continue ... EFC diary

Gem and pup are doing well, we managed to move back to our bedroom last night to have a good night sleep. I woke up at 3am just to check they are ok, both look so content, so I went straight back to bed. Little Sing-let is now finding hin own way to different teats, he is one lucky boy, all teats to himself!

Now, we better leave the puppy post and continue with our EFC diary ...

Day 2

Thursday, 28th May 2009

relaxing day for us, arrival from all the other teams

flying the union jack

We woke up nice and fresh that morning after a good socialisation in the club house last night with some nice Belgian people and Belgian beers! After a cup of coffee and a simple breakfast, we decided to move our tent! Yes, MOVE our tent. Guy said we have the others to join us today and we can't possibly fit everyone in, so we have to plan the tiny space we have. After a rough idea where the others are going to put their tents, with Colin's help, I managed to rotate our tent with no big problem. Luckily the ground was soft, pulling out the tent pegs weren't bad at all but I have to push the pegs down every now and then especially when it was windy. I really enjoyed the tent, I think we have a good buy there.

this is Karen showing you our camping area, where she stands should be another car park there, our tent is next to the motorhome on the right hand side.

After we settled the tent, we decided to walk into the town to have a look around. We took Sing and Saturn with us. It was a very hot day and walking along on the pavement made it even hotter and we didn't realised how far we walked. We saw some very nice sculptures outside people house and also they have some wonderful scarecrows outside the house too! It was a shamed that we didn't take the camera along. We thought we would walk again sometimes before we leave Putte but obviously not.

By the time we got back from our town walk, all the other team members have arrived.

It was really a hot day, I ended up restless and fell asleep again! See, I can't be too relax, I am such an excited people, I need a job or something to do all the time!!

The showground was big, they have their own club house (belong to the Belgian Flyball Team), in the field, they also have some funny agility equipments. Look at these ...

Saturn trying out the BIG tyre

Sing wanted to have a go too

boys posing in front of the sponsor Pro Plan Purina tent

Saturn is not sure about this see-saw, with slat on a short rough plank and a tyre at the bottom, when the see-saw tip, it bounce up and down like a yoyo!!

and this is the extra wide dog walk with very thick slat that both Sing and Saturn were not keen on

After we have a good walk around and play with the funny equipments, we followed Guy & Ray to a nearby supermarket to stock up some food. We didn't bring anything with us so we were desperate for something to eat and drink.

We finished the day by having a lovely BBQ, generously cook by Guy and some lovely wine/beer and chit chat.

EFC 2009 diary - exciting journey begins ...

Day 1

Wednesday 27-05-2009

exciting journey begins ...

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.

Sing saw this warning sign by the carpark at Sampshire Hoe.

I was very worried and stressed just in case we see them but Colin said it is so cold that morning, he don't think the cold blooded adders would like to appear and thank goodness we didn't see a thing!

handsome boy Saturn posing in front of the famous white cliff

Saturn obviously had a good time running around chasing rabbits for at least half an hour. He is a real hunter.

Sing on the other hand keeps looking out for the sea, he really is a water baby!

We got to Dover Port Norfolk Line Terminal at 9am, an hour before our crossing. Luckily it wasn’t busy and we got through the custom check with no problem. Emmm ..., we did take longer than the other cars though because the Officer fell in love with Sing and Saturn. He took his time to admire the boys and got his colleague to come over to say hello to the boys too.

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 ...

Europen Flyball Championship 2009 Putte, Belgium

We came back from Belgium a week ago, how time flies! We have been very busy trying to catch up with what we missed while we were away. As metioned in the earlier posts, Sizzle was under the weather for a few days; Samber is in season; Gem is looking good, her due date is Thursday, so finger crossed for an smooth easy birth.

this is one of the teams we took with us to Putte, GB Racing

from left to right:

Sing, Scrumpy (aka Monkey), Merlot, Chablis, Phoenix

Wimbledon Whizzers and Four Paws Racing joined together to take two teams with them to EFC 2009. GB Running and GB Racing. GB Running has 5 of the Wimbledon dogs (Zak, Bramble, Tally, Blue & Maddie) + Shilo, a little JRT from Basset Allsorts Flyball Team. Sing & Phoenix from the Wimbledon joined GB Racing with three collies from Four Paws Racing Flyball Team.

Big Congratulations to GB Running who came 2nd in the Division and we came 6th in the Division. All dogs got a lovely medal.

here are a series of action photos of Sing taken at EFC 2009

more news to come ...