For the best viewing experience, left-click the images and maps to zoom in to a new window, then exit that window to go back – go on, it really does work!
After the previous blog post was published (see post #319), I received a comment from an old friend asking after our Border Collie, ‘Mist’. I had to give him the sad news that Mist had died a month earlier on 22 June 2022. It wasn’t something that Chris and I had been keeping quiet about, we just didn’t want to make a song and dance about it. Mist was 14+ when she died, a good age for many dog breeds, though fairly average for a Border Collie.
If you have been following recent blog posts, you will have picked up that Mist was becoming an old dog. She was still getting out in the hills and mountains, but we were making the trips shorter and without too much height gain. Just ten months earlier she had made the arduous ascent of Coire Raibeirt from Loch A’an to the cairngorm plateau (see post #308) with no more assistance than a push up the bum on the bigger rock steps, but once past the obstacles, she was away to her usual position in front.
On our May 2022 trip to Scotland, the dog walks had become much less energetic, though there was always a big show of excitement when the walking boots appeared. Then in June, Mist went to the vet for a routine check. Two internal tumours were detected, and I didn’t bother asking the vet if she could operate, due to Mist’s age, though I doubt if the vet would have agreed anyway. We decided to let her go peacefully (the vet had advised “Better a week early than a week too late”). So, two days later, Mist slipped away peacefully in a sunny garden at the vet’s surgery.
Now, this blog is about mountains (and hillocks) not dogs, and there may be some readers who don’t much care for dogs, which is fine – not all humans enjoy canine company. So, the remainder of this post is going to be a collection of photos of British hills and mountains – it just so happens that there is an image of a black and white Border Collie in each frame.
It’s sad to lose any true companion, be that a human, dog or cat, but it’s all part of nature and time rolls on. Things I will miss with Mist’s passing include the grace and beauty of a black and white collie moving effortlessly up a steep mountainside, those big brown eyes staring at me when the lunch pack came out of the rucksack and even the big sloppy kiss she would give (even though I could guess where that tongue might have been minutes earlier!). Truly a dog in a million (well for me anyway). Goodbye Mist, gone but not forgotten.
Text and images © Paul Shorrock with additional images from Babs Boardwell (Babs Boardwell Photography), John Bamber and Tom Strawn.
Paul Shorrock - One Man's Mountains AKA One Pillock's Hillocks 
Thank you for this evocative post. My BC Jaq is nearly nine, and your post tells me I should get out on the hills more!
LikeLike
Thanks for that Bob. Yes, definitely more hill trips, though Jaq will have lots of quality time to come. BCs seem to go on for ever!
LikeLike
What a great tribute to Mist anyway in that post. Sorry to hear she’s gone but she was a very good age for a dog and at least, with you, she had the lift collies should have. You see so many are cooped up all the time and not exercised – at least she really enjoyed her life with you.
Do you ever walk with John Bamber still?
LikeLike
Thanks for that Carol. Yes, it was a win-win relationship – I enjoyed the company of a hill companion who never asked for the map or said “Are you sure this is the right way?” and Mist had as much freedom as a dog could get. The only time I put her on a lead was on potentially difficult ground or near busy roads and towns.
John and I do still meet up, usually on the Spine Race at the very least – of course Covid-19 got in the way of that for a couple of years and I didn’t think it was fair to subject an old dog to the stresses of Greg’s Hut on the 2022 race.
To answer your later question about the location of the March 2011 shot, it’s a trick of the angle that John chose for the image – it’s descending to the col at Bowderdale Head from The Calf, about 500 metres north of cautley Spout – the slope is shown as Hare Shaw on the 1:25k OS map
LikeLiked by 1 person
When you say about subjecting ‘an old dog’ to the stresses of Greg’s Hut in 2022, did you mean Mist or John Bamber? 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
🤣 Both!
Or…… Perhaps all three of us 😉
LikeLike
do you think you’ll get another dog? or is it too soon to think about it?
LikeLike
Weeeell…… I wouldn’t rule it out 😉 After all, I always carry too many sandwiches on the hill, so a little help to shift them is always useful 🙂
LikeLike
Mind you, you don’t ‘get’ the dog, they get you ❤️
LikeLike
you could always invite me along – I’m great at begging food!
LikeLiked by 1 person
😁🍕🌭🥪🌮🍟😆
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good job I’ve had my tea! But, in all seriousness, I seem to have some kind of fascination with other people’s food – if someone eats something near me I just stare at them until they offer me some! Especially on the hill. I got a load of boiled eggs off a German party up a mountain in Jordan as they were fed up of me staring at their food!
LikeLike
*life not lift!
LikeLike
By the way, where is the airy looking ridge in the March 2011 photograph? It looks a bit like the Cioch na h’Oighe ridge on Arran…
LikeLike
Pingback: #321 – Return to Coire Lagan in the Black Cuillins of Skye | Paul Shorrock – One Man's Mountains AKA One Pillock's Hillocks
I’m sorry Mist is no more. A lovely set of memories and images here though. My family poke (gentle, loving) fun at me for taking many pictures of the dog, and the dog with them, and the dog doing not much at all… but I think it’s good to capture the time you have with them.
LikeLike
Absolutely Helen – we had Mist with us for twelve years and she was a joy to be with. Every photo a memory.
LikeLike
Nice to get a reminder of this post and see the great set of pics. Jaq is ten now and we do agility every Monday – she gets so excited and when I am not in the right place she spins in a circle and barks to tell me that she wants to know which obstacle to go for next. I grin with the idea (from a BC that learnt the names of hundreds of toys and would go fetch the right one from next door) whether I could teach her to recognise the numbers 1 2 3 4 etc and do them in order without me. I used to joke when I was teaching in the US that my dog was smarter than some kids.
LikeLike
They’re a bit too smart at times Bob 😉
LikeLike
Pingback: #324 – One last dog walk – a wander in the mountains of the Southern Carneddau | Paul Shorrock – One Man's Mountains AKA One Pillock's Hillocks
Pingback: #334 – Creag Bhuidhe, Killin – first hill day for the boy! | Paul Shorrock – One Man's Mountains AKA One Pillock's Hillocks