The majority of us set off on our long journey up to Anglesey on Friday morning…………….Claire & I went in convoy, Elaine came up later, and we all shared a 'very posh' static caravan. Dennis & Audrey took their tent. And then Jeff & Marilyn, Pete, Wendy, Krystle & Dawn, and finally Chris & Dave……all in their caravans!
Saturday saw the arrival of Chris & Dave. And in near typical fashion, not too quietly! Well, I think it was something to do with a lack of reverse on the caravan and day parkers not wanting to move out of the way!……………….Enough said!
Not quite sure what was happening across on the camping field, but Chris couldn't get over the fact that Pete kept getting his big tool out, or leaving it out for all and sundry to see. Apparently Dave & Jeff wished they had a big tool as well!! I think Pete put it away before they went out for the day, and the remainder of us 'mooched' around and went shopping. (Mum - the 'proof reader' wanted to know what Pete's big tool is………she asked smiling………….well, isn't it obvious, it's nothing more sinister than the tool which helps keep his legs in place, and in Pete's words "it vibrates when in use").
The evening entertainment was a BBQ at the static caravan, cooked by Elaine (Thank you! Much appreciated by Dave & Anne). It was a lovely evening, and we went on to celebrate Molly & Spencer's Silver & Gold Awards, even if it was a bit premature!
Sunday was our first day of competition. We were competing as Hotdogs in all the open competitions. It was planned that all the dogs would stand out of one competition over the week, and they would all get roughly an equal amount of races.
So we started off with Molly, Meg, Spencer, Tosh, Katie & Alfie. Our very first race was close, and in order to try to beat Running 4 Mutts, Marilyn tried pushing her passes. It worked to begin with, and then Alfie started to duck out. So Claire 'assisted' Alfie by standing near the start post to prevent him from running out. The opposition won the last leg, but Alfie got a light. Racing didn't improve much after that! And then the rain started, the lights were working, but not the timing. We finally won the race 3-2. It was hard work! We did have some close racing, but just didn't win very much! Came 6th in Div 2 (and received rosettes!), best time 19.13.
In the evening, we all 'chilled out' & dried out by ourselves…………..
Monday was multibreed. I had submitted a seed time of 20.00 secs for Bassett Doggy Mixtures, as the various combinations meant they should be able to do under 20's going on previous Bassett Allsorts times! Meg & Molly the collies & height dogs were sharing racing, and Katie, Beau & Alfie had to do all the work!! It all went pear shaped in practice, when Beau charged out towards Meg, passing each other on the first jump, and breaking the top slat in the process (Dave said he'd never seen Beau shoot out so fast!) This put Meg off passing with Beau, and put Beau off going out at speed!! It was then discovered, that Meg wasn't going to pass with anyone who was going to have a close pass, so Molly ended up doing most of the racing. Katie took to 'twiddling' at the box, particularly on the red lane, but when they raced well, they won………………..a race! The last race was very close and was 2-2, when in the last leg, Molly & the opposition had a light. Molly was heading back to take the leg (to win!!!) when she dropped the ball. Came 5th Div 1, best time 20.67
We also had a starters competition. We teamed up with 2 Shooting Stars, who had 2 collies. So they & Molly (BT) raced every race, and Angel & Bailey shared.. Molly raced well, and was only distracted once, but still completed her run properly. They came 4th in their 'part' with a best time 23.24
Evening entertainment was the pre-booked BBQ with live entertainment performed by Eryl. . There was singing (by the sandwich lady - after a fashion!) and dancing, and a conga challenge. After about 5 songs later after 'the final song' we eventually made our way to bed……………..
Tuesday was another day of rest. Claire & I went off to Agility, not sure what everyone else did…… We all met up at 9.30pm (it was still light in Anglesey!) to do a bit of passing with Meg, and for Molly to play. Back to base at 10.30pm where Claire & I spent the next 1.5hrs (until midnight) trying to work out the combinations of racing dogs for Wednesday.
Wednesday - we were in Div 2 again, with the same teams, except PODS who went into Div 1 and Molton Muzzles had moved up from Div 3. Meg was put in the first 2 races, against teams which had beaten us on Sunday, and she was start dog with Tosh doing very late passes behind her (she was coming through the finish post as I let Tosh go) and with that we were still managing under 22 secs. We put our hopefully fastest 4 in against Maple Leaf Raggers, as we had beaten them Sunday, but not today! We were 1-1, when Molly poo'ed in front of the judge, and in our last race, Chris showed Molly Spencer's ball on the run back!! Beau wasn't happy with Tosh running behind him, so we had to swap the orders around, to try and gain as much speed as we could. Unfortunately, it just wasn't going to be! Came 6th Div 2, best time 20.35
In the evening, we all squashed in to Chris & Dave's awning (and I mean squashed!!!), and played Pass the word, in 2 teams. There was plenty of cheating from the blue team (Elaine, Wendy, Marilyn, Chris, Dave & Claire)! Although the hysterical laughing half way through the game, was when my word was Peanut Butter, and following Marilyn's advise to her team mates, the clue I gave was 'fruit' Dawn shouted 'plum', I said yes and played continued totally oblivious…………….we still didn't win though!
Thursday we awoke to 'stormy' weather. Everybody sat in their caravans and hid away. No flyball took place (although it was our day off). Elaine & I had seen a pamphlet advertising a farm and 'chocolate factory'. So we had decided to go and have a look. Jeff & Marilyn had intended on going to the beach, so we decided to do chocolate, café then beach walk. When we left, we had the whole convoy of the Bassett Allsorts team! Our chocolate factory turned out to be a tiny shop! So we had a cuppa and cake, then went off to meet at 'x' car park……………which we all drove past! Luckily 4 of us were still together, and Jeff & Marilyn, & Dennis & Audrey who were ahead, turned round and found us at the road side. We went for a lovely walk on the beach. The evening turned out to be very pleasant.
Friday was another day off for us, but busy for Elaine, Claire & I, who had to sort out the caravan, and pitch Claire's tent and make a nice garden……………..actually, a really nice garden!
Dennis &Audrey managed to team up with Shooting Stars again, for some more starters with Molly, and came 4th (?).
And in the evening, we were BBQing at the static caravan again, making the most of our 'comfort'!
Saturday and back to camping for Anne ,Claire & Elaine (what a team!). Elaine had finished off cleaning the caravan and we were all out by just after 10am, back to reality! We all drove into our appropriate sized garden amongst much muttering!
We somehow had managed to be in Div 1 today. Claire had decided to pull Beau out of racing, and he was replaced by Alfie. So it was decided that Meg & Alfie race in the first 2 races against seed's 1 & 2, then Katie, Tosh, Spencer & Molly would see if they could pull anything out of the bag! In fact our first race against Bristol was very close, which we could have won, if I could inch up on Meg's passes. But I didn't want to put her off anymore than we had already done, so we swapped Molly in for Alfie, but still couldn't quite catch them up. The race against Cheshire Set, which we should have won, went wrong when Katie twiddled at the box, so making her problem look like it is to do with the oppositions dog, not the box loader (Wendy was stood stock still!). We went on to have a 'good battle' with Shooting Stars. Molly had started to twiddle, so we held up the racing while we changed…………..box loaders! (That must be a first for flyball!). It worked. Claire handled Spencer, Chris was on the box, and we won, gaining our best ever time over 14" of 18.69 (as thrilled as we are/were it looks like we might be knocking on Div 1's door…………….) and on that high, we went on to have another battle against Maple Leaf Raggers, and again managed a 18.93. So we came 5th in Div 1 (out of 7 teams this time), best time 18.69.
After prize giving and thank you's, we decided on Fish 'n' Chips & beach walk. It was a beautiful evening, we walked over the sand dunes, and down onto a huge beach……………it was a lovely finish to a great week. On arriving back to the cars, Marilyn was 'disgruntled' that someone had left a poo bag on their tow bar. Unfortunately for Pete, they are the only ones who use purple pooh bags…………..so on Pete's arrival back, he discovered several poo bags on his tow bar! And he drove back to camp with them swinging in the breeze. I think it was a brave Chris & Dave who drove behind him! Back on site, we sat in the roomy awning of Pete &Wendy, and chatted until……………….
Sunday morning, and we were all packing up. Just to be truly disgusting, 2 poo bags were hanging on our suitable sized garden posts……….Again the give away was the purple bag. Now Pete & Wendy had some very fancy lights on their awning, so we decided to replace them with the said poo bags….mmmm…..
We were all away by about 1pm. Pete & Wendy pulled up beside Tina & Andy (who had been to the Lake District) in the Strensham Services, and also saw Chris & Dave there. And Claire & I past Tina & Andy just before leaving the M5…………….(Jeff & Marilyn stayed on in Wales for another week)
And so end's an excellent holiday.