Alpaca Walkies
Walking alpacas is possibly one of the best things I’ve ever done ( no joke!) It’s so good I came back and did it for the second time while on a recent trip to the Lake District. There’s two reasons why I love it so much. Firstly, it’s possibly one of the most calming and relaxing ways to spend a day, what can beat walking through some of the most picturesque parts of the country while having a giant teddy bear snuggled up to you? The second is just how hilarious the whole thing is, I think its down to the way they’re at the same eye level as most people so you’ll be walking along and turn around to see this big fuzzy alpaca there looking back at you inches from your face, it just cracked me up every 5 minutes.
The company who runs the treks are the awesomely named ‘Alpacaly Ever After.’ The story on their website of how they got up and running is brilliant and well worth a read!
It was once upon a time in the land of the lakes when Emma (writer of children’s books and maker of beautifully whimsical things) found herself accidentally nodding her head when Terry (former soldier in the British Army, entrepreneur, ne’er do well, and thinker of Big Ideas) informed her that the only sensible thing to do in their spare time, was to start looking after a herd of alpacas. The reasons he gave were as follows:
Alpacas were funny-looking and would therefore, logically, be fun to look after.
Having done some “solid research” he had it on great authority that alpacas were the easiest of animals to care for, in fact he would go so far as to say that “they would look after themselves.” (let’s fast forward briefly to days spent covered in mud, drenched by rain and battered by howling winds, attempting to memorise the dosage on a catering sized bottle of de-wormer.)
They had moved to The Lake District! What better way to become part of the local farming community than to breed Peruvian livestock! (fast forward to years of quizzical/disbelieving looks, conversations that begin with “so what’s that then eh? Does it bite eh?” and then of course, the downright mockery.)
Since then they’ve gone from strength to strength and now have numerous locations and have racked up a heap of awards, definitely an entrepreneurial success story.
On our first alpaca trekking experience a few years ago we had a private session with just two of us and the guide walking around the Lingholme Estate which is just on the outskirts of Keswick. The bonus of this route is that you get to take the alpacas down to the lake and watch them go for a dip (which makes them look like furry loch ness monsters if they manage to submerge their bodies leaving their heads poking out). This time around we were at one of their newer bases at Whinlatter Forest (between Keswick and Cockermouth). Whinlatter is ran by Forestry England, it boasts numerous walking and biking trails as well as a Go Ape course, similar to my stomping ground of Dalby Forest in North Yorkshire. It would be nice enough there for a walk without the alpacas one time. It’s maybe a good alternative if you’re up that way and the weather isn’t the best for being out on the hill tops, you can still get into the sticks but with a bit of shelter from the elements.
Once greeted by your guide you and your group of around 8 others are taken through into a small yard with little boxes on the floor and asked to each go and stand in one. Then the part everyone has been waiting for, they bring out the alpacas! I was handed the lead of a magnificent beast called Keto. He was slightly different to the others as he hadn’t been clipped yet and still had long soft locks of golden furriness. Once everyone was alpaca’d up we were just about the head out of the yard into the forest when there was the loudest crack of thunder followed by the heaviest downpour. The guides went to open the yard gate to allow us to seek shelter in the forest but in the confusion some of the alpacas who were meant to be staying behind this time made a bid for freedom. What ensued was total mayhem as half the group made it out into shelter while the other half were stuck in the deluge as the escapees were rounded up. Eventually everything calmed down and the trek got underway.
Even though alpacas haven’t got the most expressive faces they really are such interesting and complex creatures. They all have their own distinct personalities and quirks. Walking with them on a lead you really get a feel for what they’re thinking as I guess someone with a guide dog would. Whats also interesting is that they don’t like it if certain members of their group are in front or behind them while walking in single file. Keto kept looking uneasy and watching out the corner of his eye at the one behind him as it kept trying the bite his bum because it had an issue with Keto walking in front. The handbags finally came out when we stopped for a break, some angry alpaca sounds were made before Keto got spat at point blank in the face by his bottom biting follower. Needless to say we were shifted down the line for the rest of the walk as to stop any more ( Llama?) drama.
The whole walk lasted around an hour and you end up back at the yard for a well earned snack….for the alapacas. You’re each handed a bucket with dried feed in before the feeding frenzy starts. All you can do is hang onto your bucket with all your strength as the masses of alpacas wrestle their way in to snaffle the food, don’t worry though they don’t have teeth as such so there isn’t a risk of getting nipped. While back in the yard I was speaking to one of the guides about how we’d been before and I had walked an alpaca named Michael, to this she started smiling and pointed over to the corner of the field where on there was one huge alpaca on his own…Michael! He’d been brought over from the other site at Lingholme Estate as he was an veteran of the hikes he was used to keep the younger ones in line.
The guide also explained how alpacas make great guard pets for farms as they can chase off foxes who are after chickens and ducks, the yard we were in had quite a few chicks wandering around and apparently they venture much further away from the buildings now the alpacas are around as there is less risk from predators. There’s a few videos on Youtube of alpacas even fending off mountain lions back in their home lands of Peru. Once again I came away from the experience feeling chilled out and with a massive grin on my face, I can’t recommend it enough. And if you’re anything like me you’ll spend the next day or so googling ‘alpacas for sale UK’ and ‘ How many alpacas can I have in my garden?’