So, to finish off this brief trip we took a morning walk with Ralf along Southwold harbour. Our aim was to have breakfast at the Harbour Café. Unfortunately when we arrived there were other groups sat outside with their dogs. Although Ralf was on his best behaviour the other dogs did not seem to like him and expressed their views loudly. We decided to make a hasty retreat when we noticed another outside seating area belonging to the Café. Away from other customers and in the sunshine we were able to relax and eat our cooked breakfasts. (Ralf particularly enjoyed the ends of Robert’s sausages). After packing up at the campsite we made a stop at the reception to book another trip as a pre-retirement weekend for Matilda. This time with Ruth, Jaime and Harrison as well as Ralf: two pitches required and canvas will also be involved. And the reason for the blog’s title: Ralf passed his trial trip…he will now be joining us on our two month European trip (in Alan) starting in October. All we now need to do is to get him a passport and plan a more rural route.
2018 Southwold
The campsite in Norwich was very peaceful and you would not expect to find such an oasis of calm so close to an English city. We will certainly use this again if we are visiting relatives there. Ralf has not been himself today: primarily evidenced by not eating any breakfast. This may have been because he shared some leftover cold pizza with Robert and Matilda before the morning walk. But just ten minutes into the walk he stopped and refused to continue: he then declined to eat. The day has therefore been spent being very attentive to his every whine and whimper as dog vomit in the motorhome is something to avoid. He became very agitated travelling through a village on the way from Norwich to Southwold and Matilda suggested stopping in case he felt unwell. We found a place to stop beyond the built up area and Ralf jumped down and proceeded to sniff enthusiastically all along the hedgerows. No noticeable signs of illness. It is possible that he feels that the slower progress through towns, with the many junctions, pedestrians and traffic lights indicates a stop is imminent and therefore, as many people travelling to new places do, he […]
Last night we realised that the windbreaks, mentioned in the last post, which many use to mark out their territory on a camp site, are not necessarily effective against a curious Lakeland who is prepared to sneak under a motorhome and poke his nose into someone else’s personal space. Robert is the self-styled chef for this trip. Matilda was a little concerned that the preparation of the breakfast muffins for the morning seemed to take precedence over her evening meal. Robert is not going to make a short order chef any time soon: he does produce quite a professional English muffin, except when demands are being made for an imminent meal. The phrase ‘critical path flow’ springs to mind. But the view of Southwold beyond the muffins is very picturesque. The first morning waking up in the motorhome with Ralf was punctuated by whimpers and urgent indications that he wanted to go for a walk. Robert would have preferred a chilled start to the day including a coffee but Matilda persuaded him to head out. A passing dog walker commented, “I think it’s going to rain.” We smiled politely, but turning back to look in the direction he was heading we […]
Ralf, our eleven year old Lakeland Terrier, has today been inaugurated into the Travelling Herd. Robert wants him to join the first European trip but Matilda was unsure how well he would cope with this new adventure and planning a two month trip as his introduction to the motorhome life seemed overly ambitious to her. Particularly as Ralf is not always a happy traveller as he associates car journeys with going to the vet. So the first trial run is to Southwold, a beautiful and unique place which has been passed down through the generations: Matilda was taken here on holiday as a child and has subsequently introduced Robert, some long-standing and cherished friends as well as her children. From our pitch, we can see the lighthouse across the marshes and you can walk dogs from here to a certain point along the beach. Ralf, who unlike many Lakeland terriers is a little water-shy, loved the beach and frolicked along the sand like a much younger dog. We could not interest him in going in the sea, however. Our walk led us to the Lord Nelson pub, which was previously our regular stop on the way home from the beach when […]