Colin always gets VERY excited everytime on the night before we travel. He don't normally sleep well (don't sleep at all to be precised!) because he can’t wait to get away! I guess his work is very stress, holiday/break means a lot to him but poor me having someone so close fugitive all night could be terrible especially I have to drive all the way from Mitcham to Putte!
We left home just before 6am heading towards the famous white cliff, Dover. The traffic was very good in the early hours; we got there just before 7:30am, plenty of time before our crossing. We found a nice place called “Sampshire Hoe” to walk Sing and Saturn. Just imagine these two will be left in the car for at least 3 hours, so I make sure they have a good run around before they got stuck.
Saturn obviously had a good time running around chasing rabbits for at least half an hour. He is a real hunter. 
To be honest, I got very nervous about the crossing. I’ve never drive the car onto the ferry before and I do not know what to expect. I also worried about leaving the boys in the car. People who knows me understand SEA + ME = UH UH. I have to take the travel sickness pill to be able to stand on my feet. Eventhough I was worried about how the two boys will cope in the car without anyone there with them but it didn’t last long as I fell asleep before the boat starts sailing! I woke up half an hour before we reached Dunkerque. Colin told me the sailing was smooth, when we got back to the car, there is no vomiting so I supposed the boys were doing alright.
We arrived at Dunkerque around 1pm, their local time (12 noon UK time) but we didn’t get out until 1:30 and Karen was already waiting to guide us. Thanks to Karen and Guy, we followed them all the way to Putte. Colin was supposed to drive in the Europe but he chicken out at the very last minute, so I have to be brave to do the “wrong side” driving! Luckily I’ve got Karen to follow. I've just set my "tunnel vision" on Karen's van and look no further. Most of the journey was on the motorway, so we can’t really see the car from the opposite lanes which is good or else I will get panic. There was a part that we have to drive through a town and the traffic lights changed were so fast and I have missed Karen and Guy a couple of time but managed to catch up, phew!
Our AA route map said it was 2 hours drive from Dunkerque to Putte but it took us 3.5 hours to get there! Poor Sing and Saturn have been stuck in the car for nearly 7 hours by the time we got to Putte! As we were following the others, we can’t stop to get the dogs out. I feel so sorry for them.
The weather wasn’t good on the day, it drizzle all the way from Dunkerque to Putte. I started to regret we didn’t bring the caravan! Can you imagine to set up the brand new tent in the rain with strong wind? We kinda managed to put the tent up, not sturdy but good enough to sleep for the night.
we shopped around a few camping stores to find this Outwell Carolina 3 tent. Colin and I like it very much and decided we will pay £199.99 for it. It has a reasonable size sleeping area (Sing & Saturn were sleeping with us, so it is a good size) for the two of us with a large porch area where we can sit inside if it rains. You have a front door and a side door too and it is easy to put up (well, I think so.), only 4 pieces of metal and it's up but it definitely needs two people.
the boys are happy to sleep in this big plastic bag for a week
We (Guy, Karen and us) were almost the first teams that arrived on Wednesday. All the other arrived on Thursday. The camping area has marked out for each team. The Wimbledon Whizzers has sent out two teams. We only get a tiny space to squeeze in 16 people plus 20 dogs! This is very different to agility where you get ample space, big enough to set up your own garden. Between us, our coach, Guy has a big caravan + awning; we have a medium size tent; Karen slept in her van with her two dogs; our captain Ray has the tiniest tent to sleep in with his dog Bramble; then we have five people from Four Paws Racing to join us, they have one massive tent and one medium tent but bigger than ours; Rachel has a medium tent but also bigger than ours; Sue & Glen has a motohome and Kate, one of our box loaders has a camper van. Just imagine we need to put everything in the allocated space with our cars! It was too much, at the end, we have to ask our neighbour, the Welsh PODS team to allow us to park my Volvo at their camping spot.
even my camera can't fit everyone in!!
While I was setting up our tent, Colin took the boys for a good run. After we were all done, we walked around the show ground. The Flyball Club that ran the EFC this year has their own club house and they sell Belgian beers!! WooHoo!! I don't drink but I like my Hoogarden and they now have Hoogarden Citroen, fantastic! It is a very refreshing beer! I even sneak out once to have my own beer without telling Colin!!
We went to bed quite early that night after a long journey.
more to come ...
5 comments:
Sounds like you had a great time Lian! Glad you enjoyed it!!
I was exactly the same the first time I took mine on the boat, worried sick. But they soon got used to it. And now they do it so often it is just like another car ride!! I think dogs adapt far better to see travel than humans! :)
Ohhh, Belgian beer sounds great!!! Glad you got to drink it AFTER the boat ride!
Good to hear you all were ok on the boat! Pics of the boys are brill! Sounds as if your reliving the experience! :)
Mom's not a fan of boats either so she sympathizes with you! Very cool tent - love the porch idea!
What A Grand Adventure, and congratulations on the results :-)
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