A walk with the 'OIL' man

We went for a lovely walk in the hills with Gail's friend Ian this weekend. 

Wow his car is a bit smarter (and cleaner) than Gail's ...

See how I am gazing in admiring fashion at Ian.

Of course, I didn't neglect to remind Gail that I adore her the most.

And here I am at the top of the big hill, receiving in return the attention that is my due.

(We are sitting in a wind shelter. You often find these little stone constructions at the top of hills in Scotland, as up high it is almost always blowing a gale and so walkers need somewhere to shelter and eat their squashed sandwiches and drink their flasks of coffee. They are great places to sniff out scraps of left overs.)

Normally, we'd expect to meet mountain hare and ptarmigan up here, but it seemed they were being shy so it was just us and the occasional noisily flapping red grouse.

At the end of the day, we came down off the hills and into a pretty birch wood. The grass was so soft on the paws, like a deep pile carpet, a relief after all the stones higher up.


The humans appeared to be slowing down a bit. Well you know, they're not as young as when they first met, a quarter of a century ago!  Whereas me, I am now in the full bloom of youth, at one with the fresh green leaves dancing on the birch trees, and the bluebells, violets and delicate speedwells newly bursting through the undergrowth. (Sorry there are no photos of the flowers. Blame Gail.)

So anyway I sat down patiently to wait.

And when the others caught up I remembered to wag my tail and say "thank you" politely to Ian for such a nice day out.

PS You might recall that last summer I stayed briefly with Ian and his two gorgeous Westies, Florrie and Lucy. I was most disappointed that the Westies didn't come along today, and rather worried. But it's all OK.  Gail explained that, 'cos Ian is mostly working abroad at the moment (in Yemen, yikes!) the 'girls' have gone to stay temporarily with his son who lives in the Channel Islands, and are having a splendid time with beach walks every day. Here they are, about to board the plane on their way out to Guernsey.

I do hope I see them again some time.