River path realignment

Back in Aberdeen this week, Gail and I took a gentle stroll along the river bank, from Duthie Park to Cults. 

The stroll might have been gentle, but the forces of nature were much in evidence. And not only in the wind that is blowing my ears aloft in the picture above.

Since last walking here, winter storms have flooded the path, toppled several trees and deposited new layers of sand where mud used to be.

Part of the path has now disappeared in the river, and when I started to show a bit too much interest in peering over the overhanging bank to the fast flowing water below, Gail decided it was time to clamp on my lead. 

But soon I was released again, and was scoping out a route through the trees while Gail photographed the debris swept up by the floodwater.

Before heading back I enjoyed one last session of grubbing around in newly exposed tree roots - always an excellent place for locating interesting smells and delaying the return home, I find.

Happy Nature Friday friends! I wonder if Nature has been remodelling your local landscape lately?

PS Yesterday I celebrated living with Gail for one whole year. She says it's been "quite the experience..."

On the buses

Readers of my predecessor Bouncing Bertie's blog will know that he was was a seasoned train traveller who during his life clocked up many thousands of miles by rail. But when I searched for his account of his first ever trip on a train, it didn't take much reading between the lines to work out that his behaviour was initially far from perfect...

I am still much younger than Bertie was when he was first introduced to the concept of public transport and I have yet to set paw on a train. But Gail has decided, now she is of an age to travel for free on all buses in Scotland, and what with fuel prices being so high (plus of course concerns about greenhouse gases), we might from time to time use the bus rather than the car to get to the start point of certain local walks.

So on Monday afternoon it was all aboard First Bus No.19 for a short (4 mile) ride from Aberdeen city centre to Cults, from where we could take a pleasant walk home along the Deeside Way.

I fear some of my readers might be secretly disappointed I have no amusing disaster stories to tell.

I waited patiently with Gail at the bus stop. After about 5 minutes the bus turned up. There were plenty of empty seats and I was allowed to sit on Gail's lap and look out of the window for part of the journey. 

My only complaint is that this window rattled rather noisily when the bus was moving, but I didn't let it bother me and I was in fact as quiet as a mouse throughout. 

Now that I have lulled her into a (possibly false) sense of security, Gail says she is emboldened to take me on a longer bus trip before too long!