Out to play

After a windy morning - it was positively draughty in my bedroom with two east-facing windows open - the early high cloud dissolved and left us with blue sky perfection yet again. My back garden was positively hot; the front remained cool. During our customary FaceTime over coffee, my pal Di and I decided that a gentle walk, complete with her dogs, was what we needed, and she knew just the place. Bear in mind that it's Saturday, and weekends mean People in Unusual Places ...

We met at the top of the Glen Massan gorge - the place where many of our walks terminate after a strenuous bash up the road - parking in the entrance to a forestry road that leads no-where and isn't currently in use. From there, we walked two thirds of the way up the hanging valley, past the field where the cuddly-looking highland cattle used to scratch their necks on the wire and where now there are three sheep and six lambs - two black-faced, three white and one adorable tiny black one - which look as if they were born only the other day. We weren't going anywhere, just avoiding Other Dogs, because Di's dogs, having each suffered from being jumped by larger animals, become hysterical at the very sight of a dog in the distance. Bit like me, really ...

It was extremely therapeutic. We actually didn't see many people at all; it's just that anyone seems a crowd when you're used to having a place to yourself. The photo shows Di with one dog in the water while the other threatens to pull her in half, being slightly less enthusiastic about paddling. The sky is blue, the willow-warblers are back, the gorse is out. There are cows beside the road further up the glen, so we shall go no further. For all that it has felt like a pottering afternoon, we have covered 9 kilometres and it's time for tea.