Well Hello,

… and a very warm welcome to my dog blog. I’m so pleased that you’ve found me, Ben, a young Border Collie. I do hope you will enjoy reading about the trials and tribulations of my great adventure. I would love it if you joined in the saga by dropping me a line in the comments box. As you will see I’m going to need all the support I can get.

This my v. v. v big tail!

I started my blog in 2015, as a  young orphan puppy from West Cumbria in the United Kingdom. It will record my big walking adventure – climbing the 282  Scottish Mountains over 3,000 feet. Me, an agile young dog and my person – a creaky aging thing (called B) – aim to complete the task by the time I am 10 and she is 70. We are to spend many hours in some of the most wonderful and  remote parts of the UK: walking, camping, eating, drinking, writing and growing ever closer and closer. My primary purpose is to attract people who would like to follow me and see if I achieve my goal.  I aim to raise £32,000 for two v. v. v good causes. I have promised not to use any of the dosh for even a tiny morsel of a treat, how hard is that?

Ben’s Map of all the Munros done, in blue, and all those to go, in red

This is our story from a canine perspective for a change.

The human story is very slow, but you can try to access it here and join the group: 

Facebook – Mucky Boots and Flawless Paws

The money we raise will be spilt between a charity for search and rescue dogs, and Canine Partners, which trains assistance dogs to  support disabled people. These dogs are sooooooo clever. This is Bumble and Sandra’s story. I am in love with Bumble.

SANDRA BELL AND BUMBLE – Partnership study

There are film clips of the clever canines at work below.  If after watching them you think what amazing creatures we dogs really are, and you wanted to support their work, you could always drop me a penny or two for my fundraising, just here :

Munro challenge doggy bag fund – just giving

Please join in the chat, by adding your thoughts below and become part of the adventure. It will give me encouragement and I’m going to need it, by the bucket full

By the bye, all my blog posts are here, on my home page, but I have other more specific pages too. You just need to click a mouse (ouch!), on the options below, or on the tabs below my lovely photo at the top, to access them:

• Ben Speak – Understand the dogisms, and the odd philosophical musing in my blog.
• Ben’s annual reviews – A summary of my little world, one post per year.
• Ben’s best reads – My gift of reading just for you, in my recommended reads.
• Ben, The Dog Poet  – check out my back log of verse and doggerel.
• Ben’s Charities – Check out my credentials, donate, or contact me.
• Doggy Dementia – Ben’s top tips – Written in tribute to our old girl, to help others.
• The Munro Blogs – All my Munro posts, copied and arranged in chronological order from the start to finish, in one place.

You tube – Canine Partners at work

You tube – Search and Rescue dog doing their thing.

That was hard work, Need sleep.

And so to bed

Love Ben xx