Scotland!

I thought I would treat myself to a little holiday in Scotland with of course an agility show thrown in! I had only been to one Scottish show before and that was Dundee 3 years before when Roger and I both went. Roger was judging at Downland Show and also gets less time off work than me (well there has to be a perk in staying working at the same place for a long time!) so he kindly said I could take JaiJai.


Sue and Duessa were sharing a van and I had arranged to meet them at Stafford Services and then we were going on-convoy! I had taken the younger red boys Fleet and JaiJai, the doodles Jaf and Cadbury and young Kaiser. The journey up was ok till just past Carlisle and then I got a warning light come on doh! So stopped rung the garage, rung the RAC who came out and put their diagnostics thing on it and they could find nothing wrong - they liaised with the Renault garage who said it was fine to continue so off we set again. Luckily we had been able to wait for the RAC at a very nice services called Annandale Water where there was a nice dog walking area. We went straight to the Venue which was 1 mile from the Hotel and gave dogs another run there before we booked into the hotel.


There must have been about 30 agility people staying at the hotel so that was nice. I did not really have the energy after the long drive and seeing to the dogs to stay up late at the bar though! (ooops must be getting old!)


The next day after a nice early breakfast we arrived nice and early at the show which is set in a lovely park, there were 6 rings which I understand is quite big for a Scottish show. This was Fleets 7th Birthday and he came 5th in the 4/5 Jumping, JaiJai did his usual speedy round with one pole down! Fleet did a clear in G5 Agility and with held contacts and a twizzly bit he was just outside the places, Fleet and JaiJai did some good bits in their other runs just not clear.


Cad did a lovely run in 1-5 Agility with beautiful stops on the contacts and came 2nd, had a clear and just out of the places in 5-7 combined jumping and came 1st in Graded 5-7 Jumping (that's 2 jumpings towards G6 now). Little Jaf only gets entered in one run at day at shows and his class was very near the end in a ring of small/medium classes which rather went on - it was about 6.30pm when he got his one and only run of the day and it was starting to get chilly, he actually ran really well and sped down the last line (to get back to his cosy bed in the van probably!) and I was gobsmacked to find that in that class which was small graded 5-7 jumping Jaf had come 1st ! He maybe Grade 5 but he is there due to his previous novice places rather than having won up the grades - not sure he is impressed with having his photo taken with the trophy!

I was very proud of both my doodles and of course the red dogs too, Kaiser has a great time watching and going for walks in the park and meeting lots of people and dogs :)

Saturday had been a long day so it was nice to get back to the hotel and relax and have a nice meal. Sunday morning we woke up to a dusting of snow, not too much really and we all thought it would soon go.....we were all wrong!

We arrived at the venue and it was not too bad.......well you could still see the grass through the snow!

The organisers thought they would wait an hour and see what the weather did.....well the snow came down thick and fast and they had no choice but to cancel it just would not have been safe to consider starting the show
So this brought an abrupt end to my little holiday - I was due to stay the Sunday night and then spend Monday travelling back and visiting places, I was worried if there was more snow I might not get home the next day so as I was back at the Hotel by 10am having managed to get up the hill out of the venue
the hotel kindly let me book out a night early so I started to make my way home, there was no hurry and I wanted to visit a few places along the way. I was running solo on the way back as the others were not due to stay the extra night so were on their way home already.

The roads were not too bad mostly clear with some of the fast lanes snowy in places and I did see a snow plough on the M74...! I picked a route that included all dual carriageways and motorways as some locals at the show said some of the smaller roads on higher ground might be bad in the snow. My first stop was Strathclyde Country Park - no snow there at all....sorry no photos as I walked all 5 dogs and not knowing where I was I needed my brain in gear, the dogs had a lovely dash about for a good while to wear them out for the next leg of the journey.

Next stop still in Scotland but only just and I am a bit of a saddo but I went to the Gretna Shopping Outlet - I just luv it there and have been I think 5 times now (having popped there when I have stayed with the lovely Aldersons a couple of times). Now I really like a bargain but only if it is something I actually need! I got some Karrimor waterproof trainers down to £19.99 from £69.99 and also a waterproof jacket (can't remember what make but it was a cut down price too!), they also have a Cadbury Shop there so I bought a sneaker bag with a Cadbury Theme!

I stopped a couple more times on the way home for the dogs and me to have a break but it was nice to get home after such a long journey!