Too bedraggled?

It all started off so promisingly...

Gail was keen to investigate a new footpath she'd only just found out about. It goes through Kinloch Woodlands, a 3600 acre area of hill ground to the south of Shieldaig (half an hours drive from the Torridon cottage). The land is managed by a local charitable trust and a project aiming to regenerate native forest is underway.

Here's a map. The plan was to follow the path to Loch Dughaill,  indicated by the red dashed line. 

Please note - the map is 'upside down' with south at the top

A round trip of not much more than two miles. Easy peasy, right?

Except that before long the nice dry and well made track gave way to an indistinct path across rough and boggy ground...

Did I mention it's been raining a lot round here lately?

No photos were taken of the second half of the route, as we stumbled through the mire, teetered on slimy rocks to cross a rain-swollen torrent and at one point Gail had to carry me after my courage failed when faced with a stretch of hummocky marsh where you had to jump between tussocks of grass to avoid slipping awkwardly into the fetid mud. (The photo below, taken from the internet, is a good illustration of these conditions.) 

Shortly after we reached solid ground again Gail put me down but soon we turned back, with  the final descent to the Loch looking far from straightforward and Gail by now unwilling to tackle any further obstacles. To be honest, I wasn't sorry.

But can you believe that when a spectacular rainbow appeared in the sky near the end of the hike, Gail rejected my offer of my customary  'foreground interest' services on the basis that I looked "too bedraggled" and thus would spoil her photo...

Too bedraggled. What do you think?

The wrong kind of rainbow

The weather forecast for Torridon last weekend was mixed. Gail has a tendency, inherited from Human Grandad, to look on the bright side, and claimed, as we headed west to our cottage on Friday morning, it would at least be excellent rainbow weather.

On arrival we walked up the road and passed the local farmer who greeted us with his customary "nae a bad day".

But as the skies darkened, and the last vestige of brightness fell victim to a pincer movement obliterating any hint of a cloud break, even Gail had to concede that her optimism might, on this occasion, have been misplaced.

As you know, I am not one of those soft southern pups who disdains to to venture out in rainy weather. 

"Why fret about the wet?" could be my motto.  

At least the wind was strong enough to keep the midges at bay. 

And eventually, on the road up the hill from the cottage, I did spot a rainbow of sorts...

Somewhere, under the rainbow...

It's been a sun and showers sort of a late June in Aberdeen. Not for the first time, a heatwave reported over most of Europe has evaded this particular corner of Scotland. 

Gail has been boringly busy this week, but at least I managed to persuade her that a few photos of the rainbow we saw from the city beach a few days ago would fit the bill for Nature Friday.

But what about ME!

To start with I was being patient when Gail insisted on taking loads of non-Bertie shots over in Torridon at the weekend...

It was all: "Oh Bertie, just look at trees glowing burnished gold in the late autumn light, the rainbow arching over the loch, the sprinkling of new snow topping the mountains, the handsome stag auditioning for a Landseer painting, oh and wow more rainbows ..."

...but enough is enough, frankly one can only put up with so much of this kind of thing, and I had to bounce over to remind her of the importance of 'foreground interest'...

Now this is more like it. 

[Gail and I did wonder if maybe we should be posting some photos of the less attractive corners of Scotland today, 'cos we heard that if a certain D.Trump loses a certain election on the other side of the Pond, then he is planning to spend more time in this country, and I'll be straight with you, we really don't want him here, ruining our glorious wild landscape with more of his hideous hotels and pesticide-drenched golf courses.]

P.S. Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to contribute valuable data for my latest research project. I am currently analysing all the fascinating information provided, and will be presenting my Pee-hD thesis within the next two weeks.

P.P.S. Eight years ago, my wise predecessor Hamish the Westie posted this:  http://hamishthewestie.blogspot.co.uk/2008/11/trumped.html