The Big Trip North

When Joy had said she wanted to use Bond I had offered to drive up to Heathers with her. It's a journey I've done on my own a few times from our house (320 miles and approx 5 hours) but I do a lot of driving and actually quite enjoy it and Joy lives another 200 miles and 3 hours south of me so it's actually quite a mammoth trek from Fritwell to Roy Bridge!! In typical Wren style she comes in season and needs to be mated on one of the busiest weekends she could pick!! A week before we move house, my Nan's funeral is on the Friday morning, I have 2 litters of puppies at home and the weather really isn't that great either. Still...a promise is a promise and I really wanted to go see the two litters of Spark puppies that Heather has at the moment too so off we went. I took half of my dogs with me, leaving Gemma with the cockers, the girls with pups and the girls in season (and Squirrel of course).

We had a pretty good journey up but we did experience an awful lot of weather!! lol Everything from beautiful blue skies and sunshine to fog, snow, sleet, rain and strong winds, changing every 5 minutes...that's Cumbria and the Scottish Highlands for you I guess!! We did however get stopped by the police just outside of Crainlarich, I had a headlamp out (had been fine the day before!) so now I have to get a new headlamp fitted and certified by a garage to send off to them and also produce all my documents at a police station in the next 7 days...as if I haven't got enough on at the moment!! lol

We took the slightly more scenic route (in my opinion)...heading up the A82 out of Glasgow takes you along the banks of Loch Lomond and up over Rannoch Moor and through Glencoe on the way to Fort William. Simply stunning scenery.

Coming down into Glencoe on our journey up...

As usual, a warm welcome and good food awaited us at Roy Bridge, it was nice to see Ron and Heather and all the dogs...but especially Mercy, Bond and Spud. Mercy was really pleased to see me which was kind of nice but also made me realise just how much I was missing her, I really love that little dog and she's been gone for over a year now. Spud has matured a lot since the last time I saw him, he is of course Wren's litter brother but they're not really that alike. He does just have the most gorgeous appealing head, I can't quite think who he reminds me of, if anyone it's probably his grandfather Sunny. Anyway, here's a pic I took of him in his favouriote spot...stood on the cabin roof so he can peer over the fence...funny lad.

We got two good matings so fingers crossed for some scrummy pups in 9 weeks time. This litter is going to be quite interesting...Wren could easily have all black/white pups but a plethora of colours is possible...ee red, blue, tricolour, sable, seal...anything really!! lol

We got some stacked pics of Daisy's puppies...just 4 weeks old so some were a little more willing than others. I was really taken with both blue/white puppies but they're all really nice. Here's some snaps of them...




And this is the blue merle bitch we all liked from Evie's litter too, what a cutie!

Took the dogs for a good run up the forest at Spean Bridge before we set off home Saturday lunchtime...I am so jealous that Heather gets to run her dogs here every day, stunning views and perfect for free running a pack of boisterous collies!! lol









We hadn't been on the road for long before we got to Glencoe, lots of walkers out everywhere but the search and rescue helicopter was scouring the moutain side as we drove through, we had wondered whether it was a training exercise but then heard on the radio that there had been an avalanche and tragically 3 people killed. Stunning scenery but treacherous in those sorts of conditions. The snow started to get much thicker as we headed up over Rannoch Moor...


...but we were soon back down out of the snow and had a clear run all the way home with no stops.

Finally home safely and it was great to see Squirrel after all the worry. Kitten was a bit peeky though, vomiting and running a high temperature. I think she may have picked up a bit of a bug but I've put her on some antibiotics and she's eating again and seems a bit brighter but she's not yet back to her usualy 'giddy kipper' self so I'll just keep an eye on her, poor little Kitty-Kat. Joy just had a quick coffee and then headed back down to Oxford where a couple of junctions from home her headlights failed...would you believe it??!! Bloody good job we hadn't taken the Berlingo up to Scotland or we would have been in trouble! lol