Some say that luck follows from an open and positive state of mind – something I’ve always felt is a defining characteristic of The Bigglet. He really does live in the moment; he’s always ready to take advantage of opportunities that land at his door, he always rejoices in the good things that happen and quickly moves on from bad experiences. It’s a great way to be, and it really seemed to pay off on his thirteenth birthday.

After all the restrictions and stress of lockdown I really wanted to mark his birthday by doing something special, like getting back into the hills. Ben A’an was the obvious choice; it has big hill views but is an easy climb, taking less than an hour from car park to summit. These attributes also make it a very popular hill, best left for weekdays and unpopular times unless you like a crowd. As it turned out Biggles’ birthday landed on a Saturday this year – hardly ideal – but I hoped we could offset that by making a sunrise ascent. That hope took a dent when we pulled into the dedicated car park at 5am in the morning and saw a number of other vehicles, with several groups of walkers already setting out. Biggles of course wasn’t bothered by the other cars and walkers; he was just happy to going on an adventure again after such a long dry spell. He took lead position and kept it every step of the way up!

Over the previous walks we’ve done Biggles has become my trusted little pathfinder, able to pick up even the faintest of trails – a skill that’s come in handy more than once. This time around it was completely redundant; the path up Ben A’an couldn’t have been be clearer. Nevertheless my boy seemed keen to show that he hadn’t lost his ability – in fact he was trying so hard to be the ace navigator that he actually strayed from the path a couple of times. I corrected him but it didn’t phase him in the least; he just changed direction and trotted back into the lead position as if nothing had happened.

Come on Dad, keep up!

As we approached the top I could see that the other walkers had already congregated on summit and my heart sank a little, but this was my boy’s birthday and our luck was in; this morning – against all odds – there was a rare and beautiful cloud inversion, and the best possible viewing point wasn’t from the summit, but from a slightly lower and unoccupied point which we made our own.

After we’d enjoyed the visual feast I unpacked a more conventional treat: duck and venison doggy sausages. I wish I could say the pups really savoured them, but in reality it was more of a chomp-chomp-gulp situation, but tails were wagging so it was all good. Our run of luck continued shortly after this when most of the people on the summit decided they’d had enough and headed down, allowing us to grab a quick solo moment up there after all.

The string of fortunate events continued when we got home; the blackberries at the back of our garden had chosen today of all days to ripen. A private off-lead berry picking session was clearly in order!

Back inside, Biggles had a long chew session with his birthday present – a buffalo horn. Given his liking for cow hooves I’d figured that he’d really enjoy a more exotic animal part, and it looks like I was right.

Worn out from all his chewing and with a tummy still full of blackberries, Biggles rolled onto his back and displayed his furry joy department to the world. He’s done this many times in his life and never once received the admiration and respect that such a fine example of Beagle manhood deserves, but today his luck was in one more time. I was the first to be mesmerised by the spectacle, and when I ran off to get my reading glasses for an even closer look, Susan took up prime viewing position. For the next ten minutes all our attention was on Biggles’ pride and joy, and he was loving it. He barely even noticed me grabbing the tick removal tool and unhooking the whopping great blood sucker that had attached itself to his nethers.

Even when luck comes disguised as a deer tick attached to one’s naughty bits, The Bigglet is ready to make the most of it. Happy 13th birthday my lucky little boy!