Friday

The Dog Rambler E-diary

To 24
August 2012
Walk Dogs on walk An overgrown Roslin Glen Length 6 miles

Brooklyn, Cyrano, Darcy, Dylan, Finlay, Otis, Teela, Tim

A return to Roslin Glen for the first time in several months. Last time it was mud all the way. After recent good weather I hoped it would be passable once again. It was but not without it challenges. Seriously overgrown paths tended to hinder progress. Nettles reaching across them to tickle and then sting legs. A good day for shorts! Brambles too waiting to whip as you passed, curling their thorny stems around exposed skin. All hidden by grasses and the flimsy branches of bushes. To add to the challenge many sections of path had been washed into deep gullies. Storm waters having carved deep into the path making it hard to walk along, only space for one foot at a time as it had dropped in depth to over six inches below the ground around it. Lush green grasses tipping over the lip to obscure the uneven ground making each step a step of faith. We made progress. Teela on the lead at first, as usual, until she had settled into the walk. Brooklyn looking for some fun from the outset, jumped around the others before entertaining himself in the undergrowth. The rest stringing along the path, picking their way through its jungle of traps. We wound our way along Bilston Glen to cross the old railway bridge, high in the canopy of the trees striding down the sides of the glen.

Then it was down into Roslin Glen. And a chance to make for the river. Cyrano, Dylan, Finlay and Otis rushing down the first bank. But things had changed. The bank was at a turn in the river and its force had undercut the bank making it difficult to get in. Or out. As Cyrano discovered. Dylan and Finlay managed to stop themselves before tipping in. Not Cyrano. In with a splash and then a lot of scrabbling at the bank before he was able to haul himself out. I was prepared to shuffle down the steep drop to pull him out when he finally got enough purchase. A little further along after a leap over a wide tree blocking the path there was another opportunity to get into the water. Cyrano, Finlay and Tim looking up the high bank at me asking for a stick to chase. They were joined by Darcy and Otis. Teela and Dylan staying up top. Along with Brooklyn who did not want his walk delayed by such trivialities as playing in water. He would be disappointed it was not the last. The track wound around the dark glen. The high, heavy leafed branches of trees stifling the light making our walk a twilight world. Hemmed in by the high steep sides of the glen shutting us off from the world above. Sinisterly fallen trees and branches impeding our progress. Their upturned roots like giant wormcasts. The dogs having to pick their way over and under them where they had tumbled across the path. And then ahead a landslip. A scar of exposed earth red as though bleeding. Anchored by more fallen trees. Exposed rock like broken bones. The earth crushed and torn by the power of whatever had happened. We picked our way carefully across to it to find the continuation of the path on the far side. It dropped us back to the river where those who loved the water leapt in and played. Darcy vying with Finlay for a stick or a stone. Cyrano chasing off and swimming through the water in a different direction. Tim hovered on the side watching intently. It was a little fast and not easy to get into. Brooklyn not a great water dog barked and whined from the sidelines, not happy at being ignored. Dylan, Otis and Teela waited patiently. Then we turned for home from here. Darcy now all of a sudden unable to find his way back out of the river. The dogs had run along in the water below the level of the path as it rose away from them. But there was a

way up. All but him managed it. His unhappy barking drawing me back into sight as I showed him the way up. He was not convinced. Even when Teela with her much shorter legs went down and joined him and then came back up again did little to increase his confidence. As I prepared to go down and give him hand to jump up the four foot of rock onto the inclined bank he finally made the leap. Easy. We pushed back through the fallen trees and over the landslide dipping in the river for a final clean before climbing out of the glen and making our way back around the edge of Bilston Glen to the car. Nick

Photo slideshow from the walk

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