Sunday 5th February, we awoke to the garden covered in snow. I had been planning on completing Slink's final WPD walk that day anyway, but with heavy snow fall, especially on the route I had planned, it was touch and go as to whether we'd be able to get there to start the walk. Jumping out of bed, I got her pack ready, sending Mina and Lucien out to play in the snow before sending them upstairs to jump on James in bed, whilst I loaded up the car, sneaking out with Slink and headed for the Surrey Hills.

Newland's corner was already getting busy, with at least 10cm of snow on the ground up there, people had turned up with their kids and sledges to play on the hill. Slink was as excited as the kids and was wooing away in the back of the car when she noticed I had got her backpack out. The previous walk on Wednesday 1st Feb, had not put her off in the slightest, she stood perfectly still for me whilst I put her pack on her and clipped it to her harness. Managing to just about lock the car before she dragged me across the car park impatient to get going! With a thick mist on the high ground, we couldn't see the valley below, which is a real shame as the view of the snow covered village would have been beautiful.

We headed out of Newland's Corner, crossing the car park and the A25 it joins to, and along the North Downs Way. Only a couple of people had walked the trail before us meaning Slink had to break her own trail with me following behind her. After about 0.5 miles, my ankles had started to hurt, and me realising that I had not completely recovered from Wednesdays walk. I very nearly turned around there thinking I was going to be in a lot of pain at the end of the walk. I couldn't let Slink down though and she was really wanting to keep going, covering the first mile in about 20 minutes.

Approaching West Hanger car park, a lady with her Labrador and Springer Spaniel approached us from the opposite direction. Whilst talking to the lady, Slink had a play with the two dogs, not even noticing that she had her pack on and still carrying her start weight. I said my goodbyes before Slink used up all her energy playing with her new friends and we headed through the car park and crossed the road, heading towards Hollister Farm.

We were going up hill all the time and the snow was getting deeper. On reaching the farm, a little dog was loose and came running up, barking at both Slink and I. Slink's reaction to this yappy dog, was perfect. She gave it one look, trying to work out why she was being barked at, and then ignored it walking straight on through the farm and towards Frances Corner without giving the dog another thought. The little dog followed us for a little time still barking and then turned back for the stables it had come from.

Still heading up hill, the snow was getting deeper and with only 1 other person walking the route before us, Slink was still breaking trail. We reached the far side of Frances Corner/Netley Heath and I knew there was the viewpoint coming up where we could stop for some breakfast and water. The snow was now at it's deepest and my ankle was burning. We stopped at the viewpoint and I gave Slink her "jumbone" and poured her some water whilst i tucked into my packet of crisps. I sat there for some time, considering if i should just turn back especially if the snow was like this for the rest of the way. At 3.75 miles out, it meant we would have completed 7.5 miles by the time we got back to the car. We only needed another 2.5 miles for Slink to complete her title so turning back seemed like a failure and I was not about to let my girl down. I took some pain killers for my ankle, packed our stuff back up, making sure Slink's pack was level, and pushed on.

Whilst we had sat there, a few people running cross country, had already gone passed, making better tracks to follow in the snow. This took a lot of the difficulty away and the going got much easier. Turning right away from Netley Heath, we continued following the North Downs Way. Runners were now coming passed us in the opposite direction in groups of 5 or 6 at a time. The trail was getting flatter and now going down hill, and through trees, the snow was also not as deep. We crossed the bridleway at Hackhurst Downs, looking right down the trail confirmed my decision to keep going straight along the North Downs Way instead of taking the next right to head down towards Abinger Hammer. Upon reaching the trail we would normally head down, i had made up my mind that taking it would be suicide as the trail drops nearly 400 feet in just 0.5 miles! Once i had reached the bottom, i would then have to climb back up again on the same gradient. Instead we headed straight on across Blatchford Downs.

Whilst walking down hill across Blatchford Downs, i lost my footing and ended up slipping over. Luckily i had a soft landing and lay in the snow on my back giggling away to myself at my stupid feet. Whilst laughing Slink thought it would be a great idea to then sit on top of me, making a runner going past us laugh. I got up and shook myself off and continued heading downhill towards a World War II Pillbox. We then turned the corner at the bottom and headed along to the end of Blatchford Downs where at a kissing gate and having done 5.2 miles, we turned around and followed the runners who were still coming by us, up the hill again, this time managing to stay on my feet.

By now the trail had flattened down, but was starting to get icey meaning on some sections we had to walk back in the snow again, well, I did anyway, Slink's snow shoe feet handling the slippery surface easily. With so many runners coming passed us, we practice our commands, Haw Over (to move to the left), Gee Over (to move to the right), Wait, and Get On when we were ready to move on again, she was a star and by the end of the walk was getting all her commands without any mistakes.

We stopped again at Little Kings Wood, where we had more water and something else to eat, moving on before we got too cold. This was our last stop before we got back to Newland's Corner. By the time we got back to the car, the mist had lifted with stunning views down the valley below.

We only stopped twice on our walk of 10.4 miles, with Slink only using 2KG of her start weight. She just didn't need to drink much as she was snow dipping for most of the way, using the snow for water and also to cool herself down. Although this was another tough walk due to the snow, it was by far, the only walk she has coped with easily in conditions she wouldn't normally face. She seemed to use all her instincts and knew how to handle the snow. She was very impressive to watch her walking through the deep snow, which by the time we had reached the highest point at Little Kings Wood was almost knee deep on me. I couldn't be more proud of my Slinky Pup. Who is now known as:

Hyteton Iggik For Luponooshka WPD*

(*subject to AMCA Confirmation)