Monday

The Dog Rambler E-diary

top 05
December 2011
Walk Dogs on walk

From Rosewell toward Penicuik

Length

6 miles

Dylan, Jolie, Lucas, Maggie, Merryn, Solo, Tim

A real feel of the wintry weather today. Bit still nothing like this time last year. This was one of the few walks we could do last year. Today easy to reach and easy to follow. No more than a couple of centimetres of snow along the old railway line heading away from Rosewell, to follow against the flow of the River Esk toward Penicuik. Much of this had begun to thaw on the return journey. Along with the icy puddles becoming pools of water a few small rivulets running along the track. Quite a number of people had chosen this route today probably to avoid the worst of the weather. Our first encounter was after a very short distance. A pack of baying greyhounds being held hard on their collars by the three women accompanying them. At first we waited by the path. But then I realised that this may not work too well. They were travelling slowly with some dogs up on their hind legs. It looked like the best option was to move fast and try and get by them rather than wait for a very slow encounter with us not moving much. As the leader got within fifteen feet of us I ushered the dogs on, talking all the time to them we picked up our pace and with only a few quick sniffs we were past. The baying receded toward the car park.

Now we could get into the walk. Excited by the bawdy hounds Jolie, Lucas and Tim reeled about in a mad jig. I saw very little of Lucas today as he kept up his fun with Jolie and Tim for much of the day. Merryn viewed the whole proceedings with a little distain and head slightly tilted she ignored the rabble. That is until Maggie tried to run by her with a stick. Then she let her mask slip and chased after her barking all the way. Catching herself, she quickly composed herself and returned to her haughty demeanour. Solo could not match this so was off with the rest keeping up a good trot, if not quite ready to join the play. Dylan, however, could match her in his own way. His haughtiness consisted of being either well ahead or well behind and if neither then he was up the banking away from them. The kids continued to play as we travelled over a high viaduct crossing the river in its deep ravine making the end of Roslin Glen. It then cut through two tunnels excavated deep into the rocky hillsides separating us from the Penicuik side. By now we had met four more dogs out with their owners in three different places. One poor thing ran the other way upon the sight of us. His owners laughing uproariously. Another dog on a lead cowered almost as much as its owner did as we approached in a fairly tight group. Well until ten feet away. The next one wanted to join us, taking a particular liking to Maggie who did little to deter his attentions. On the way back a young Labrador puppy also wanted to join us, this time playing with Jolie and Tim. In amongst these, two runners had to slalom their way along the walkway. The crisp white path drew us onwards. The red berries on the trackside bushes caught in the sun like Christmas baubles on the tree. The sky a cold blue reflected the temperature. But it was rising as the thaw on the return demonstrated. The sun working hard from is low position in the sky. By now it was at its height and as we neared the end of the walk the temperature began to fall again along with the sun. The dogs kept themselves warm running with sticks. Jolie and Maggie having some particular fun together. Tim having a fight with quite a short stick found himself falling further behind until he had to give up on it. Lucas tried to take a little rest and nip in behind me but Jolie would not allow it. Merryn weaved between them all and found herself near the front with Dylan and Solo.

One more dog on this busy day, just starting out along the track signalled that we were near the end. The roof of the car just catching the waning sun as if to indicate to us like a lighthouse. But drawing us in rather than repelling us. And so we came, with the blue of the sky getting deeper and colder, back to the relative warmth of the car.

Nick

Photo slideshow from the walk

Tuesday

The Dog Rambler E-diary

06
December 2011
Walk Dogs on walk

Onto a snowy Capelaw Hill

Length

6 miles

Archie, Finlay, Gina, Jerry, Otis, Solo, Tim

Glorious hills today. Very regal in their white snow cover as if wearing ermine. On the lower slopes hard and icy underfoot. More powdery near the tops. Once again a lovely blue sun kissed sky looked down on us as we set off from near Bonaly to make our way via Torduff Reservoir to Capelaw Hill. The white frosty access road driving us upwards. Finlay claiming his place at the front, stinging us out with Otis falling way behind. So far in fact that we had to stop and call him and wait until he eventually appeared. The rest ran along the side of the reservoir, with the occasional slip or skid on the icy surface. But not so cold that the reservoir was at all frozen. The ripples bobbed across it in the gentle wind and a couple of ducks let themselves be taken on its flow. We climbed away from the reservoir to meet up with Bonlay Moor. Two women stopped on the steep narrow path to let us by. Gina ran off ahead to greet them. Followed of course by the other dogs no longer listening to me asking them to stay to heel. The two women loved the attention. I still had a word with Gina for her blatant disregard. She did not listen for once up on Capelaw Hill she did it again. But this time found herself on the lead. She has been so good recently but she must have a bit of the Tims about her today. He found himself in disgrace last week too. Today he was much better just using the coattails of Gina and then Archie to get in amongst anyone we met. Yes Archie was the next one to disgrace himself running up to people uninvited. He too found me having a word with him. Thankfully we had Finlay, Otis and Solo behaving themselves. I was surprised by the number of people around the hills today. But then they were magnificent in their ermine glory. Even close up they looked fantastic. The dogs instead preferred to chase across the whiteness of the hidden heather. Solo and Otis of course sticking to the hard to distinguish path. That is until we reached Bonaly Reservoir where they joined Archie, Jerry and Finlay in the water. Gina deciding it was too cold stayed out and Tim did little more than dip in a paw or two. We did not linger but pushed un upwards toward the summit of Capelaw Hill. Emerging in front of us as we reached the summit a line if white hills like polished teeth.

As we walked along the wide summit ridge the dogs chased and played until Gina found herself in prison. As we came back off the hill she was released and went straight back into the fray. Some high wispy clouds were now beginning to veil the blueness of the sky. But the sun very low now cut through them hitting the snow at such an angle that it lit it up in a lilac glow. The pale dogs now standing out against it. Up until now it was hard to discern that there were seven of them. Despite being close to me they melted into the whiteness.
The Dog Rambler www.thedogrambler.com As we came down [email protected] height of Capelaw cut out the sun but still it felt warm. Bonaly t. 0131 665 8843 or 0781 551 6765

Reservoir free of the shadows glistened in the sun with its collar of sparkling snow. We bypassed it on the way down and dropped steeply to Bonaly Country Park. Following some of the paths around it we climbed back up through the Scots Pine trees to another drop back down to Torduff Reservoir. A bunch of quieter dogs gently strolled along its side to the final walk back down the access to road to the waiting car. Nick

Photo slideshow from the walk

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