Stonehenge takes an Autumn trek

Hello Two-Legs,

I’ve just returned from a very lovely trek with my new best friend Evie.  Evie visited the farm with her mother and sister and after they had met all the boys, Carnac, Kilpeck, Rollright and I showed our guests how to put our halters on.  Putting a llama halter on is pretty easy really, and we bend our necks so our guests may fit the halter over the front of our velvety snouts.

Once this was done, our lead ropes were tied to railings and Evie and her family groomed us all.  When you haven’t been sheared – after all, Carnac, Kilpeck and I are all pretty young and haven’t had our coats taken off us yet – brushes can pull our lovely fibre which is never nice.  Our male person handed out our soft brushes.  These are so gentle that the bristles glide over the top.  We all have such soft coats that alternately grooming with a brush and smoothing the hand over us is great.  We’re pretty amenable really.

Older brother Rollright led us off with our male person, and Carnac followed behind.  I was third and clever little Kilpeck brought up the rear.  Our people say they have never had a young llama so confident he can walk at the back of a trek, but Kilpeck is such a smart fellow that he is so confident and is happy at the back.

People are always surprised at what we find interesting or perhaps a little scary, and on this walk it was Carnac who stopped on the trail and questioned the presence of a small bag that was blowing around in front of us.  My older brother Rollright demonstrated there was really nothing to worry about and marched past the bag, but it took Carnac a little while to pluck up the courage to breeze by.  Rollright has admitted that he used to be a bit of a scaredy-cat when it came to new things, and the bag would have made him think twice a few years back.  He said we would all gain confidence the more we went out and he is right.  This was Kilpeck’s forth trip up to the Common and nothing seems to scare him.

A dry day helps, and the walk to the Common was terrific.  As usual, we met people on the way, and Evie would tell me to ‘Stand’ when we needed to stop.  We trooped up the hill to the Common.  Gorgeous as ever, the autumn colours were so pretty our new best friends were enchanted by the views.  Evie stroked my neck – always fine with me – and I leant into her, to show that she could continue.

Rollright said it was time to turn for home and then speeded up as he was keen to see Moai and Stanton Drew back on the farm.  Kilpeck’s little legs meant he was quite tired at the end.  We were all really happy to have some fresh grass and bramble to munch when we got back.  There is always cereal reward for us too and just the four of us had mix which made Ringsbury and the rest of the gang feel they were missing out.  But, ‘You Snooze, You Lose’ is the motto for non-trekkers, so Carnac, Kilpeck, Rollright and I were each given a large dipper of food.  Evie fed me and I gently nibbled away.  Lovely grub.

All too soon it was time for our friends to leave, but I think we might be seeing them again next year.  People-trekking really is one of the most fun things a llama can do.

More news from the Golden Valley Llamas herd soon

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