Maol Ruadh

A green walk this morning with no driving involved.

We jumped the back garden fence again, this time with Lucy too. M's Mum's dog is with us for a few days. Unlike yesterday there was nothing to race for and we ventured well up and over the wee hill called Maol Ruadh and down the other side.

Ruadh? Red! Everything in Glen Roy (Roy corruption of Ruadh surely) has a red connection. Dearg (pronounced Jerrack) is another word for red and three of the Glen Roy Corbetts are called Carn Dearg (Red Hill). And, indeed it looks very red here this morning.

I'm sure some experts are going to correct me on the detail but I'm pretty sure these Maoll Ruadh slopes played host to the last ever clan battle in Scotland.

Maol Ruadh is of modest altitude but it stands back from everything else a good bit and affords very good views all round. Difficult to explain without a map but we could look over the Alt Bo Loin burn to the Upper Inverroy track we often visit, Bohuntin hill and the lower reaches of Glen Roy. Then looking south you see some of the village and the huge glacial trench which is the Glen Spean valley and beyond the Mountains of what is called Nevis Range these days.

Caley is only one dog but he often feels like three when he horses around you madly and I have indulged in some impatient PS to enhance the illusion. Perhaps he is re-enacting the last clan battle in a one man (dog) show.