It's been five long years since I last accompanied Gail on a cross country skiing outing. For some reason she always refers to that occasion, when I was less than one year old, as an "unmitigated disaster".
OK so as a puppy I was very scared of those long planks attached to her feet, but I'm a big boy now, right?
Well at last, on Sunday, she had the decency to give me a second chance to prove my credentials as a winter sports companion, and off we went to Clashindarroch Forest, just over an hours drive from Aberdeen and generally considered the best 'snow-holding' forest in the UK.
Gosh it was fun too, as you can see from the pictures below.
When it comes to how I performed, well I thought I had scored a perfect ten, but apparently not. Really, I don't know why it should count against me that I brushed up against another skier and he went down like a skittle. After all he wasn't hurt and his wife did laugh and point out it was the fourth time he'd toppled over that morning...
