Beanie’s Birthday Bash – Part One

Posted on October 19, 2011 by Susan

What do you buy for a little girl that has everything? It was Beanie’s birthday and aside from a squeaky copy of the ‘Dogmopolitan’ (on sale for 70p in Tesco) we couldn’t think of anything she might like that she hasn’t already got. At four she’s a bit old for birthday parties so we decided upon a birthday camping trip to the West Highlands.

We set off at the crack of dawn on Thursday morning and got settled in with just enough time left for a walk up the Pap of Glencoe before darkness fell. At just 742 metres high the Pap of Glencoe isn’t a particularly big mountain but its steep and distinctive cone-shaped summit is a real landmark in the area around Ballachulish.

We’d read that the final ascent is very rocky and scrambly – which makes for a very tricky descent when attached to our Beagles. We decided to invest in a pair of cheap walking poles to see if they’d help any. I found them to be a real hindrance on the way up – they made me feel (and look) like an OAP. I can’t comment on how helpful they might be on the way back down as the boggy slopes of the mountain had swallowed the bottom section of both poles before we reached the summit leaving me with two useless stumps.

We approached the summit at about 5.00pm leaving us just an hour and a half to enjoy the views then make our way back down before dark. As I scrambled up the final few feet it occurred to me that Beanie’s line was much longer than Biggles’ – how could that be? She was now quite a distance from me. Then it dawned on me – her lead had somehow unclipped and my wayward little Beagle girl was loose on a mountain. I forced down the sheer panic building inside me and called out a cheerie “Beanie – here!”. I can’t tell you how relieved I was when my little angel turned her head, wagged her tail and trotted over to me. Clearly she hadn’t realized she was loose – if she had, I think she’d have legged it in search of the bellowing stag on the neighboring mountain and we’d have been shivering at the top of the mountain in pitch darkness waiting for her to get bored and come back to us!

Beanie safely back on lead. The views are so spectacular in all directions that we couldn’t agree on what way to look!

We got back to the car just as darkness fell.

Beanie At Four

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Paul

It’s hard to believe it, but the Beanster is four years old today. There’s a touch of grey creeping in around her face now, but most people who meet her for the first time assume she’s still a puppy and that Biggles is the oldest in our pack. That’s due in part to an endearing trait she’s retained from her time as a zero-year-old: a smile-inducing full body wag that breaks out the instant a friendly face approaches her. These days that wag sometimes has a cynical motive behind it though; it invariably causes the approaching human to bend down to pet Beanie, placing pockets and/or shopping at the perfect height for a lightening fast raid. She hasn’t made any big scores this way of late though, for which I’m grateful, because trips to the vet to induce vomiting don’t come cheap!

Beanie’s new found maturity has changed her in a number of ways. For example, she’s recently acquired a taste for tea. Whenever a hot new beverage appears on the scene she feigns sleep, waiting for it to cool. Then, the instance it’s left unguarded there’s a Beanie snout in the cup and the lapping and slurping noises begin.

She’s also become much more tolerant of affection. In the past, any attempt to cuddle or kiss her would result in her scarpering almost immediately. Now, she frequently presents her cheeks for kisses on a morning when we open the crates and let our two into bed with us for snuggle time. Biggles presents his cheeks too, but more often than not it’s the rear ones and I’m not so keen on kissing them.

So, how does a Beagle princess celebrate her fourth birthday? Well today was a very low key affair. She accompanied us on a shopping trip to Ayr (Mountain Warehouse in Ayr actually allows dogs inside the shop) and on the way back to the car she cleaned the streets of just about every discarded chip and lunchtime sandwich. Later she had a couple of madcap chases round the garden..

practiced her treat-catching skills..

and devoured a tasty pigs ear. So, not bad, but not great either. The thing she doesn’t realize yet is, the real birthday treatment is coming tomorrow and over the next few days..

Schiehallion: The almost silent mountain

Posted on October 1, 2011 by Paul

Biggles, or Brother Biggles as I should now call him, has apparently taken a solemn vow of silence. I can think of no other way to explain how we managed to walk to, and return from, the summit of Schiehallion with so few aarffing incidents.

Unlike the human vow of silence, it seems the Beagle version doesn’t require complete abstinence from vocalisation. There are exclusion clauses covering minor woofings related to:

sheep
postmen
people with strange hats
sisters who steal your place on the sofa

Clause#1 saw some use just as we exited the Braes of Foss car park and started our ascent, but this aarffage was half-hearted and very shortlived, exactly in line with Biggles’ vow. Thereafter he stayed quiet – even when we passed another couple with a very woofy Wiemaraner – and we made it to the start of the rock-strewn upper section of the mountain without any illicit outbursts.

An excellent path takes you a fair way up the mountain

But after that the route becomes increasingly rocky

Pretty soon, you’re having to pick your way over and around rocks of all shapes and sizes

It’s a walk that should be attempted by only the most intrepid explorers

We passed a few other walkers, some with sticks and even hats, but Biggles managed to keep his peace.

Soon the small pile of stones marking the summit came into view, and still Brother Biggles kept his vow of (almost) silence.

Made it!

At the top we discovered a lone red rose that had been inserted into the cairn by an earlier walker.

It was a lovely gesture, which Beanie repaid by knocking half of the cairn stones right back down the mountain.

Er.. Oops

Visibility wasn’t particularly good this time around – we’d seen a lot more of the surrounding scenery on our previous visit – but the great thing about Schiehallion is that its rocky terrain is a view in itself.

The scents at the top were great though; Beanie and Biggles stood virtually motionless for minutes at a time as the mountain breezes brought new aromas to their eager noses. Only the opening of our traditional summit sandwiches snapped them back out of their nasal “condor” moment.

Having surrendered a sandwich each to our Beagles, we packed up and set off back down. This is always the most testing time for our little boy. I don’t what it is about going down a mountain that excites him so much, but if he’s going to have a serious aarrfing session, it’ll happen on the way down. This time however, it didn’t. I had both Beanie and Biggles tied to me for the return journey and though they were eager to keep moving neither of them fell into a baying frenzy. We did admittedly get a very minor outburst from the two of them as we passed by those pesky sheep near the bottom (again), but it was over in seconds. Well, a couple of minutes anyway . OK, five minutes at the most, but as already stated a brief sheep-related aarrffing session is permitted by the Beagle Vow of Silence. Susan was so pleased with Biggles’ new found self control that she picked him up and gave him hugs and kisses when we got back the car.

Very embarassing, Mum! I mean, I’m three years old now, you know?

During the long drive back we stopped in Aberfeldy for fish & chips, and some left-over fish and a couple of chips somehow made it into Beanie & Biggles bowls when we got home.