Never let a Beagle make your coffee

We’ve just bagged our first mountain sunrise of 2019 on Beinn an Lochain in the Arrochar region.

It was our second visit to this vertically challenged but unusually steep hill; as before we drove down on the evening before our walk, parking up near Butterbridge. Initially I was keen to set up directly in the Butterbridge car park but I soon changed my mind. For one thing, the parking area has become a bit of mess due to ongoing roadworks, and for another Butterbridge itself has seemingly become a popular site for wild-camping drunks. We ended up in a quiet layby which was actually closer to the start of our walk.

Butterbridge with Beinn an Lochain behind it; sadly not quite as peaceful as it looks in this shot!

I’d planned to head off at 3am in the morning, so at 9pm I called it a night and began to prepare our bed. All I had to do was pull out the rear seat, put a bit of air in our two inflatable bed rolls and zip two sleeping bags together et voila: one bed ready for use.  How hard could it be? In practice the procedure was a bit more complicated than that because I had assistance from The Bigglet. He’s always fancied himself as a bit of a bed-making expert despite the fact that his efforts usually turn any comfortable-looking napping surface into a lumpy misshapen mess. The instant I unfurled the bed rolls and tried to blow air into them my lungs had to overcome the resistance of 13 kilos of furry Beagle boy, and when I tried to zip the sleeping bags together I had to wrestle the other end of them out of his lordship’s mouth. Beanie just watched the whole thing from the driver’s seat, making occasional sighs as if to say “uughh, boys!”. I did eventually get the bed made and got the three of us settled in it, but my slumber was punctuated by an occasional kick in the nethers when Biggles had one of his more active dreams. When 3am came it was kind of a relief.

The lasting impression from our previous walk up Beinn an Lochain was that it was a shorter climb than most other hills, but a really intense workout. Maybe last time I’d been so keen to beat the sunrise that I’d rushed the ascent, or maybe I’ve got stronger and fitter since then; either way, this time around the climb up didn’t seem nearly so bad. We hit the top with enough time to have a drink and celebratory treat then hunt out a good spot to catch the rising sun. This turned out to be just below the summit, where the steep ridge we’d just climbed was in clear view.

It’s counter-intuitive but sunrise on a mountain is usually accompanied by an abrupt if short-lived drop in temperature; this time however the hilltop just got warmer and brighter. It was absolutely glorious up there, but pockets can only hold just so many treats; all too soon we ran out of  Goodboy Chicken Hide Twisters and the furry sherpas got rowdy, forcing us to begin the descent.

It was on the way down that my glutes and quads reminded me that Beinn an Lochain is in fact still quite the workout; I was very glad when we finally made it back to the van. I dealt with the high priority items first: two bowls of Chappie and fresh chilled water. Once that had been speed-swallowed I was able to  attend to my own needs, and I had a treat in store…

Yes, I’d  seen a flavored coffee in our local Aldi store that carried my little girl’s name and I just had to try it. Unfortunately this coffee really did taste like it had been made by a Beagle. As I took my first sip I was immediately reminded of that scene in the second Austin Powers movie where our hero fills his cup from the wrong jug.

I haven’t had the heart to tell  Beanie, but the contents of her little jar has been quietly replaced with something more palatable. If your Beagle ever offers to make you a coffee, I suggest you politely decline –  unless you like your beverage to be “a bit nutty”.