Well it finally come around our long awaited visit to the Lake district. Blue will be returning there for the sixth time in his four years.
This will be the storey of Blue's adventures, warts and all, from beginning to end.
We will begin at the beginning, somehow you sense that Blue knows today will be different from most other Saturday mornings, there is something different, lots of bags packed, including his treats and toys, however it does start with similarities, off to the park do his business and a shorter walk, then back home for breakfast.
No need for an early start, for this trip as we are not able to enter the cottage until three in the afternoon. So 350 miles will only take about six hours plus comfort stops.
So the car is packed and Blue sits in the back of the car, free of all ours and life's baggage, he always has the back part of our Freelander to himself. With a press of the starter button we were now heading off for two weeks holiday in Keswick in the Lake District.
Blue is a fabulous traveller, and in fact even at the tender age of four, he has enjoyed travelling in the car much further distances, if we are not going to the Lake District we travel to the Scottish Highlands. Invariably most of the journeys are small, but the majority of the time he has fun at the end of each journey, sometimes less fun when the trip ends at the vets.
So we hit the M4, and head East, we have travelled no more than 5 minutes and Blue has already bedded himself down. As soon as the indicator goes on to leave the motorway up pops Blue to see if we are there yet, wherever here is, but as soon as we carry on he settles back down. The journey carrys on in the same vein, through to the M40, onto the M42 around Birmingham to pick up the M6.
Making such good time we decided that it would be a good idea to have our first stop near Stoke, a nice little area for Blue to stretch his legs and have a walk round for twenty minutes and have a drink. Time for Blue to get back in the car and there was our first and second refusal, strangely Blue was reluctant, providing amusement for people sat having a break in the car park. The only way Blue can get in the car is with a run and jump, thankfully with the aid of some pampering and a tasty morsel chucked in the back, on the third attempt he lept like a salmon into the back of the car.
We rejoined the motorway and Blue was settled for the next leg of the journey.
Well this was to prove a problem. The news had stated that North bound the M6 was closed due to ongoing accident investigations,the warning was repeated on our Sat Nav but advising we left the motorway at junction 32 due to stationary traffic. We never did rejoin the motorway, picking our way through towns and villages until we finally reached our holiday destination 10 hours after setting out.
As said before we have travelled to Scotland in the past and Blue is an excellent traveller, so we had just lost a few hours of our holiday to the journey, but no harm done we had all arrived safe and well.
Generally we would empty the car and then explore the property. But this time it would be different, the luggage could wait Blue Sue and I got the key out of the combination key-safe and set off to explore our new home for the next two weeks.
The view across Keswick from the raised decking area
Though we had not stayed here before the three bed bungalow was just the ticket, once Blue managed to calm down a little he found the laminate floor less difficult to walk on, it was amusing like watching Bambi on ice performed by Rin-tin-tin. Swiftly out the back door Blue made his mark in the rear garden, only to disappear. He was soon discovered peering out from under the raised timber decking area. Sue had chosen our new home well and once we had emptied the car and eaten we were ready to call it a day, Blue had no problems settling down on his duvet is welcome travelling companion. Kong Cozie
In part two our holiday adventures will commence, till then Blue says night night, don't let the bed bugs bite.
