welcome
‘Tis the season to be walking, so this month we are proud to bring you a wonderful photo essay in the form of the best images from the Ramblers Scotland photographic competition ‘Walking Pals’. As well as giving us a chance to feast on some epic images of Scotland’s hills and byways, it is a timely reminder that there is no better way to get out and experience the countryside than on two feet with a bunch of friends.
I’ve actually done a fair bit of that recently. Some of it has been with a fishing rod in hand on predictably barren trips that have been short on fish but long on laughter, lunch and friendship. But just as much has been of the more aimless variety where we’ve just gone for an amble for the sake of enjoying the countryside. On one such route march, some friends and I visited the Grey Mare’s Tail near Moffat, which at sixty metres is the highest waterfall in Britain. On our walk up to Loch Skeen, we encountered two surprising things. The first was a closed footpath, which necessitated a terrifyingly steep yet strangely invigorating climb up to the ridge, but the second was a real change in the breeds of dogs we encountered.
Our party included my old cairn terrier, a hyperactive Bedlington-whippet cross and an ancient labrador, but virtually everybody else appeared to have foreign breeds. In fact, now I’ve noticed it, this is being replicated everywhere. On my lunchtime walks over the past week I’ve encountered endless French bulldogs, weimaraners, vizlas, Rhodesian ridgebacks and even a briard, but precious few Border terriers, Scottish deerhounds or even labradors – and definitely no dandie dinmonts. My colleague Morag feels the same way and has penned a column in defence of indigenous breeds. She’s right – it’s time for us all to own them or lose them....
‘ We visited the Grey Mare’s Tail near Moffat, which at sixty metres is the highest waterfall in Britain’