Rest and Travel Day

We had a slower start to our last day which started with a traditional German breakfast and a lovely dog walk in the forest before the temperature got up too much.

Walk in one of Germanys huge forests
We then took a scenic route across the hills, or maybe they were mountains, to the Rhine valley which we were going to follow up towards Belgium.

It was a fantastic route, the valley is amazing, I'd love to go back there again.

We met Naomi near Brussels to pick up her dog Pan who we're looking after for 6 weeks while Naomi goes on a family holiday to USA. Pan and Rhyme are great buddies, they are going to have a wail of a time.

We made our tunnel crossing bang on time and back in the UK at 8pm. Taking a leisurely drive back was a really nice finish to our break. It really did feel like a holiday with a bit of agility thrown in too.

For anyone wanting to do some competition abroad and see what the europeans are up to I would really recommend this type of competition. Most european countries were represented there and many top handlers too. It opened my eyes up to the standard of these dogs and handlers and just how serious some of the competition is.

View down the Rhine Valley
Over the two days I've made lots of training notes, taken away new ideas, had my eyes opened to some fantastic course designs and got an appetite for more of this kind of competition. I also think going to a different country is a great education.

We can get too caught up in our own worlds and circles and sometimes forget there's a bigger picture out there and you can play your sport, visit new places, make new friends and experience different cultures as well.

Next year.... well I really liked the Dania cup in Denmark last year, Border Collie Classic is in Italy, which will be even hotter and possibly need a couple of weeks holiday and there is also a new competition in Switzerland everyone is talking about, so who knows...

I'm not a train or a barge spotter, I thought it gave a good idea of the size of the river

Comments

Pup said…
Wow! Sounds like you had an amazing time and it looks beautiful too. One day in the future I will hopefully persuade Tony this would make a good holiday and get to run Mr Pip overseas. :)

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