Monday 3 September 2018

Bertie bags Ben Wyvis


Have you any idea how hard it is to keep your ears in order and your beard looking neat when on top of a Scottish mountain on a windy day?


Oh the trials of being a wire-haired fox terrier with flappy little ears and a profusion of facial fuzz!


Gail and I ascended a  'Munro'* on Sunday. Ben Wyvis is the massive hill you can see on a clear day if you look northwards from Inverness. It was our first big hill climb for a while. It is all too common at these latitudes that benign conditions at the base give way to something altogether different, and almost always much windier, by the time one reaches the sub-Arctic environment of the summit plateau.





So annoying to be beaten to the top by this wee fellow (although I note he was not suffering from the same beard and ear issues as yours truly).


I should point out that Gail was looking every bit as dishevelled as me, although she seemed neither to notice nor care, perhaps because she is not the one who has to pose for all the photos in this blog! Anyway, she was too busy being enraptured by the panorama that opened up as we processed along the broad ridge, with the iconic outline of Suilven just visible in the far northwest, and nearer to the east a line of drilling rigs marching up the deep waters of the Cromarty Firth.

I'll be honest with you, towards the end of the nearly nine mile walk I was feeling a little weary, and so, I believe, was Gail. All that wind was really quite exhausting.



*In Scotland all the hills over 3000ft high are called 'Munros'. There are 282 of them.

17 comments:

  1. we hear ya Bertie... with the wind we get bitch slaps from our ears ;O) guess what? our WHFT had such a standing ear all the time, because of a fight with a cat as she was a wee puppy ;O)

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  2. Wow! Nine miles is a lot of times around my lake! (Actually Teka, that lake belongs to the U. It is not yours). Looks beautiful, but high!

    TT

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  3. 9-N I N E miles you say? Jumpin’ catfish in one day? Are you training for a WFT marathon. Bertie those ears were definitely making you less aerodynamic and the beard was hampering your visibility We say well done to you both. Wow it was, for sure, a breathtaking hike w that scenery
    and terrain.
    Hugs Madi your bfff and mom
    Ps did you see emai about YAM’s fall and broken wrist

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  4. Thanks, we've been in touch with YAM.

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  5. You look good with upright ears Bertie. That wind sure was messing with your beard too.

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  6. Bertie - For a moment I thought you were going to meet a Cairn Terrier on the top.

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  7. Looks like a beautiful hill. You look wind swept Bertie.

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  8. Mom wouldn't like that wind at all, both for what it would do to her curly locks, and for how exhausting it is to push against it. Aside from all that, it looks like a beautiful place to see.

    Woos - Lightning, Misty, and Timber

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  9. Whew...what a fantastic journey and we must say, your beautimous wind blown furs just make the scenery more beautimous!
    xoxo,
    Rosy, Jakey & Arty

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  10. That is one superstrong wind blowing at your furs, Bertie!

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  11. We completely understand, being scotties. Roxy would have just frozen...being fur-challenged.

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  12. OMD, what a fun climb! There aren't any Munros near us. Maybe I should come visit you.

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  13. Bertie did you run into the Craigh na Dun Stones up there on that nine mile hike because Lee wants to travel back in time ~ we love you highlands.
    Your Friend
    Sweet William The Scot

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  14. Dear Bertie,

    What an amazing hike! I personally do not like it when the cold wind blows up my back end. But I would still like to go on this hike with you! And you are still very handsome, no matter how your beard is blowing around!

    Licks,
    Cobi

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  15. Well done young Bertie! I really admire your and Gail's efforts as I sometimes have trouble these days walking up my street (it seems the paw-path is getting steeper and steeper in my senior years) so I have been living vicariously through your adventures which are read to me by the two legged one.

    We look forward to finding out how many of the 282 Munros you have now "bagged" and where Gail is taking you next?

    Love and woofs,
    Riley (with ears that also flap in the wind!)

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  16. It looks like a great day out. We enjoyed the photos.

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