Such a busy time of year!

The View from the exercise area at Northern Week

Just catching up now as I have been sooooooo busy! We went to Northern Week in County Durham - I say its a week but its a bit more like 2 weekends as the show is Saturday/Sunday/Monday then Tuesday and Wednesday are days off and then agility again on Thursday and Friday and a half day on Saturday.

Its 300 miles to Northern Week and its always a towing journey I do not enjoy, it just seems to go on and on....I do all the towing as Roger (bless him!) just can't tow in a straight line and more often than not due to his work drives up in his work vehicle after I have left but this year we went together in our van which is nicer having company on such a long journey.

Cadburys classes did not have very high entries but there were some very good dogs there chasing the places (they never go down very far with the rosettes and always seem to round down - we do know this when we enter though as have been going for many years). A very nice lady called Jayne Spriggs has a stunning collie that when it goes clear is unbeatable at the level we were running (nearly all 1-4 classes) I know Jayne was doing her last runs at Grade 4. Also there were a few other very good medium collies and a black kelpie type dog.

Cadbury was a good boy and got round some quite tricky courses - he managed 1st places x 5 - so I was very proud of him. I was especially pleased with Cads run in the TFO where he did 26 obstacles (I was running out of breath by then!) they placed to 2nd and in 2nd place was Amanda Hampsons lovely Toller Minx and she did 28 obstacles. For all of the Medium classes there was a real team spirit with us all watching each others runs and being pleased for others when it went well and commiserating when it didn't :o)

I really like watching the Champ Class and Lisa and Chi came up for this - Chi did some stunning runs and it was such a shame that in the Final he took the start jump again on the way past. There were some excellent runs in the Final with our friend Sue having Merc and Bug in the final., Bug had a small error and Merc did a lovely clear and would have been 3rd or 4th.

JaiJai was a bit of a mad boy all week - he managed 2 clears and got a 3rd and 4th in Agility, Josie had an 11th and 12th in Jumping, Fleet had a 5th in Jumping and Rip a 2nd and 4th in Anysize. No places for Fog and Jaf but they did some nice runs.

On the first day off we went to Hamsterley Forest - a few friends had said it was a nice place to go and walk and you can follow a colour coded walk to save the worry of getting lost! http://www.forestry.gov.uk//website/recreation.nsf/LUWebDocsByKey/EnglandDurhamCountyNoForestHamsterleyHamsterleyForestVisitorCentre!OpenDocument We followed the Orange Walk and took our time letting the dogs go in and out of the streams for a paddle. Cadbury and Jaf in Hamsterley Forest.

On the second day off we went via Richmond across to Hawes - the scenery as you drive along is so stunning I have to remember to keep my eyes on the road! I said I would not buy any more Jack Wolfskins fleeces (I have a wardrobe full of them) but there was a nice one....no paw prints on it but it needed a new home!

At the show we went to the Quiz and had a alcohol and snack fuelled evening and the big group we sat with split into smaller groups - our Teams came 1st, 2nd and joint 3rd and we all gave our prize money to a dog charity :o)

We went to Trent Park - no great sucess there - Cadbury did a lovely run in his Agility and then went back over the start instead of the finish and did a clear on a very speedy jumping but was just out of the places. Fleet was on the only one getting a place - he came 7th in the Mini/Mixi pairs running with a lovely little Sheltie called Dodger.

I went back to work for a rest zzzzzzz!