Our Beagle adventures
The Biggly Boy is an Uncle! His sister Lola has had a litter of 8 healthy little pups – 6 girls and two boys:
Lola..
..and her pups
Biggles was literally jumping for joy when we told him, but now all the excitement has taken its toll:
Clearly it’s hard work being an Uncle!
The agility show we went to on Saturday was really close to Loudoun Hill, and as we drove back we decided to do a return trip later that afternoon. Our last visit to Loudoun Hill had been as part of a longer walk that included a severely rotted sheep’s carcass, a horse with an ASBO, and some cows with a stalking habit. This time we side-stepped all those hazards by parking really close to the hill and heading straight up. The journey took barely 15 minutes, and though it was very chilly at the top the views were amazing – everything for miles around was bathed in beautiful golden light.
As we took in the views we became aware that we were not alone. Beanie and Biggles had mouthed off at some sheep on the way up, but instead of scaring the sheep away it had actually attracted them.
A glorious view, but the sheep are coming!
A group of them was now closing on our position at the summit, and our two Beagles attempted to warn them off with more baying. As before the sheep seemed completely unimpressed and continued their advance. Biggles wasn’t prepared to stand for this and let loose with a woofing of biblical proptions. In fact it was more of a song than woof – each indignant exclamation was joined to its neighbors by a warble that would’ve impressed even Simon Cowell. Yet still the sheep drew closer! How could they possibly withstand our boy’s vocal nuke? Maybe they’d been rendered permanently deaf by the noise he’d made on our previous visit. Regardless, they went into retreat the moment I started taking photos of them. Those sheep may have been immune to Beagle rantings, but they were also camera shy!
Now safe from the sheep, were all free to continue taking in the epic views from the top of the hill..
..until Beanie decided it was teatime that is.
Beanie and I completed our second canix race today, and Paul and Biggles their third. As always at these events the weather was perfect. Blue sky, sunshine and a crisp frost to keep us cool during the run.
This time around it really was only 5.1k (typically they seem to round up to 6k), and apart from a couple of hard slogs at the end the course was fairly flat. The only tricky part was a flooded section of the path with knee-deep, icy water lasting for about 20 feet. Biggles ran through it without even noticing. But poor princess Beanie got so far, sunk up to her neck then with a look of “eeeeewww!” on her face she swam to the side and tried to pick her way carefully to dry land.
Beanie does of course swim regularly at a hydrotherapy pool but refuses to go in at anything less than a balmy 29 degrees.
The course pretty much followed the shore of the loch so no risk of Paul getting lost and doing an extra 4k this time!
Biggles and Paul redeemed themselves and finished in a very respectable 26 minutes. Beanie and I came in last with a time of 38 minutes which I was happy with – but I’m working hard at getting fit so I can be the partner that Beanie deserves.
Not much video footage this time (Paul wanted to concentrate on navigation after last weeks mishap!). Just a little bit of Beanie’s and my finish:
A big thank you to Gregor Watson (Chief the agility Beagle’s dad) for his support and for the photos. It’s really lovely to have a reminder of the day – especially that big puddle!