It has been a grim few weeks in the UK, and one has to be careful not to let events overwhelm.  Self care is vital, and for us that includes leaving the laptops at home and heading out for walks.   We did a long, rough walk on Sunday, and as Peggy is the respectable age of 14 we decided to give her a slightly easier time of it today and so we headed towards an area called Little Assynt, where the path is clear and defined and little Yorkie legs don't have to get too tired by jumping continually over clumps of heather in order to keep up with her bosses.



You can see that the landscape has changed from its winter shades of brown to its summer shades of green.  You can't quite see the heather in the photo above, but it is beginning to appear in various shades of pink and purple.  The thistles are beginning to appear too, and the budding flower is so pretty:



We came across one creature that had the heart of this African born girl racing, but fortunately it was just a slow worm.  And actually, it wasn't that slow.  Once it realised we were close it moved pretty quickly!



Halfway around the circular route on Little Assynt, there is a beautiful loch with a thoughtfully placed step to allow Yorkies to step down and cool off in the clear water:



The path is edged with a range of different flowers, including these beautiful daisies and grasses:



We found this stunning butterfly which I'm told is a Marsh Fritillary  Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary  So beautiful - look at the iridescence on the body in the second picture.  The first photo reminds me of a stained glass window:

 





The bumble bees were out in force today.  At times it was quite difficult not to step on them as they buzzed around the clover which clings to the path:



Towards the end of the walk it was clear that our 14 year old Yorkie was a little tired, and so, unusually, she allowed me to pick her up for just a few minutes, before she demanded to be put down in order to finish the walk on her own four paws:



A good walk.  If ever you're in Assynt I would highly recommend you make time for this walk.  It isn't particularly challenging and it takes us about an hour and a half to do - including breaks for a drink and slowing our pace to allow Peggy to keep up.