A misadventure on Scolty

I want to tell you about a wee adventure I had on Scolty Hill on Friday afternoon, when Gail went missing for about an hour.

The outing started well and we stayed close together as we set off through the woods then ascended the hill and arrived at the landmark tower.

Gail even carried me up to the top of the tower, where I was happy enough to 'pose nicely' by the scary spiral staircase, but drew the line at a selfie of the two of us looking out from the open viewing platform.

We took a different route down from the summit (there is quite a network of paths in this popular hiking and biking area). 

All was going well until I stopped for a minute or two to check out an interesting patch of peemail and Gail walked past, unaccountably oblivious to the important message left on the bracken.

And you know what? When I continued down the path, Gail had gone missing - she was nowhere to be seen! 

Well I am not a dog to panic, and when I came to a fork in the path, I decided to head back up the hill, presuming that Gail had returned to the summit to admire the view once again. 

There was no sign of my owner at the top of the hill, but I ran into a friendly couple, and when they gave me a piece of biscuit  I decided to attach myself to them, and wondered if they might like to adopt me. One of them petted me, looked at the tag on my collar and tried to make a phone call, but didn't seem to be getting an answer.

Shortly after this, we met a mountain biker, who said something about having spoken to a distressed lady at the bottom of the hill, adding "I think this must be her missing dog Bertie". He then sped off at a dangerous pace back down the hill.

Fifteen minutes later, a slightly breathless Gail suddenly reappeared, all hot and bothered. She put me on the lead and we walked back to the car park with the friendly couple, although I'm sorry to report that no more biscuits were forthcoming. Gail kept saying how thankful she was, and how kind the mountain biker had been to offer to ride back up the hill in search of me, and - at some length - how lithe and muscular he looked. (Between you and me, I began to think she would have been quite happy to go home with this biker and leave me on the hill with my new friends.)

Anyway....

Today we are off to the pet shop to buy a replacement for my old and apparently now illegible dog tag.