Dog-Sitting Day

Mark, Stuart and their dog Sharpie have been joined at their camp-site by their neighbours John and Leigh, two children Declan and Ewan and their two dogs. I offered to have all the dogs here so that they could go to Portreath beach for a surf.  I was envisaging four small dogs all playing happily together and then they arrived!!  When the car pulled up it had a miniature pony in it!  Grayson is a Leonberger – the Gentle Giant which is about 3ft in height at the withers!!!!  Their other dog was Rossie a 14 month old rescue springer spaniel who fell in love with Hamish and followed him everywhere that he went. 

After the initial investigation of their temporary home they all settled down very well.  Grayson and Sharpie the bulldog spent the morning outside in the shade …

While Rossie kept his eye on Hamish in the house …

In the afternoon I handed over the dog-sitting duties to Mike’s sister Lesley as she’d arrived to keep him company while I spent some time on the beach with the others.  The surf was great and I had a lovely time with them.  Poor John who already had a dodgy back when he arrived, stood on a weever fish and had to visit the Surf Club to get his foot treated.  He had to sit for 15 minutes with it in a bowl of hot water – as hot as he could take it.  Meantime Leigh who was enjoying the sunshine which was topping up her tan, had a seagull do the unmentionable all across her stomach!!  However they all had a fantastic time and have vowed to return to Cornwall another year.

Dogs on a Kayak!

During the heatwave I was sitting on our verandah watching the antics in the harbour.  One of my friends from Pilates came down with her husband, two dogs and a kayak.  With all of them wearing life-jackets they set off for a paddle around the harbour to get the dogs used to floating on the water …

Brilliant!!  They all really enjoyed themselves.

Setting off for Home

We left the Norfolk Broads site and as we passed over the River Thurne I spotted Sally moored up with Steve working on her.  I quickly pulled over and turned around, parked up in Lathams car park and we walked to the riverside to say hi and goodbye.  It was lovely to see both Steve and Lisa one more time before we hit the road for Cornwall.

We retraced our route and I was doing really well.  Jamie had put the postcode for Burford into Jasmine and once I’d cleared Milton Keynes I turned her on.  We have no idea how it happened but somehow the wrong postcode was set and I found myself in the wrong place!!!  I reset it and then we arrived safely at the site.  I must say it was nice to have the speedo working on this journey.

We had the same pitch and once again I took Hamish to see the animals.  Yes Hamish they’re still there …

The following morning we left here for the Devizes site and I took Hamish for a stroll along the canal.  There was quite a bit of activity …

Back on the site and this greeted me …

Isn’t that brilliant?  The following morning the weather was lovely so another walk along the canal …

Before we left the site I managed to get a photo of Henry who was a puppy owned by one of the site managers – he was gorgeous!

We then headed back to our friends and the promised lamb roast!!  It was very yummy too!   More playing with the cats for Hamish …

One last drive and we were home.  It had been a fantastic holiday as always and I’m looking forward to the next one already!

Unexpected Visits

My phone rang this week and it was a friend I haven’t seen since April on our way home from Norfolk.  She was on the lookout for a bed for the night after dropping her foster daughter off for a riding holiday near Redruth.  The following morning very early she and her spaniel Willow were flying by helicopter to the Scilly Isles and naturally she thought of me! 

This afternoon I also had a call from Paul who wanted to park outside our garage as he was cycling the Coast to Coast route.  As the space was ear-marked for Debbie I found him somewhere else to park, wished him luck and waited for him to return.  When he did he was covered in mud and his bike was filthy too.  He had, however, had a brilliant ride!!

Debbie arrived late afternoon and we had a good catch-up on news then she treated us to dinner at the Portreath Arms.  After our meal we took the dogs on the beach where Willow had great fun in the water while Hamish did his usual trick of watching from the edge!

Postbridge, Reservoir, Dartmoor Prison Museum and Two Bridges Hotel

The clapper bridge at Postbridge was first on the list for today.  We were very lucky and managed to get some photos without strangers wandering across it!

When we went up onto the road a riding school came past and made their way to the pub for refreshments …

Crossing the road we found two horses grazing and then coming to the gate to see what was happening …

We made our way back to the car and with time to spare before visiting the prison museum we found somewhere to stop by the side of Burrator Reservoir for our picnic lunch.  We had water flowing down beside us and after eating I climbed up high to look down …

After lunch we moved on to Norsworthy Bridge where we parked and went for a walk …

When we arrived back at the car we found some cattle wandering about …

We drove back to the Dam and stopped for some photos …

It was now time to visit the Dartmoor Prison Museum where photos are not allowed unfortunately but we did snap this quick pic of the prison as we left the area …

As we approached Two Bridges we decided that a coffee was required and so stopped at the pretty hotel which turned out to be dog-friendly – bonus!

The service was very slow but once suitably refreshed we took a couple of photos of the bridge and then made tracks for camp - it had been a long day.