A tale of a Duck and a Dog

On Friday I went to Glen Tress in the Borders to check-point a Gold Duke of Edinburgh expedition. I met up with my colleagues and the D of E groups at the start point, and some of the pupils found a wee duckling running around in the long grass, separated from its Mummy. After a bit of debate we decided that the best thing to do would be to make ourselves scarce, so that once we were away the duck family would be able to hear each other calling. Hopefully that will have worked.

The pupils all set off in fine fettle and we kept an eye on them from a distance, by walking in to meet them at pre-arranged points. This gave Carolyn, Ross and me the opportunity to have a wee coffee in Inverleithen, which was very pleasant. It was a cold day and to my surprise it even started snowing! One group got to the camping place in excellent time, but the other group were running late and when we checked on them we found out why - a wee dog had started following them and had ended up walking with them for most of the day! They had become very attached to it and were quite sad when we took her away to reunite her with her owners. This was not too hard to do because there was only one house on the route and when I phoned them they were very relieved; they had been out looking for her. She has form for this and has apparently been handed in to Peebles Police station seven times! 

As a result of the delay, we didn't set off home until 9 p.m. and I felt very tired and nauseous during the hour and a half drive home - at one point I felt quite faint and nearly pulled in to the side of the road, but I was ok. I think that I was just tired and hungry. I was very happy to get home at half past ten and James made me a lovely cup of tea.