We were terribly sad to leave Wales, but did get a good chuckle at this garage (gas station) on the way out. You can buy your potatoes and your coal at a petrol station, among other things. Who knew?
We received a warm welcome at our next stop in England, where apparently our fondness for Cosmopolitan martinis is well known...
We worked lively Hebridean sheep this time, that although different from the insane Welsh Mountain sheep, were not opposed to leaping fences when the mood struck them...
Tomorrow is a trial day in the Dales, and we will report more as we will be settled in.
Today is our last full day in Wales. We are trialing in gorgeous sunshine down near the beach by the Irish Sea (with gale force winds but we're not complaining).
So...for those of you who are curious about the trials here, a bit about how all this works...
You book in at the trial and pick where you want to run. It's often very casual and there can be big gaps between runs. Many wait until the sheep are good (or so you think) before they book in. You book in usually at a caravan (RV trailer), horse trailer or car...
Everyone pulls up to the front to watch from their cars...this is our view...
The sheep are being let out and held by three young men at the top of the field with no dog (very different from North America). It's fairly entertaining actually because the sheep are very quick and not willing to cooperate. They let them out when the course director waves the flag.
The pen has no gate on it today and you can move pretty much anywhere you want.
J.R. Griffith demonstrates penning below after exceptional outwork.
There is rarely a shed in the Welsh trials, so we'll to wait for England to practice that.
Dyna is judging accordingly from the backseat of the van.
We had a great dinner tonight with John and Bet near the Caernarfon Castle.
We have met so many amazing people in Wales and will miss it terribly, especially our dear friends John and Bet. Tomorrow we trek to England.
Now I'm sure there the sheep here are on crack! Must be something in the grass...nothing like honing your penning skills (and your ability to bounce back from failure) on wild Welsh Mountain sheep. Three trials and very few pens by anyone...including us.
However, we are still amused when we see sheep just randomly walking down the road. I could almost picture a purse and flowery hat on this one...casually walking down the sidewalk!
Now I understand...why in the UK they don't like to drive more than half an hour to a trial. I used to chuckle about it because we often drive 3 to 7 hours (or more) in North America without thinking to get to a trial...but on good highways...
Two hours one way on winding, suicide mission, just missed the side mirror being copped (knocked off) by a lunatic driver, edge of your seat microscopic roads with stone walls inches away..is exhausting.
We visited the North Wales Championship today, and it was a nice sized field...
Although Dyna got around, it won't be in the top four to go back Saturday. Craig and I grazed the fetch panel on the wrong side when the sheep darted unexpectedly and even with a good outrun and lift that was enough to cause us to miss the standard and ended our run.
I think tonight I will enjoy a glass of wine (or two)! 😉
Dyna's going to need 'Miss Congeniality' lessons soon. She is a very modest little dog and prefers not to have her picture taken but she did end up placing in two of the three trials yesterday, and the paparazzi (us basically) are starting to hound her (pardon the pun). It only took about 100 shots (thank goodness for digital) but we finally got her to look at the camera.
She was 3rd out of 76 runs in the one trial... 1. Allistair Lyttle and Scott 2. Cyril Humpreys and Bet 3. Mary Lou Campbell and Dyna 4. Aled Owen and Gypsy 5. Dan Jarman and Jaff 6. Orwell Evans and Bob
...and finished 6th out of 70 runs in the other trial.
Today we trained dogs a bit and then went up another mountain on a hike, which was spectacular in colour with bracken, heather and gorse. Dyna is less shy about photo ops when she has spotted a sheep...
Tomorrow is a big day as we are planning on going to the North Wales Championship. Apparently it is a big field and should be great fun.
We have a love-hate relationship with the GPS. On one hand, it took us to several sheepdog trials that we would have never found on our own.
On the other hand, it took us an extra hour and a half to get there because of the scenic route it took us on. Fortunately, Mary Lou and I travel well and were able to enjoy a part of Wales we would've otherwise never seen.
However, driving on a one track road for over an hour is a bit wearing...
Can you believe many of these roads have a speed limit of 96 km per hour????
Even with the delay, we managed to hit three trials today. Mary Lou and Dyna once again did well, possibly placing in two of the trials. (Over here, you leave to go to the next trial and find out by phone the next day how you did, very different from North America.)
My sheep kept leaving before Craig was halfway there. Nutters...
My only moment of redemption...
I think some of the sheep are on crack, personally.
P.S. We had one of those "they saw us coming..." moments. I guess we must not look like locals. Going into a well known local fish and chip shop, we asked for ketchup to go with our order. The lady at the cash pulls out an entire bottle of ketchup and offers it to us for a price. Apparently, no other ketchup was available and we were desperate, so we bought it. At which point, she offers a bottle of malt vinegar for us to purchase as well...come on, do we look like gullible tourists to you??
Today's adventure took us from the beautiful coastline of Wales up through the mountains.
We started the day with a walk along the beach, with the Irish Sea crashing spectacularly beside us. The winds were extremely strong, but warmer than we anticipated. We looked a bit like Nanuk of the North with all our layers, but the dogs didn't mind.
We checked out a slate quarry...I know, I know, it doesn't sound that exciting, but it was amazing to see a demonstration of hand-splitting slate into paper thin sheets...(notice the Border Collie in the crowd!)
...and pictures of men hanging from massive slabs of slate as they tried to pry it away from the mountain.
This was our quarry imitation...
We returned home by taking a small track over the mountain...yes, this is a road, not a walking path!
As always there were sheep everywhere...
...felt like a bit of a safari...can you see this one...another Where's Waldo from Boywood...
Finally, we'd had our fill of tea and we needed a fix of North America, with a British flair!
