Tuesday

The Dog Rambler E-diary

To 22
May 2012
Walk Dogs on walk Covering all angles on Capelaw Hill Length 6 miles

Archie, Dylan, Finlay, Gina, Jerry, Solo, Tim

The heat is rising and there were some lolling tongues today as the dogs sought out the many puddles on the still wet paths and tracks. And a few streams of burbling clean water. But not as tasty and too clean for Archie and Finlay to lie in. We began our day at Dreghorn and a good stream to allow the dogs to set themselves up for the day. We wound our way into the hillsides and up toward Capelaw Hill. Climbing above the low misty cloud still hanging above much of Edinburgh. The dogs padded their way upward Jerry racing through the long grass and behind bristling bushes of gorse hoping to flush something out. No luck. Gina keeping an eye on him but having to fend off a rather boisterous Tim today. He had already annoyed Dylan and almost got bitten as a result. A further attack on Dylan later found him on his lead to calm down a bit. It was not only Gina and Dylan but Archie, Finlay and Solo who also came in for his sneaky snaps at them as he ran by hoping it would get them to play. It had the opposite effect. Long wispy white clouds tied bows around the blue sky. A full sun was now beating more and more heat toward the ground. Tongues began to get longer as though stretching with the passage of time. Slurps in the puddles did not make them smaller as we began our

circuit around Capelaw Hill. First dropping through Phantoms Cleugh sweeping away down toward the centre of the Pentlands. A wall of silhouetted high hills beyond the lip of the cleugh. We were not going as far as that. Instead once through a gate we found a faint track to our left that climbed a little way up Capelaw Hill before sweeping around its side. At this point we were having to walk to heel as many of the sheep and their lambs had come down from the higher slopes to bask in the sun trapped by the walls of the cleugh. Great heather and grass slopes leading up to Harbour Hill on one side and our hill of the day Capelaw Hill on the other. Gina tried hard to get Jerry and then Archie to play with her but could not find the right tactic to rouse Archie from his panting and to distract Jerry from his wandering. She could not get to Finlay as he was up front but not as far ahead as normal and for long period was in the with the crowd. Archie kept falling behind and then having to run to catch us up. Gina gave up and walked with me and Solo. Him just in front and her just behind almost tripping me up as she walked so close. I kept encouraging her to go ahead so that I would not fall over. Next she tried Dylan but his main interest was rolling in the wiry grass. So it was back to Tim who had calmed down now and was doing his own thing. We round around the great bowl of land on this far side of the hill before climbing up to the top. At last a little bit of chasing but it was obvious the heat of the day was holding them back a bit. Not used to it. We have not had heat like this since March. The foggy cloud had lifted over Edinburgh. It was now hazy in the heat instead. A blue hue gently colouring everything. We continued with our angular walk zigzagging over Capelaw Hill by doubling back to follow a slim path over its shoulder. Edinburgh and our start point of Dreghorn below us. By the time we reached the resurfaced track falling quickly back down the hills I was at the front. An unusual experience. We stopped again at a couple of streams near Dreghorn for a last slurp or bath. Some mucky dogs despite the dry. Many paths still muddy and some of them are experts at finding it. So no real change from last week. Wet and dirty dogs standing by the car.

Nick

Photo slideshow from the walk

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