Tuesday

The Dog Rambler E-diary

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October 2011
Walk

Taking cover along the canal Gina, Jerry, Jolie, Phoebe, Solo, Tim

Length

6.5 miles

Dogs on walk

With severe weather forecasts resounding in our ears we aimed for a low level fairly sheltered walk. Both my waterproofs and the car were still wet from yesterday. A damp start to the walk. But at least the rain was holding off. Not that the photos show this with the camera also still wet and having condensation inside the lens. We may have been over cautious but a downpour on the way to collect Jerry reaffirmed that the planned walk was safest. Some wintery dark and gloomy clouds hung overhead like a leaden weight, pressing the air down on us oppressively. But as we set off it was dry all but underfoot. The dogs headed happily along the towpath of the canal from the car park in Ratho. Mud soon working its way up their legs. Jerry constantly hanging over the bank but not daring to take the last leap into the water. Tim up and around Phoebes head. His usual greeting to a friend he has not seen for some time. But then he did it to Jolie who he saw only yesterday. They darted off together along the track, the only three to really play today. Gina was quite content keeping Solo company or wandering between the playful three. Other folk had a similar idea and the canal bank was the busiest Ive seen it for some time. First a jogger ran toward us and we just about managed to make space for him to pass

without breaking his stride. Then as we closed in on an older man and his Labrador, from behind a friendly call of can we get passed please revealed two more joggers when I turned my head. The man in front also stopped and then waited to let us by too. His dog just coping with being suddenly surrounded by six others. I encouraged them on as quick as I could. Not long after we had got back into our stride a cyclist approached. This time Solo and Phoebe rather gormlessly could not be persuaded to shimmy a bit further over. In the end the cyclist felt the safest option was to dismount until beyond us. With Ratho fast receding and the open countryside swallowing us we only met one more person. Instead a solitary swan afloat on the canal attracted the dogs. Jerry and Phoebe hanging off the bank but repelled by its open mouthed hiss on craned neck thrust toward them. Jolie watched fascinated from the safety of the towpath. Gina was totally disinterested having scooped up a flattened plastic drinks bottle which she firmly kept hold of until nearly at the end of the walk. Around us the landscape and sky were dark and brooding. The low black cloud enveloping more of the sky. The reddish brown sweep of the canal a dark line through the pallid colourless fields. Listless, their vitality washed away by the rain and deep setting of autumn. Just a few ashen hay bales as reminders of the glorious summer colour and fertility of the fields. Then on came the rain to wash away these thoughts and darken the picture still further. The canal now losing its reddish tinge becoming a grim grey sludge colour. With the rain fogging the horizon we reached our turning point beneath the railway bridge. A train scampering over the top fizzing against the electric cable. The dark foreboding cloud above us was fading at the edges and was unable to sustain the rain. It receded and we had a fairly dry walk back along the canal. Tim upping the stakes with Jolie and Phoebe until he finally spotted Ginas bottle. She bravely defended it seeing him off and back to the other two. No need for Solo to come to her rescue. He did not look like he was about to anyway. Jerry still hung from the banks edge but still could not summon up the courage to let himself go. Too late now we were heading back into Ratho. The line of canal boats on the other side of the water just starting to wink at us with some

unexpected sun glinted against their windows as they gently lolled up and down in the water. Before the next rainfall came we got back to the car comparatively dry and none too cold. They settled down without a shiver ready to be chauffer driven home. Nick

Photo slideshow from the walk

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

www.thedogrambler.com nick@thedogrambler.com t. 0131 665 8843 or 0781 551 6765

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