Nobby and Gail's Big Adventure

It's a dual purpose post today, with a special adventure for YAM-aunty's Final Friday Feature, in which we get close to nature for the LLB Gang's weekly blog hop.

Carry On Camping!

Golly gosh I was so excited when Gail told me we were we Going Camping this week.

I've read all about our friends Rosy and Sunny and their exciting adventures in the magnificent and luxurious 'CeCe' motorhome.

I've seen with my own WFT eyes the more modestly sized but still wonderfully comfortable electric van, the 'Grey', so cleverly converted for cosy domesticity by our friend YAM-aunty.

Imagine my consternation when Gail, after burrowing around in the back of the box room, excavated an elongate black bag and announced that this was going to be our accommodation on Monday night!

The plan, I learned, was to meet up with our friend Imogen at the Ballater Caravan Park. Imogen was riding the c.45 miles out there, her bicycle fully loaded with her camping gear as a trial run for a forthcoming solo expedition to France and Spain, and Gail would drive us out to meet Imogen, carrying an extra blanket for our friend in addition to our own kit. Apparently this was to be a 'test' for me too.

We arrived first and, ignoring my offers of assistance, Gail erected the tent. I tried not to look too envious of the more substantial accommodations parked nearby.

Imogen showed up shortly after and I noted that her tent was even smaller than ours!

Gail claimed it was quite a deluxe camp site, with excellent, clean and modern bathroom facilities. I was not so sure about my bathroom option...

Fortunately, Gail decreed that, as it was not raining and I was dry and relatively clean, I would be allowed into her tent with out the need for pre-bedtime ablutions. 

I was a Good Boy over dinner in the nearby pub (The Balmoral Arms) and did not even complain when Imogen and Gail refused to share their big and juicy venison burgers. A fellow diner commented that I matched the carpet...

Soon it was bedtime, and inside the tent I experimented for a while with various sleeping positions, but decided eventually that I might be more comfy on the mat beside Gail rather than lying draped across her chest.

It was dawn before I knew it, and oh what fun to be enjoying breakfast, listening to the birds twittering away and sniffing the cool clean Highland air.

And what a lovely surprise, a chance encounter with a familiar foxie friend, Merin (who lives quite close), out on an early walk through the campground with her owner Claire.

After breakfast, our 'mobile homes' were collapsed and packed away, and while Imogen headed back to Aberdeen on her bicycle, Gail and I enjoyed a short walk up Craigendarroch Hill.

You can see the Ballater camping ground in the distance below.

When I asked Gail if we could go camping again she declared that I had aced the test and so another outing in the tent is a distinct possibility.

Hooray! 

Who needs blue sky anyway?

Yesterday morning Gail took this photo of me, posing nicely at the summit of Craigendarroch (a small hill overlooking the pleasant Deeside town of Ballater).

Can you believe what her new Google Pixel 7a phone camera suggested, totally unasked, when it saw the picture? 

Does Google think we live in the Caribbean? 

Gail says I should be grateful it didn't suggest erasing the dog in the foreground.

As for what we were doing in the Ballater area, well for now, all I'll say is, it was a new and exciting experience for me. Come back on Friday to find out more...

A question of stamina

Why would I be tired after a twelve mile* hike?

Gail seemed to think I might be, but between you and me, that probably says more about how her was sixty-four year old legs were feeling by the end of our walk on Saturday. 

I, of course, was still pretty sprightly after a glorious gallop around the hills near Ballater in stunning spring sunshine. 

We started in the woods at Milton of Tullich, where the birch trees have not quite come into leaf. 

A couple of miles on, we were out into open country.

There are just a few signs of human civilisation in this part of the world. 

Gail was awestruck by the magnificent panorama of snow-capped Aberdeenshire hills, whereas I focused on the near at paw. 

Then it was back down to the river valley and a patchwork of trees and sheep-grazed fields, with Lochnagar glimmering in the distance.

Finally, we returned to civilization, and Gail enjoyed a cup of tea and a scone on the terrace of a café in Ballater. We could have gone inside but three disputatious Lhasa Apsos had got there ahead of us and, disappointingly, Gail thought it would be "more relaxing" to stay away from the canine mayhem.

*Gail says: To be accurate, I walked twelve miles; Nobby, with his frequent side trips into the undergrowth, probably covered more than twenty. My friend Henry and I did a similar version of this walk with Bertie back in 2019, as reported here.

Gail and Nobby's hike, 15 April 2023

Another awesome adventure!

You know, there are many things to criticise* about my human, but I will say one thing for her. If the weather is nice and she has no urgent appointments, she's always happy to leave the boring chores behind and take me out for another adventure.

We have lately been enjoying a run of lovely warm (but not too warm) sunny weather here in NE Scotland. Gail tells me this is unusual and one is duty bound to make the most of it. 

So it was that on Monday we drove out to Ballater, where we met up with Gail's friend Henry and went for a long walk up Pannanich Hill.  Henry lives in Perth, Western Australia but normally comes 'home' to Scotland once a year. But due to you-know-what this the first time he's been out of WA for three years. 

The heather-clad hills couldn't have been looking more glorious. 

At the summit we met a father and son mountain biking team. 

It seems to me the son had the better deal... 

Father Jamie took this photo of Gail, Henry and me.

Why would you look at the camera when there might be treats left in Gail's little backpack...

Despite all the dry weather I of course managed to locate a muddy ditch as we descended through the woods.

 

And so before we reached the car park I was 'encouraged' to go for a paddle in the river Dee. 

Apparently I caused a bit of alarm when I decided to strike out into midstream and take a wee swim, and (according to Gail) looked for a moment to be in danger of being swept away by the current**. 

*Nobby's says:  Criticisms include Gail's passion for cycling, her strict rules about treats, her insistence that my coat gets combed once a day..... need I go on?

** Gail says: fortunately, it has been so dry here lately that the river level is extremely low, perhaps the lowest I've seen it in the 23 years I've lived in Scotland.