Author: Kate Wilson

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~ Kate Wilson ~ 1 Comment

We arrived home in Granollers last night. So good to be here and after all the work and worrying it is wonderful to be able to stop at last.

Yesterday we set off in more rain from Cahors – it seemed to chase us ever south. But after a couple of hours we felt the change – that feeling of crossing a line between north and south. There is a temperature change but it is something more – a different light, something in the air, an easing of the bones.

I am sure the dogs felt it too.

We stopped in an Aire and walked up through some pines into a beam of sunlight

Blue’s tail was wagging – it was so good to see as I struggle with guilt about bringing her so far from Cornwall. She managed the hill more easily,  started to sniff around with interest instead of hanging her head despondently and I felt myself begin to relax at last.

When you live in the UK this feeling is wonderful when you arrive in a warmer country – those first steps off an airplane into a rush of hot scented air.  This time I realised it didn’t feel like a holiday – it felt like I was coming back to a place I belong. You couldn’t find someone who looks more northern than me but somewhere inside there is a mediterranean gene, there must be!

Petit Dejeuner

~ Kate Wilson ~ 1 Comment

Yesterday we set off early and stopped for breakfast in ….? …….a small town outside Chartres. Perfect stopping place, sorry I can’t remember the name.

then a long drive of over 500 km through the storm, rain and wind and hailstones, gradually getting warmer, stopping in an Aire called Les Champs d’Amour, until we reached Cahors and found a hotel  which accepted dogs and had a beautiful white room available and a restaurant!  All beside the river and with parking just outside the door.

Early hours are best for internet

~ Kate Wilson ~ 2 Comments

can’t resist a quick post as the hotel is quiet and everyone else sleeps so the internet is more active. Yesterday we came through the tunnel – really exciting and definitely the best way to cross over/under with dogs. They didn’t even check the microchips or pet passports so we whizzed through to stand in line waiting to board. I had hoped to catch an earlier train as they allow you a lot of flexibility and you can turn up late or early and get on the next available train. But this time there were no spaces on earlier trains – I imagine because of the huge storms overnight there were many people taking refuge from the ferry crossings.
A wonderful way to pass the time on the train under the sea is to have hand massages! Wonderful Marta had brought along some cream and we did fifteen minutes each which made the whole trip pass in a dream. Dogs slept of course!
Windy and rainy most of the way down to Chartres but the roads were mostly open and clear. We stopped and let the dogs out for their first French walk at an Aire in the Somme valley. A lovely place with open fields and pathways beside streams and lots of birds swooping around. I hadn’t realised the Somme was so far west. How deeply resonant these First War names are to me – was it just the influence of Vera Brittain and the poets?
Here are some images from the day – all in a mishmash I’m afraid as I want to sleep a little now before setting off. We ended the evening with a picnic on the bed as we were too tired even to cross over to MacDonalds for chips.  Menu – apples, carrots, Cheeselets and whisky!

Food

~ Kate Wilson ~ 4 Comments

Hello I am Blue and I am writing a guest post for Kate’s blog. I don’t know where I am exactly but it is a long way from home. I slept most of the day in my cage which is where I feel safest when travelling. I was glad to be with Kate and Marta and Bonnie – for weeks I have been worried because it looked like a big change was afoot and I hoped I would be part of it and not left behind. So here I am in a big hotel and it looks like we are all going somewhere new which is a big adventure and quite interesting. We stopped a lot along the way and I used my new ramp – always with a biscuit appearing when I went in and out. I ate my dinner in a car park where it was very windy and a bit wet but it was good to know the food had been packed. Then we went in a lift – my first one ever – it was better than the ramp and so much easier than climbing stairs with my old knees.
Then – wonder of wonders – a tray of food arrived in the room – there was fish and chips!  Lovely!
I think I will sleep well in here although Bonnie doesn’t want to share the blanket with me so Kate got another bed for me and there are also the big beds of course. Perhaps she will go and get the ramp so I can get up!
We just went outside again and there were so many new smells that I didn’t want to walk far but suddenly there were cheesey biscuits again in front of my nose so I ran in the wind and the rain to a grassy area and then back inside to the warmth of the lift and back upstairs to bed.
When I know where I am – I will write more.

Thank you all for thinking about me – I am fine!

Receiving visitors

~ Kate Wilson ~ 3 Comments

No photos today – sorry but it’s been a day of doing last minute things and I’m only writing here to let you know we are setting off for Catalunya tomorrow and although I am very nervous (about what?  not sure really but just General Fears) I am also ready to go.
I’m hoping for time to write a little on the way down – Blue is going to do some guest posts about her first trip ‘abroad’.
The van is packed, the tickets bought and the first dog friendly hotel is booked.
The weather is awful – all day it has teased us with sunshine and then soaked us as we trudged across the field carrying last things up to the cabin.
I have moved in with my lovely neighbours who have helped and supported me in so many ways throughout this process.  My own empty and echoing house was beginning to feel very weird – for me but also for the dogs who wandered from room to room looking forlorn before sinking down in  sad heaps on the cold concrete floors. So we moved out and have been sleeping better and breathing in normality with my friends.
Today there were a stream of visitors to say goodbye – to Blue!  After 15 years in Lamorna she has many friends both human and canine. Many of her old dog companions have died and she is one of the last of her generation. People came bearing gifts for the journey – homemade treats, biscuits, marrowbone markies.  Last photos were taken. Hugs and kisses accepted with a regal sigh. Blue cares deeply about those she loves but she doesn’t like to be fussed over.
Time to sleep now and tomorrow off we go on a great adventure – vuelvo al sur!
Vuelo al Sur
como se vuelve siempre al amor
vuelvo a vos
con mi deseo. con mi temor