Loudoun Hill isn’t exactly a mountain but it’s a big enough climb for a couple of elderly Beaglets, and it’s certainly the biggest hill I could handle while holding four leads.

As is often the case, getting hounds up a hill is the easy part; they’re all eager to climb and see what’s at the top, although time should always be allowed for mid-ascent sniffage and sheep poo sampling.

If there are going to be problems then they’ll mostly occur on the way back down, and in this case I discovered just how much pulling power four Beagles cam exert, even when two of them are golden oldies and often get confused. Despite that I managed to stay on my feet and off my arse for the entire walk.

By the time we got home we had four very contented and sleepy little furries.