2008
Wednesay
14th May

Last night Big Guy set up the big tent at Fort Augustus, I think this is going to be our base for the next 5 days. Because City Link buses wouldn't let me on their buses (no dogs unless in pet carrier !) Boss Woman had to drive me and Big Guy down to Fort William, then she drove back to Fort Augustus to leave the car at the campsite then catch the bus back to Fort William so we could start the walk. So .... off we go.
It is really warm and sunny and there is a lot of water for me to go paddling and have a drink, in fact everywhere I look there are huge lochs full of water. When we stopped for a snack, a big Retriever came over for some of my biscuits but Boss Woman sent it packing. Further on I met Dino the Boxer x Labrador and we played chasing round and round really fast. We walked 17 miles to Clunes, passing Gairlochy, then we stopped to camp in a Forest at the side of Loch Lochy and have our tea. There are a lot of signs that say no camping but Big Guy and Boss Woman just ignored them ! Just hope they don't get arrested.

I was a bit cold last night, so I was glad that Boss Woman had taken my bed coat. It is so peaceful where we camped at the side of Loch Lochy, but this morning there was a lot of midges that kept biting us. I could smell something I didn't like in the bushes so I barked at it to let it know I wasn't scared ~ Boss Woman said it was probably a Pine Marten or something. Boss Woman washed her face in the loch ~ she was very brave because the water was absolutely freezing ! We did another long walk today ~ 17 miles to Fort Augustus. We stopped at Eagle barge on the Caledonian Canal at Laggan Locks and had a drink. I had water and Big Guy had a beer. I think he was really thirsty because he drank it all at once. We met Paul and Steph from Canada. I think Steph likes me, she keeps smiling at me and stroking me and said I was a lovely little dog. She sponsored me £10 for doing the walk. ~ Thanks Steph. We also met someone from Hawaii who told Boss Woman all about her dog that had died at the age of 12. I think she liked me very much because she made a real fuss of me as well.

Big Guy aches a bit this morning luckily we are only walking 13 miles today, from Aultsigh to Fort Augustus and they are not carrying their big heavy rucsacks. I met Toby the Labrador today, he is doing the whole walk with his Boss Man. He is in a bad way, poor Toby. He has a very sore foot and is limping badly and walking really slowly. Boss Woman put him some Tea Tree Ointment on (she carries it everywhere) to help make his foot better. We saw Paul and Steph again and Big Guy got them all a cup of tea from the shop at Invermoriston. Poor Steph had huge blisters on her feet. We met loads of other people that we meet every day walking the Great Glen Way as well. Everyone makes a fuss of me. We walked at the side of Loch Ness but I never saw the Monster. Boss Woman said she had been walking with the Monster all the way ~ I hope she doesn't mean me ! The walk was lovely, through some nice Forest. For some strange reason, I haven't seen one single rabbit on this walk. Almost at the end, near Fort Augustus, Big Guy heard a lot of growling and snarling so he put me back on the lead. When we got round the corner, there was a slack jawed, gormless fool (Boss Woman called him that) there with his 2 Rottweillers who were fighting with each other. When they saw us, the 2 Rottweillers jumped straight on the top of me and one called Finlay nipped me on my back. I turned and bit him back and growled really mad at him but they both still kept jumping on me so Big Guy picked me up and Boss Woman hit one of them with her stick. They were really big and nasty dogs and their gormless moron Boss Man tried to pull them off but they weren't obedient at all and ignored him. I think that Big Guy and Boss Woman would have gone mad with the guy but they were worried in case he set his dogs on them (and me) so we just got out of there as quick as we could.

A really long walk today ~ 18 miles from Drumnadrochit to Inverness. We walked through Abriachan Forest and there was also a lot of walking on the road and we even walked on an old Drovers road that had been walked on a long time ago by Bonnie Prince Charlie ~ Cool !!! I had a sniffy sniffy with a farm dog but he didn't want to play, even though I asked him to. I had a pee on his grass just to remind him that I had been there. We all were really tired, hungry and dirty when we got to Inverness. We didn't like Inverness at all, it has a lot of nasty people there. On the way down there was a strange man in a leather jacket and a rucsack sat at the side of the path ~ he looked dead dodgy. When we got to the park, there was a group of 6 men all drinking beer who were following us and saying nasty things to us, they even took someone's guitar off him that he had been playing. At the bus station we saw Paul and Steph again. There was another nasty man came up to us and asked if he could 'borrow' Big Guys mobile phone if he gave him 20p for the call. Big Guy got quite mad and told him to clear off. I think if Big Guy wasn't so tired he would have sorted the nasty man out I was glad when I got to go in my comfy warm bed back at the tent.

Boss Woman has now sent the money off to Auntie Tracie at the Scottish Staffie Rescue to help other rescue dogs. Not everyone has paid who said they would, but Boss Woman said it didn't matter because I have raised a lot of money anyway and that I had done very well and she was very proud of me. She said she was going to buy me a Certificate of Achievement from the Great Glen Rangers as a momento and get herself a badge to sew on her rucsack.

Someone called Michael just gave me another £10 for the rescue. What a nice man !