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THE DOYENNE and I – and dogs too, of course – are back from a week in a self-catering cottage at Loch Melfort, sixteen miles below Oban. It wasn’t the brightest outlook for the holiday with forecasts of Hurricane Gonzalo’s last fling on course to batter the west coast – and anyway it was raining when we set off.

SURF BREAKING on the shore is one of the timeless sounds that keeps you company on the walk down the bank of the River North Esk from Kinnaber to the rivermouth. I hoped to see the Canada geese that were reported to have spent some days there.

I KEPT to the woodland walks at the beginning of the week. The leaf canopy is still thick enough to have kept the worst of the torrential rain off me, and off the dogs too. Not, I have to admit, that I’m overly worried about the dogs getting wet. They have ready-made coats to protect them from the elements.

I THINK we’ve said farewell to the last of the season’s swallows although the past month, the driest September on record, may have misled some to stay on longer. Colder weather is forecast which will reduce the flying insects that the swallows feed on so they’ll be off anyway when the temperature dips too low.