Lune Valley, Barrow and the Lake District ... oh and clever Kizzle!

What a wonderful time we have had. I can honestly say that Lune Valley, the bit in the middle and Barrow combined is possibly the best agility experience ever!

We tootled up on the Friday and got set up in our rather lovely camping spot. We were very lucky to be camped backing onto a hedge in the middle field. We got this nice spot due to the fact that I was standing in for someone and doing one of the mid week training sessions. More of that later.

The journey up was quite long but uneventful and the first task was to take the dogs to the exercise area and let them have a good run before we set up our camp. Later we took them along the canal walk which is really lovely:

View of the camping area from the canal walk

Poppy enjoying a swim with Zeki looking on

The view under one of the many lovely bridges spanning the canal

Zeki surveying the scene from her chair

The show format is brilliant as you have three days of agility then three days off followed by another three days of agility. During the 'bit in the middle' there are lots of activities you can participate in including training sessions or fun classes etc. or you can just choose to chill or go off sight seeing. We did a bit of each as I was involved in the training which is all done for charity. It was very very hot on the training day so I couldn't really do much of what I had planned as it was too much for the poor dogs. It seemed to go well and people understood my strange southern accent and the different terminology we use for different sequences etc!

The sightseeing bit:

During our days off we did some sight seeing and got to visit Buttermere Lake, Coniston Lake, Cartmel and a drive through some of the wonderful mountains. We got to see two of the highest mountains in England: Skiddaw as we drove past Keswick and Helvellyn as we drove through Honister Pass on our way to Buttermere. The journey through Honister Pass is quite spectacular and scary as the road is very narrow and at times runs on a gradient of 25% which is quite steep!

Stopping to admire the view half way through Honister Pass

Honister Pass

On our walk around Lake Buttermere

Lake Buttermere

The path around Lake Buttermere

Poppy enjoying a paddle in a stream at Honister Pass

On our second day off we took ourselves off to Cartmel Racecourse and had a walk in the woods which was nice for the dogs as it kept them out of the heat and then we had lunch at a lovely pub in the village.

The doglets enjoying a paddle in a stream in the woods at Cartmel Racecourse

Andy returning to the car after checking out the pubs!

The doglets having a rest after their walk at the racecourse

The view of Cartmel village from the pub where we had our lunch

After our walk at Cartmel we split from Karen and took our dogs off to Coniston. You can't actually walk round Coniston Lake but you can find yourself a little beach and that's what we did. The dogs had a wonderful time swimming and playing. As usual Becky drank gallons and so we had to stop twice on the journey home to let her out for a wee! Below is a selection of photos from our visit to Coniston.








The agility bit:

The agility was just brilliant. Without exception I loved all the courses and some of them were really tricky, right up my street.

The only thing I'm disappointed about is that Naughty Niamh should really be grade 7 now. We had too many near misses and all were down to my making one error which cost us dear. We did however manage one first place in grade 6 agility so we are half way towards our goal of grade 7. We also had two second places in jumping classes which is unusual as I don't normally get good placing in jumping.

I finally managed to execute a perfect push through which made me very happy, I think we could have won the class due to this sequence but sadly Niamh picked up the second weave; it was my fault it was a blind weave entry from a collapsible tunnel and I didn't pause for her to find the entry. Hey ho! She was a good girl and we certainly enjoyed ourselves even though we skulked around in the shadow of Karen with Jess and Todd and Andy with Kizzy both of whom had AMAZING results! Well done guys!

Here is the naughty one with her rather small haul of rosettes that is compared with certain other people :o)

The Naughty Niamh with her prizes - she was fantastic and these rosettes really don't reflect how well she worked. Yet again she was let down by her partner!

The same cannot be said for Princess Kizzle. Her week started off well with a win at Lune Valley followed by some lower placings. Then things went a little wrong partly due to Andy putting too much pressure on himself and partly due to Kizzy really disliking the heat wave. Once the weather had cooled and Barrow show arrived they got into their stride. On one day Kizzy won all three of her classes and in total she managed a total of seven wins, two second placings and numerous other top five placings. What a clever little sheltie. Here she is proudly sitting amongst her haul! The trophies from Barrow are lovely. Locally made slate coasters. So nice to have something you can use. Kizzy has quite a collection!

Princess with her winnings from Lune and Barrow 2009

Below are some pictures of our doglets chilling in their garden at the show:

Poppy requesting that we keep the noise down as she's trying to get some sleep!

Zeki in her favourite bed .... erm my chair that is!

Just chilling!

Zeki joining in with the conversation!

Niamh worn out after a good day out!

Pops enjoying the evening sunshine!

Zeki now bored with the conversation nods off!

We had the best time, great company, great agility, great walks and some excellent results. Well done to Andy and Kizzy for winning into Grade 7 in style and also to Karen and Todd for doing the same and even better for Karen and Jess. The long awaited agility wins. Like a no. 7 bus, you wait for ages and then two come along together! Well done and well deserved. Can't wait to go back next year!

The journey home was pretty good and we arrived just before 10.00 pm. The dogs had a play outside and we fell into bed exhausted. Need to get some energy from somewhere fast as we're off to Denmark in three days. OMG, how will we get ready in time.

Today I bathed Murphy and Becky as they're off to stay with Bernadette; Niamh and Kizzy also got bathed ready for their big adventure. Poppy and Zeki escaped as they were both bathed a couple of weeks back. Pops is off to stay with Dan and Mac. The other three are coming with us and it's quite scary as I've never travelled my dogs abroad before. I am dreading leaving the other three but I know they're in good hands and will be loved and looked after.

Think that's it for now otherwise I'll never be ready for Denmark!

Holiday final instalment - "Bill's 60th Birthday"

Whilst we were on holiday it was Jackie's 60th birthday. Jackie is more commonly known as Bill for some reason known best to Terry. For the purpose of this entry she shall be known as Bill.

Happy 60th Birthday Jackie Bill Insull

The day started very pleasantly with Bucks Fizz and croissants in Dan & Mac's awning with the ritual present opening session. Then we all took our dogs for a walk and met up for afternoon tea and cake. Andy ate so much cake he felt sick. In the evening we went to one of our favourite pubs, The Filly Inn and Terry treated us all to a lovely dinner to celebrate Bill's birthday. Andy only had a starter because he still felt sick.

Here are some pictures of our evening:

Publish Post

Also some more pictures from our holiday courtesy of Dan & Mac's blog.

That's it then for another year. The caravan has been cleaned and put to bed for the winter.

Holiday second instalment - "Walks in the Forest"

Despite the wet weather during the first week we had some lovely walks in the forest (the main reason we choose to holiday in this lovely location.) The upside of the wet weather was that lots of lovely lakes developed. Our dogs love to play in shallow water and it cleans them up after the muddy bits.

Andy and the Hudsondoglets, minus Murphy who's probably behind the gorse bush munching horse pooh!

Zeki doing a recall at high speed

Zeki out and about

Naughty Niamh

Poppy, Murphy & Becky

Zeki posing in the heather

Kizzle posing in heather but this wind can play havoc with a girls ears!

On the Wednesday of our second week Karen and the Gang came down and we went for a nice walk at one of our favourite spots and had lunch at the Red Shoot pub. On the way back to the campsite we decided to stop for another walk and ended up doing another hour and a half. We had a total of 12 dogs on the walk and they all behaved very well - even the Naughty Niamh!

Zeki, Niamh, Poppy, Todd, Becky & Murphy

Murphy, Todd, Poppy and Jess with Sassy and Corrie in the background

Zeki, Becky & Murphy

Zeki, Todd, Niamh and Corrie

Lots of dogs!

On Friday we had a visit from Dennis and Bernadette who brought Zen with them. We went out for a walk just outside the camp site. Zen isn't too keen on water but she soon joined in the action with our lot. It was the noisiest walk I have been on. One sheltie was perfectly quiet (Kizzle of course) and two were very noisy (Zen and Zeki). I have to admit that my model was by far the loudest and most prolific barker. Oh dear, this is not the plan. My sheltie is very naughty and Andy (and Bernadette) find this amusing for some reason.

During the walk there were several occasions when I was calling Zeki whilst looking at Zen and vice versa. They are so similar it isn't true!

After the walk we were very civilised and had tea and cake before Bernadette and Dennis headed home with a very tired Zen.

Zen enjoying the water with Kizzle

Niamh, Zen and Poppy

The above picture makes me laugh - look at Kizzy and Niamh jumping the water!

Everyone having a good time!

Zen doing her utmost to get me to throw something into the water for them to chase!

Even Kizzy is getting into the act and she's normally a real whimp with water!

Zen out with the collies

We had about two days where we could sit outside the caravan and the dogs enjoyed a spell in the sunshine drying off after their walk.

Andy's three with their leads stretched to maximum - why do they always do this??

Zeki enjoys a cuddle with Mac

Niamh after her walk. I like to think she's practising her targets in her sleep! This is one of her favourite positions for a snooze.

Gorgeous little Zeki

Bookends (Poppy and Niamh)

Enjoying a rare bit of sunshine

Finally, Zeki and Andy back indoors as the rain has started again!

We enjoyed our holiday and as always it was finished far too quickly. That said I always like to get home and back into some sort of routine even if it does involve work!

One final instalment to follow - Bill's 60th birthday!