Sarah’s early morning dog walks are getting longer and longer. This morning she left me lazing about while she set off and completed a 3.5 mile walk in the hills inland from our campsite. This was to have consequences later on.
Wide angle shot from the site
Following a familiar pattern, not long after Sarah’s return, the rain set in and we hunkered down for the morning, but about midday the weather started to improve and so we decided we would go out for a walk together. Unfortunately we had barely complete half a mile when Melek started limping. It is always difficult to know with him, whether this is a protest at being taken for a second long walk in a day or a genuine injury from his morning exertions, but we gave him the benefit of the doubt.
Because I have not had a proper walk for two days, Sarah agreed that I should go ahead without her and she would take the malingering dog back to Basil.
I had a very pleasant walk on the Forestry Commission land overlooking Loch Linnhe following the same route as Sarah in the morning. As we were packing for this trip I noticed the sole on my trusty Scarpa walking boots was coming away from the uppers after 7 years of solid service. In a panic I did some quick research and decided that because my Scarpa’s had been reliable, waterproof and comfortable I would buy a similar quality pair from the same manufacturer.
My previous boots, even when new, were low key – a sort of dull greenish grey all over. My new ones however are anything but dull. Blue suede, with bright orange patches and black and orange laces. So at the moment I feel a little conspicuous walking around in something that looks like they should belong to Elvis, not someone tramping the hills of Scotland. I’m sure it will not be long before we encounter some foot sucking mud to take the shine off! One good thing is that they are comfortable straight out of the box. I do not look back fondly on the days when boots had to be “broken in”. One pair I had never achieved broken in status and provided me with sore patches and blisters on nearly every long walk I undertook.
The offending items
The walk was advertised as being to a waterfall and as I climbed, with great views over the loch, I found a few small waterfalls, but nothing that I felt justified the climb. Someone else obviously had the same thought because they had built a tiny toy house next to a small waterfall to give the little stream a false perspective. I needn’t have worried, on the descent there were indeed some bona fide waterfalls which did deserved their moniker.
The fake waterfall!!
The waterfalls
On my return to the site I remembered on our first day I had seem some Wheatears on the rocks at the far end of our site. Since the sun was now out I decided to get the birding lens out and hope that I might catch them by surprise. I had to sit around for 15 minutes of so, but sure enough a female came out and posed beautifully for me.
Wheatear
The day has ended with a clear blue sky and it has been warm enough to sit outside (albeit in a fleece), providing you stay out of the wind. I spent a pleasant 30 minutes or so in the sun, but Sarah declared it was too cold.