Blethering Blonde

We had been joined for the weekend by our friends Iain Gallagher of Kendal Mountaineering Services and his partner Kirsten. A sort of plan was made over drinks the night before to get Iain onto some of the Mamores that he hadn't yet managed to bag. Mamore Lodge was the start point where the resident dug was patiently waiting for us to throw stones for him. There has never been a visit to Mamore Lodge where the dug hasn't been there. The landrover track made easy work of the first few km and then it was onto the open hill up the SW ridge of Na Gruagaichain. It was great, the sun was shining, there was no wind and we knew that there was snow on top :-D Iain and I had already been threatening each other about snowball fights. The views were stunning. Then we noticed some really interesting cloud formations going on over Buaichaille Etive Mor. Onwards and upwards we went only to start going into some cloud ourselves and spotting our first brocken spectre of the day. Oh the jo...

As some of you will know I'm a total softie when it comes to animals especially dugs. I would so love to have one of my own but as I'm in a job that makes me work stupidly long hours it just aint practical. I do however have the opportunity to "borrow" my friend's dug. It just so happened that he needed a home for a few days as his usual kennel was full so I got first refusal - bit of a no brainer :-) For living in a city I'm not too bad for getting access to green areas for walking the mutt. I'm seconds from the Forth & Clyde Canal and that takes me along to Dawsholm Park which Luca and I explored extensively. The thing was I wanted to take him for a proper runabout so decided to head for the Kilpatricks. Steve had the kids and unfortunately Jennifer is a bit allergic to dugs so they weren't joining me. I got on the "dog & bone" (corny I know) roping in Sandy & Louise whilst leaving messages for ptc* to come find us on Dou...