A happy band of brothers (and sisters)

A chance encounter a few days ago with 'Dougie' and his owner led to Gail and I being invited along to the first monthly walk of 2020 for a local group of wire-haired fox terriers and their humans.

We met at the car park at Cruden Bay and ventured along the cliffs to Slains Castle and before heading for a romp on the fine sandy beach.

If you look at the photos and deduce that it was a windy day, you would be correct.

 

 

I know you will all be wanting to know how I behaved, and how I compared to my five fellow foxies.

Gail says I was the tallest and perhaps the quietest, as well as the oldest and slowest. My furs were a bit shaggier than most of the others. Although I am not the playful type, I tolerated the insistent approaches of eight month old little Pickles with, Gail says, admirable patience. I did not embarrass Gail by ignoring her calls to "COME BERTIE!!!!' or attempting to get too close and personal with any of the WFT girls (or boys). I only released the smallest drop of pee on one of the kite boards lying unattended on the beach, and all but ignored a newly dead seal nearby.

As for Gail's behaviour, well she tried hard to be sociable despite suffering from a blocked nose, streaming eyes, sore throat and slight fever. Remembering everyone's names is for her a work in progress, although she's better with the dogs than the humans.

It was a nice, friendly group and I'm pleased to report that we have been invited back to attend the February meeting.

Close-up of Dougie and Bertie

Flower Friday: Serendipitous Ragged Robin

We intended to go for a walk along the beach at Cruden Bay last Sunday.

But I fear my owner is losing her grip.

It makes sense, does it not, to check the tides when planning a beach walk?

Sigh... It was the highest of high spring tides when we arrived at the car park, and with no nice firm sand to walk on, we instead headed in the other direction, through grassy meadows and along the low cliffs towards Slain's Castle.

In fact Gail even got that wrong, and to begin with we set off on the track which led to a dead end. But every cloud has a silver lining, and the boggy area we cut across to find the right path was decorated with these bright and delicate little pink flowers.

In English they are called 'Ragged Robin' but I prefer their Gaelic name, Caorag Lèana, which translates as 'spark of the marsh'.

Finally I just want to shout out how delighted I am to be taking part in Rosy and the LLB gang's Flower Friday once again, and also to wish Rosy the Happiest of Happy First Birthday!

FFHT: Hamish at Cruden Bay

It's Murphy and Stanley's FFHT time again. And after missing the last two months due to Gail being distracted by other matters, we are delighted to be taking part again.

HAMISH AT CRUDEN BAY (OR, WHEN THEY REALLY SHOULD HAVE MOVED THE GOALPOSTS…)

Sometimes, of an evening, when I am cuddled up on Gail's lap, I like to hear stories about my predecessor Hamish the Westie. The best ones are, of course, those in which Hamish commits some dreadful misdemeanour.

This is what Gail related last night:

Bertie, did I ever tell you about the first time I took Hamish for a walk on the beach at Cruden Bay, when he was about four years old? I knew I would remember this incident forever, because of the reaction of the lady who witnessed it…..

It was a lovely sunny afternoon in the middle of summer - well, lovely at least by Aberdeenshire standards. The haar had stayed offshore and, although hardly tee shirt weather, it was warm enough not to need an anorak. Quite a few other folk were enjoying the beach that day, including one family party who were working off their picnic lunch with an impromptu game of football. Discarded clothing served as goalposts. 

Imagine my horror when Hamish made a beeline for the makeshift posts and cocked his leg. Before I could stop him he had generously 'decorated' a jacket made of highly absorbent material. What's worse, a lady about my age, presumably one of the family, was standing right there watching him. 

"Oh I am SO SORRY", I grovelled, "I should have been keeping a closer eye on him, I feel terrible, please you must let me give you some money for dry cleaning, oh dear, Hamish you are a BAD DOG!"

But you know what? The lady just stood there and laughed. 

"Oh don't you worry about it, it's not a problem at all, it's only my husband's jacket!"  

Bertie at Cruden Bay,  June 2014

Strutting my stuff at Cruden Bay

PS It looks like the Ben Macdui expedition is ON for Saturday. Weather permitting…..

Come with me for a walk to Dracula's Castle

Weekday blues? Stuck in at home while the humans are busy working?

Why not join me on a virtual walk along the Scottish coast?

You're coming then? Brilliant! Let's get going!

We start off in a tiny wee fishing village, Whinnyfold, 20 miles north of Aberdeen.

We walk north along the cliffs, admiring the blue seas and the graceful arc of Cruden Bay in the distance.

(You may, like me, have to be on a lead for this stretch, along a narrow and uneven path with steep drops on one side and eminently chase-able sheep on the other.)

Eventually we reach the beach, and can run free, sniff around the rock pools and sip the salty water.

If you biggify this picture you can see the outline of a castle in the top left. That's where we're headed.

But first you may wish to stop a while and reflect, and watch the tide go out.

We are lucky that for once there is almost no wind, so no sand blowing in our eyes.

It seems we might even have the beach to ourselves today.

And also the path up to the spooky ruins of Slains Castle. (Bram Stoker stayed here; they say it's where he found inspiration for the Dracula story.)

We can walk right up to the castle and explore. It's great fun - so many fascinating nooks and crannies to investigate.  (The buildings are actually fenced off for safety reasons, but there's a hole in the fence so we can slip straight through!)  If I had a human who would remember to charge her camera battery once in a while, then I would be able to show you the ruins close up, but I'm afraid you'll just have to imagine it today, or perhaps follow this link.


P.S. I am off on my big train journey to visit human Granny and Granddad on Thursday. But by some miracle  the wonders of modern science and technology, I am also participating in the Blogville picnic next weekend. You will find me by the pond, where I will be conducting a series of fun science experiments with a water-related theme. If you want to participate in these experiments (and I am sure you will!) please stop by my blog next Friday or Saturday.