57 degrees north, 28 degrees celsius
2 Comments Published by Gussie on Sunday, July 27, 2008 at 7/27/2008 08:27:00 PM.
Drive for three and a half hours north of Edinburgh and one of the places you end up in might be Aberdeenshire, home of Rod's ancestors. We sooo needed a holiday. This one was a great mix of agility shows, family history research and stone circles. It was also outrageously hot. We're not used to it!
We stayed in the very dog friendly Drumdelgie holiday cottages - every morning and evening I walked Jake off-lead through the forest on our doorstep. Dogs were allowed off lead as long as they were under control. Fortunately on the morning we saw deer, I had put Jake on lead in good time because I thought that the shapes in the distance were two large dogs. Where is their owner? I thought, waiting for someone to follow them out of the trees. H'm, those dogs walk a bit funny. Then I realised that dogs don't step quite so daintily, and I was very glad of the lead. Chasing deer is a shooting offence.
Did I mention we found a lot of stone circles?
Of course there were castles too - this is Huntly Castle, note the headless deerhound on the crest over the door...
We stayed in the very dog friendly Drumdelgie holiday cottages - every morning and evening I walked Jake off-lead through the forest on our doorstep. Dogs were allowed off lead as long as they were under control. Fortunately on the morning we saw deer, I had put Jake on lead in good time because I thought that the shapes in the distance were two large dogs. Where is their owner? I thought, waiting for someone to follow them out of the trees. H'm, those dogs walk a bit funny. Then I realised that dogs don't step quite so daintily, and I was very glad of the lead. Chasing deer is a shooting offence.
Did I mention we found a lot of stone circles?
Of course there were castles too - this is Huntly Castle, note the headless deerhound on the crest over the door...
Labels: Scotland
Hi Gus and Jake,
I do love stone circles. When I first flew to England to meet/visit my soon-to-be-hubby in 2003 we visited Cornwall and scampered around some stone circles. There were cows wandering around the stone circle as well and it was all so unique to me, these wonderful ancient stones. It was such a peaceful place (can't remember the exact name at the moment).
Thank you for commenting on my assisting post. Coincidence indeed that you just finished your first night doing the same thing! I'm finding that if I just trust my instincts and know that confidence will come over time all will be fine. As for a first trial, I know I should just give it a shot ... considering the CPE venue first, not sure if you have it there. Much more relaxed environment apparently and the closest one is indoors, good for a potentially sniffy beagle who's never trained outdoors.
Best of luck to you in your assisting!
Jackie
Hi Jackie
Stone circles are wonderful, and we saw a lot in Aberdeenshire - as well as the ones run as historic monuments we tracked down several from the O.S. maps (in fields, behind hedges ...). It was hard choosing which pictures to include here.
We don't have CPE in the UK. We went to a few non-Kennel Club shows to cut our teeth, though they were indoors and we are used to practising outside. It was still nerve racking but the atmosphere was very friendly. Definitely ease yourself in if you can.
Watch out though, it can be addictive...