Charlie the Hero

It could have all ended so badly. Minky's cage door open, Minky outside and on the floor, Minky a bit wet and showing marks where my teeth had been, and me about to take her in my mouth again.
It must have looked like I was about to eat Minky for dinner, but that's ridiculous. Squirrels and cats may look tasty to me, but Minky is my best friend. Really.
No. What happened was that Minky finally managed to work out her escape plan. She prised off the peg holding her door closed, and then put all her weight into shoving the door open. I tried to tell her to stay inside, but she had the taste of freedom and scurried onto the floor. I knew I had to act quick, so I tried to grab her and put her back in her cage. But she escaped my gentle jaws, and I was just about to try a second time when Mark came to the rescue, caught Minky and shut her up again. Phew, a good job that Mark was close, otherwise it could have been very different.
I reminded Mark not to jump to conclusions: remember Llewellyn the Great's dog, Gelert : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelert

Dollie the Collie

A few weeks ago I made the acquaintance of Dollie, a baby collie, at the rowing club. She's very small and sleeps a lot. Master Mark said that I used to be that small, before I joined the family, but I don't think so. I was very interested in finding out everything about her, and she smells surprisingly nice. She doesn't play much, but she said when she gets bigger she will come running with me.

Minky's Back

It may be freezing outside this morning - coldest day of the autumn so far - but I'm not interested in my morning garden patrol, chasing the birds, warning off the cats, and barking at falling leaves. I've got Minky back.
She arrived in her cage last night and we instantly became inseparable. But then young master put her cage in the kitchen and closed the door - I was devastated. I roamed the living room all evening looking for a way out to the kitchen. Now I'm waiting patiently by her cage for her to wake up.
Last night was young master's birthday party - they gave me the chicken scraps afterwards, but I'm sorry to say that Minky took all my attention and I scarcely gave the chicken a second glance.

Foel Fras

Mark says his mate Will has postponed today's Paddy Buckley, and to make up for my huge disappointment at missing out on 2 very long runs today, he says he will take me to the Aber Falls and then on to Foel Fras. I had a look at the forecast while Mark had his breakfast, and it says (for Snowdonia) "Bitterly cold with near gales. Showers." Bring it on.....
Route:
top car park (pay & display) at Aber; follow southerly lower path to east of river up to the falls, at falls turn West, and cross next stream; leave path and head south up ridge direct to Drosgl; trig point/cairn alt758m.
From Summit CB110 to col, then descend CB140 to meet alt710m path south of Bera Bach, then right left fork alt790m on CB120 for 300m, then CB110 direct to summit of Carnedd Uchaf (now Gwenllian) alt926m, avoiding pools, and angular rocks at summit.
From summit CB050 down broad ridge on path, wide col alt900m lots of pools; alt920m meet wall coming up from east, and follow CB010 to Foel Fras alt942m.
From summit follow broad grassy path keeping to left of wall; initially CB040 for 150m, then to CB074, swinging gradually to NNE; marshy col alt730m; to Drum alt770m.
Follow path northwards; then on path descending CB 315 keeping to west of Carnedd Ddelw. Before Pen Bryn-du leave path and traverse West to meet river path in valley. Follow path alongside river until meet road at the fellgate (limited parking here), and follow road back to the car park....drink hot coffee from flask.

Border Collie Advice

Mark's been reading the Fell Running Forums again, and told me about some good advice for BC care here: http://forum.fellrunner.org.uk/showthread.php?9777-collie-tips
There's another thread about whether people wanting a dog should get one from a rescue centre or buy a puppy from a breeder here: http://forum.fellrunner.org.uk/showthread.php?12467-Border-Collie-Pup
And finally, a sad story about a BC needing rehoming: http://forum.fellrunner.org.uk/showthread.php?12619-Border-Collie-needing-home - "He has had no more than 15 mins exercise a day for a long period, living in a small house and garden, and consequently has become very frustrated and begun herding visitors to the house. He has bitten once- a hard collie nip to an adult which caused no serious injury. This is entirely to be expected for a BC in these circs"

I've been out for a run up to the nearby castle (which was partially restored a few years ago; apparently the original motte and bailey was built in 1088 by Normans, but retaken by a Welsh prince 6 years later; after 500 years of disuse was refortified, and then used in the Civil War for a few weeks - so in almost 1,000 years of its life this castle has seen action for under 7 years). We then ran along the shore, and back up the hill from Penmon.
Tomorrow's a big day - new hills to climb.

Moelwyns and Cnicht

I was pretty exhausted after last Saturday's walk, the culmination of a frantic couple of days. On Friday morning I woke up in the Edinburgh doggy hotel, joined in with the barking, and was then served breakfast in bed. They've been giving me a new breakfast recently, called Chappie, which is meant to make my poos more solid.
Just after breakfast, as I was settling into my nap, the nice lady came in with my lead and said my family have come for me. Oh Joy. She took me out of the compound, and there they all were. I said hello (they looked very pleased to see me), jumped into the car and said let's go.
There was a lot of driving, then Mark and I got out at a big field at Llanberis called 'camping'. I like this field, there are sheep in it, and a few other dogs to meet. Mark put up my tent, but I preferred to stay outside to keep watch; later on we walked to a pub with Will, Sarah and Matt and they talked about something called the Paddy Buckley, every so often looking in my direction and patting my head.
Mark was a bit wobbly as we walked back up the hill to 'camping', and went to sleep very quickly. During the night it rained very heavily, and I moved into the inner tent in case Mark got scared.
In the morning Mark took ages to pack the tent away, and we trotted off to meet Will's car. I got a very pleasant surprise - in the back of the car was Ru, a brown border collie; she's a bit older than me, but very kindly allowed me to share her car, although I did growl a bit whenever she came into my personal space.

Holidays

Young Master and Bella are on their school holidays. It's easy to tell. They are getting up later and later. Sometimes they get up, then go back to bed - it's a bit like how I sleep, maybe they are turning into dogs? Sometimes Young Master has a burst of morning activity and goes swimming.

It's been fun having Kim staying with me, but she doesn't want to play much. I like Gran too, but she doesn't play much either; still, I keep dropping my ball in her lap to give her a chance.

Soon we are off to Scotland, where Mark has promised me a special treat - 5 days in a doggy hotel. I've not been in such a place before, but it sounds like fun.