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For years I’ve driven straight through the Southern Highlands of Scotland, too impatient to stop when Glencoe, Skye, Wester Ross and Assynt were beckoning.  More recently, I’ve been filling in some of the gaps, and Chris and I had enjoyed a couple of good days on Meall nan Tarmachan (see post #292) and Ben Lawers (see post #310) in the Killin/Loch Tay area.

When our Border Collie ‘Mist’ started to slow down through old age, I drew up a list of easier mountain days that the old girl could enjoy.   In fact, the list was so long that we still had loads of less demanding hill days left on the list when ‘Mist’ passed away in June 2022 (See post #320 for a final tribute).  As most of the hikes on the list were fairly short, I looked for a good reason to get round to doing them –   the good reason turned out to be a new dog!

‘Cai’ came to us via friends who had fostered him, following a bereavement.  He arrived with the name ‘Dave’, which sounds cute until you have to shout the name in public to get the dog’s attention!  He didn’t seem to recognise or respond to ‘Dave’, so we renamed him ‘Cai’ which is Welsh for ‘Joy’ or ‘Happiness’.  He came to us at six months old, a bit too young for long mountain days, so it looked as though the list of shorter hill days was going to be useful after all.

‘Cai’ is a Labradoodle – there, I said it!  At the risk of offending Labradoodle owners, the Labradoodle isn’t a breed as such, it’s a Labrador-Poodle cross.  It’s an unstable cross at that, and a litter of Lab-Poodle pups can vary greatly in size, colour and coat.  So, I’ll probably not use the term Labradoodle again – he’s a Lab-poodle cross.   Cai is more Lab at the front end, with Lab ears and a Golden Lab colour, but with a curlier coat than a Lab – the back end has a Poodle’s tail carriage and stance.  However, when it comes to food, he’s pure Lab!

Both Labs and Poodles are bright dogs from working heritage, and Cai is quick to learn – when we adopted him, he was in the naughty pup stage, and we are currently in the wilful teenager phase!  He learned recall in no time at all, but also learned that once he was off lead, he could decide whether or not he came back. However, his Achilles heel is food, and that will usually get him to return.  He’s also possibly the friendliest dog I know, determined to say hello to one and all.

Our biggest issue with Cai was lead pulling – he was pulling like a train, which was hard enough with a 10-kilo pup but much more difficult with a 16-kilo adolescent.  Now at twelve months old, we are finally getting him to walk on lead with good manners – well, most of the time.  I picked the Creag Bhuidhe route near Killin for an outing as it was short and non-technical – I didn’t fancy being pulled over a crag edge by an over-enthusiastic canine.  An out-and-back route of 4 kms and just 400 metres height gain seemed ideal for the boy’s first hill day.

The route sets out from Killin village, starting with a quick look at Fingal’s Stone – legend has it that it was the gravestone of mythical Celtic hero Fingal, otherwise Fionn mac Cumhaill (pronounced Finn McCool).   In reality, it is a prehistoric standing stone, possibly a survivor from a stone circle – in 1830 it was moved to its present site from a higher location above Killin, due to visitors disturbing the crops nearby, so it appears that problems with tourists are not new.

Having visited the stone, it was time to head uphill, and that uphill turned out to be quite steep in places.  Having a pulling dog on the other end of the lead was something like being on an uphill ski tow, which did aid my progress somewhat, though it did strike me that it was also good resistance training for Cai.  It also struck me that resistance training would produce an even stronger dog, able to pull even harder – ho hum …..

Creag Bhuidhe is just a wee hill, with an altitude of about 510 metres, and the ‘there and back’ trip was a mere 4 km.  Views from the summit repaid the effort though, with great views down to Loch Tay to the east and the Crianlarich Ben More to the southwest.  When it was time to head for home, it was my turn for a bit of resistance training – I can’t say that I felt any benefit!

Text and images © Paul Shorrock