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The Dog Rambler E-diary

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September 2011
Walk

Presmennan Wood, East Lothian

Length

6.3 miles

Dogs on walk

Brooklyn, Cyrano, Darcy, Dylan, Jolie, Tim

That late summer burst of the last two days has come back to earth with a depressing bump and a depressingly thick cover of cloud. It looked very much like rain. We took off deep into East Lothian to Presmennan Wood. Managed by the Woodland Trust it is a mixed wood where they are trying to remove all the non native pines which have been planted in the last forty odd years. Much more closely packed than the forest of a few days ago, the trees crowded in on each other like people crushing together to get the best view. With the accompanying grey featureless sky the dimness had consequences for my attempts to take photographs. Sitting on an escarpment at the edge of the surprisingly large range of the Lammermiur Hills, Presmennan Wood has a number of looping paths climbing up and down it. At the bottom rests the tranquil Presmennan Lake, long and narrow like a silver slit in the earth. Rising from it the occasional quack of a duck, answered by another in a slow drawn out conversation. Soon we were out of earshot as we climbed the escarpment. Brooklyn, Jolie and Tim absolutely full of energy. Infectious enough to get Cyrano going later on as he joined them

in a chase across a sloping grassy field. Dylan was hunting away at the front trying to get ahead of the noise that was ruining any chance he had of disturbing anything. All I heard and saw was a young buzzard circling above the wood its plaintive cries carrying far on the still air. Darcy found himself with the others dancing around him and occasionally bouncing off him. Not looking where they were going. Too busy trying to outmanoeuvre each other in their frantic street dance style contest. Darcy would run with them but was not for showing off his moves. Gaps opened in the wood as we gained height. Letting in enough light for bracken to flourish now in orange patches as it dies off at the end of summer. Red berries on trees and bushes signalling in their brightness the approach of the long autumn nights. Reaching the highest point the view was lost, swallowed by the misting rain. Cyrano was wandering widely into the trees and out of sight. For once it was not a stick he was searching for. Intrigued Jolie or Brooklyn would follow him. As soon as they did he came back giving up his search and not letting them into the secret. Having dropped back down to the level of the lake, although now beyond it, we left the woods and headed along a old raised track between straggly gorse bushes and into fields rising steeply on either side. The burn feeding the lake running gently along the bottom quite muddy from numerous farm animals and its water collecting delve. As if to prove a point stretching down the slope, some silhouetted on the skyline, a herd of cows occupied the next field. Something about them told me not to go on. It was going to be difficult to get past them as they came down almost as far as the fence by the burn where we were. As they spread up the slope there was no way past them there. Instead we found a gate which took us across the burn and into another field and back toward the wood. It was here that Cyrano joined the chase as Jolie led the way speeding, a flash of white, getting dirtier all the time, with Brooklyn and Tim following her wide arcs and circles. Cyrano keeping up but on a slightly different trajectory with Dylan coming to help him try to round the others us. Darcy seemed to find himself in the middle as they ran wide circles around him. Back in the wood and we headed for the lake and its shallow dam. It is a manmade lake. Brooklyn discovered how to swim when he fell off a little jetty like spur with deeper water below than he expected. After thrashing a few times, sending up more water into the air

that he appeared to be in, he managed to clamber out. Cyrano and Tim showed him how it should be done. Smoothly swimming out and making gentle ripples in pursuit of a stick. Darcy was as far out as Brooklyn but still stood on the bottom his long legs underwater making it all look very shallow. We looped around the wood and all the way along the side of the lake meeting a couple of people with dogs. Now with the chasing slowing down sticks were the source of amusement. Pulling and tugging until they either snapped or someone lost their grip. Finally their energy appeared to be dissipating as we climbed back to the top of the escarpment and a little more slowly made our way back down to the car. Nick

Photo slideshow from the walk

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Nick Fletcher The Dog Rambler 9 Links Street Musselburgh East Lothian EH21 6JL

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