Monday

The Dog Rambler E-diary

To 04
June 2012
Walk Lesser Travelled Paths in the Pentlands Dogs on walk Cyrano, Dylan, Jolie, Lucas, Maggie, Tim, Struan, Talaidh Length 6 miles

Jubilee bank holiday for many meant a possible busy day. The Pentland Hills often provide a refuge of quiet on such days. Not today. We amended our route several times to avoid confrontations with horses, other dogs on tight leads and groups of very small children. This led us onto the lesser walked paths. Quiet save for the bleat of sheep and the oval white balls they present. We still met or passed many people including joggers and cyclists. The dogs huddling around me as through it was not them who had been making all that noise a few seconds ago. Chasing each other with gusto. Our day began in sunshine at Dreghorn and remained sunny if not a little chilly at times all day long. We zig-zagged about through long grass and up brown earth tracks toward the base of the hills. Our first diversion caused by a couple of horses and their riders climbing up behind the golf course. Therefore Allermuir Hill was out for now. We stayed low meeting a group of four well kitted out walkers, bent slightly by their rucksacks. We were planning to half double back at the end of this path to climb a diagonal path starting a different climb up Allermuir. We were thwarted again. A Family and their dog were coming down the very slim path with a steep drop to the side. Not wise to meet them head on. This after we had the left the lower path to make way for a dog on a lead

and a small child causing a few challenges for its parents. One or other would be fine but both creating harassed looking parents was not a good idea. The dogs did very well to not try and interfere and did not seem to mind the odd route we were taking. Cyrano and Maggie particularly happy because it led us to a stream and then a nice murky ditch. We now began to climb up one of our often used paths over grassy slopes dotted with yellow gorse toward Capelaw Hill. A few pants began to escape some of the dogs as the heat rose and the path got steeper. They strung out a bit behind and in front. Jolie, Lucas and Tim gearing themselves up for a chase across the heather once the lower slopes of Capelaw Hill had been reached. Cyrano looking on but as so often not quite ready to take the plunge. We continued on round the side of Capelaw Hill stopping to let joggers by who we running up the cleugh between it and Harbour Hill. We left the main path down the cleugh and followed a narrow one around the hill a little higher up. Dylan, Maggie and Lucas having to run to catch us back up as they had missed the turning. Down below on the main path a slow moving group like camels across the desert would have hindered our progress. Up here only a few sheep slowed us down. We continued around Capelaw Hill on a quiet path, enjoying the peace and the dogs feeling free to roam around into the grass and heather bowl of a shallow corrie. Once home to an Ice Age glacier. We were heading back toward Allermuir Hill and as we left the bowl we began to climb it. But not until the dogs had walked to heel to get by a couple having their lunch beside a meeting of paths. People always seem to choose the most awkward places to stop. We did not quite get to the top instead turning onto another path, which was no more than an indent in the grass. Lucas getting another chase going with Jolie and Tim tracking him down. This path led us to the diagonal one we had aborted earlier. This time going downhill. And who was at the bottom? The two horses we had navigated away from earlier. We let them

get ahead and then followed along behind until we cut off. The dogs now curious about horses stopped to investigate one from the safety of the other side of a fence as we headed along a track beside its field. We were now back near Dreghorn and one last tangled grassy field led us to the car. Nick

Photo slideshow from the walk

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