"There's a hole in my bucket dear Liza, dear Liza"

 Today we were testing out the walk through Blackmuir Woods and up onto the Cat's Back. It was blocked for a long time by fallen trees from the storms during the Winter. For a while it was passable by clambering over and under the huge tree trunks but today we managed it without any difficulty. So that was good.

I meet such interesting people on our walks. If you have a dog with you then you can chat to anyone, especially around here as everyone is very friendly and more than willing to rest for a while and chat. Today, on the way up to the Cat's Back Poppy made friends with an elderly gentleman wheeling 4 large plastic buckets attached to his bike. He was very happy to show me how, once he had filled them with soil from further along the path, he was going to hang all 4 buckets from his bike using a very neat attachment that he had fashioned from some bits of wood and pipe. The rich, peaty soil was going to be used as fertilizer in his tattie plot! He did admit that perhaps the soil really belonged to the Forestry Commission but he thought that they would be pleased that it was going to be put to such a good use! I agreed with him, I think he deserved to have tasty tatties after struggling numerous times up and down the hill with 4 pails of soil. I just hope his buckets don't develop a "hole in my bucket dear Liza, dear Liza"! (I'm sure his wife is called Liza)