Here a Sheep, There a Sheep

Here's circling back to my Coast to Coast Walk for a few posts as the year ends! Old Mac Donald was most likely a sheep farmer, from what I could tell. The abundance of sheep on this trip was a constant delight to encounter. On the train, so many sheep on pastures the further north we rode. Sheep in St. Bees on the way to the hotel.

Sheep on the beach and sheep with the best views of the land and sea. The animals seem very engrossed in their non-stop meals, I'm not sure they are noticing. 

I personally noticed that very few sheep had been sheared so far. Our alpacas need to be sheared by early June if you don't want to deal with animal heat stroke, but northern England is indeed much further north than central Indiana and still quite chilly. Shearing usually happens in July up here. It was super windy on top of that plateau and I was glad I had my jacket on to keep from freezing despite the mild day. 

I loved how many sheep breeds we passed. The brown and grey ones below are particularly interesting and adorable. They are Herdwick, and they can survive the fell landscape by only eating forage without other food supplements. The brown animals are lambs or very young sheep while the grey ones are a few years old. They turn from brown-black to grey as they mature. Beatrix Potter had a flock of Herdwicks on her many farms and was instrumental in helping the breed survive.

Sheep enjoyed the landscape around abandoned monasteries...

The barren landscape and lack of trees (partly a side-effect of grazing sheep) makes it necessary to build fences with stones. These stone fences were everywhere, well-maintained, and thick. There were often stone barns and shelters as well. 

Oooops, these aren't sheep; they're alpacas! But since they were the only ones I saw during the entire trip, I decided to give them some room on the blog!

These guys really wanted to get out, or get our attention, or both. Lots of noise from this crew are we passed by!

The other sheep breed that was prolific was Swaledale, where the adult animals have beautiful round horns. The town of Swaledale was also near the walk. Above is a great example of the many stone fences that divide the landscape into pastures. 

Finally, this sheep seems to know that there are no real lions who live in the English mountains or on the moors, so might as well catch a snack on the hotel lawn. The employees were half-heartedly trying to get this sheep to leave, but it was quite happy and persistent. 

I hope you enjoyed looking at a few of the hundreds of sheep that I saw! I decided to spare you the knick knack collections that these animals inspired. There was endless kitsch in every little tourist shop.