Pigs and hill-walking brought together at last. This one seemed the perfect way to spend a couple of early Sunday hours before setting off home to Orkney.



I used to breed Saddleback pigs at our 10-acre croft in Westray (hence the Walkhighlands name, obviously) and they are lovely animals to work with and deserve to be treated right.

So it was great to turn up at about 7.30 on a bright, sunny morning and see so many pigs living in what look like decent conditions. I'm pretty sure they are large whites, a fairly common commercial breed, or possibly cross-bred with Landrace (on the off-chance anyone's interested). Anyway, they have decent housing and lots of bedding, they are in groups (pigs being very social), they all look fit and active and there's plenty of space for them to snuffle and root about in. Looked very good to me.

But enough of the Farmers Weekly, I got on with the walk, heading through the gate and following up the track, past the ruined Moniemuies Farm and straight up the hill where there were views to Ben Rinnes, Elgin, Lossiemouth and the North Sea and over to the Bin of Cullen.

I walked back the same way - there isn't really another way as far as I can make out - and enjoyed a little more pig time before heading away. Brown Muir is not the most exciting hill, but it's worth a couple of hours of anyone's time and not just for the pigs.