Abridged

Apologies for another doggy blip but I just thought this was quite a special unposed pose.

Another friend came to join me for a couple of days in the Cairngorm area - Bruce's surrogate mum - and during a long walk today we passed the Lochan Uaine in the Glenmore Forest. The hillside surrounding this lochan is very steep and I am not sure whether minerals or something runs down the scree into the water below, but for some reason the water is really green - not unlike the water found in the glacial lakes in the Rockies. Anyway, Cara is such a water baby that she will dive into any water to swim or wallow but we had been warned that this lochan hosted lots of large leeches so I was keen for her to stay out of the water for her own safety, although i am not sure if leeches would attach to a dog's fur. This is why both dogs are tethered while we enjoyed a lochside picnic lunch. Bruce was his usual fidgety self and had managed to wind himself around the tree, emerging under Cara's tummy with a look on his face as if to say - please disentangle me from here!

We continued our walk into wild open moorland and came across Ryvoan bothy which has provided shelter to many footsore and weather beaten walkers in the past. I could have blipped it today but instead have put it on Flickr so that you have a chance - if you want to - to see the different images. The bothy stands prominently on a remote hillside and must look a very welcome sight to walkers caught in bad weather and I suspect it gets quite wild here as the roof is tethered by means of strong wires attached to huge boulders along the base of the building. The stonework is in very good condition and inside it is very spartan but dry and once the fire is lit I expect it would be very cosy. The broad wooden area to the right is where you would lay your sleeping bag and it is apparently first come first served and if the area is full then your sleeping quarters are on the stone floor. The apparatus hanging from the ceiling is for a candle and there were two cooking utensils nearby, a frying pan and a saucepan. There were also two shovels and a couple of laminated instructions for the recommended disposal of various forms of waste, and that was it!