We got some great weather on Friday, so we traded our usual park visit for a trip to Muirshiel Country Park. Since the park is really more of a nature preserve, we stopped off at the visitor center to get snacks and check if there were any special regulations for dogs. It turned out that dogs are very welcome – as evidenced by the full water bowl just outside the center – but must be kept on lead. That’s not really much of a restriction for Beagle owners – you’d have to be very brave to let a Beagle off lead any place there’s sheep, and more to the point, sheep droppings.
Various walks are marked out in the park, and we chose Windy Hill as our first port of call. The approach to the hill was very easy, and surprisingly short, with nice views opening up as soon as you’ve cleared the trees.
Although Windy Hill is not very high (1K) it is, as its name suggests, very bloody windy. Not a good place to blow your nose at all. Despite its modest height, you get a truly spectacular view from the top.
And if you’ve got a Beagle, you also get to spend the entire walk back down trying to restrain your beast from going after the sheep, the squirrels and any other creatures she happens to spot.
We spent another hour or so in the park checking out the other signposted walks. It’s certainly a great place to visit if you’ve got a dog. New sights and smells around every corner..
..but if yours can’t resist sticking her nose through fences, be prepared to have to extract assorted twigs and grass from her mouth before she can pull her head back through!
Uh, thank you very much…
Back home, we got a lovely email with some more pics of Biggles – playing with his new toy:
