Torridon troubles

It's all very traumatic over at Torridon just now.

I've spoken before about 'the invasion' of our lovely cottage in Wester Alligin. Well it just got worse. Those two dogs think they own the place. There I was at the weekend, enjoying a nice, restful saunter round the garden, sniffing all my favourite spots, admiring the view of the loch, when out rushed the two young and manic Jack Russell terriers, Fudge and Nell, jumping all over me, no stopping them. I came over a bit shaky, and had to retreat into a corner of the shed to recover.

Then there was the breakfast incident.

A small person in a pink fluffy dressing gown decided she wanted to share my food. Yes really! I was pretty tolerant and ignored her as she kept plunging her chubby little fingers into the dog bowl. In the end I let her have a couple of pieces. It was the boring dry stuff after all - it would have been a different story had there been, say, a bone involved.

So all in all, not a relaxing weekend. Then, as if I hadn't suffered enough already, as we drove back up Glen Torridon, Gail threw me out of the nice warm Mini and wouldn't let me back in until I'd posed for this photo.

More adventures in Wester Alligin

Why can't we spend more time over on the West Coast? Gail has this lovely cottage on Loch Torridon, in a settlement called Wester Alligin. It's such an interesting area to explore, whereas, to be frank, I feel that after nine years I've exhausted most options in Aberdeen's Duthie Park, nice though the roses are.

Well I had to make do with a too brief visit last weekend. The drive over on Friday night was a bit of a drag, as some new friend of Gail's, a girl called Naomi, came with us and she usurped my front seat in the car. Typical American, if you ask me, invading places they shouldn't. It's not that the back's uncomfortable exactly, more there's a point of principle's at stake. Top dog status is surely my right. Gail seems to think her friends might be insulted if they were put in the rear seat, but I'm sure they'd be just fine, these new Minis are quite spacious, and how does she imagine I feel anyway?

I digress. We all three, Gail, Naomi and I, enjoyed a fine walk along the coast on Saturday, although the ground wasn't as boggy as I like it and so I didn't quite manage to achieve my favourite half Scottie half Westie look, with black underside and white upper.

Sunday was even better. I don't usually approve of Gail going off on walks and leaving me behind, but this time, rather than being home alone I got to spend the day with Wester Alligin neighbours Renate and Michael. I've mentioned my language skills in a previous post. I'm not sure my German hosts realised that I understood every word they said, but then this is not the place to give away their secrets anyway.

Baclenbea, that's Renate and Michael's house, has a most splendid garden and between exploring that, and checking out the house for unprotected biscuits, the time flew by. Have you been watching the Olympics on telly? Me neither, but I hope you'll be impressed by my balancing feat on the 'single wall' (see photos). Eat your heart out Olga Korbut.

Gail looked a bit knackered when she came back from the walk. I suspect this young Naomi had upped the pace a bit. Well Gail now you know how I feel, always being the oldster and lagging behind. Perhaps you too should cultivate an interest in sniffing lampposts.