Strange beasts on my bicycle route! And discoveries about Basque.

Well, this morning, for the first time in a while I got on my bicycle to ride to the market in Uppermill. It was a bit chilly but otherwise a fine morning for a bike ride. 

 

As I approached the start of the Donkey Line bridle path, I could see what appeared to be a man with two enormous dogs, shaggy great Danes maybe. Getting quite a lot closer I realised that these were not huge dogs but highland cattle. For some time, some years in fact, there has been a notice on the field adjacent to the start of the bridle path: Livestock! There aren’t always cattle there but from time to time you see two shaggy beasts. They are nowhere near as big as I always expect highland cattle to be. In fact they seem considerably smaller than perfectly ordinary cows such as you see on a dairy farm. Maybe they have to be small and tough to withstand the winters in the highlands. They have long woolly coats and, in some cases, rather impressive horns. I was just a little apprehensive. 

 

The man who I had thought was with them just turned out to be a walker who told me to be careful as there were cows on the path. However, they were not at all aggressive, but rather docile and friendly. One of them took a great interest in my bicycle. 

 

A man got out of a car which had been impeding my normal approach to the Donkey Line and bustled up calling out to the cattle, “Hey! how did you two get out?” He found the break in the fencing that they had made us of and tempted them to follow him back through it by offering them what looked like brioches! How odd! Do cattle eat brioches? Maybe it was a special treat. 

I went on my way and bought fish and fruit and biscuits and such at the market. The cheese and biscuit lady, Jenny, was there so I bought gingerbread dinosaurs, among other things. Last time I bought these for the smallest grandchildren there were complaints from Granddaughter Number One. Why did she not have a dinosaur? So I bought extra.   

By the time I went past the highland cattle’s field on my home they were safely back in their rightful place. Large, shaggy beasts on the bridle path are not what you expect to see on a Wednesday morning. 

Later in the day I went off to try again to activate the tram application on my bus pass. All sorted, I can now travel with impunity and without cost.

Out in the wider world someone has been investigating the Hand of Irulegi, an object discovered by archaeologists last year and which might be a kind of good luck charm hung in the doorway the dwelling of some Vascones, forerunners of the Basques. They were believed to be illiterate but this discovery is changing the minds of archaeologists and linguists. Whether it will give any further insight into where the ancient Basque language came from is a different matter. Here’s a link to an article about it.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!