham | Thornbridge and Co. pub . As you’ve guessed I have visited here a few times before and they always make me feel welcome. I always get my bowl of the good stuff before the hoos get their drinks and on this occasion, I even got a complimentary new bandana.
If anyone wants me, I will be catching up on some ZZ’s
Duke
www.dukesdoggieadventures.wordpress.com