Thanks to the kind generosity of some wonderful friends, Bryony and Pete, we had the loan of a converted van for the weekend. A weekend of luxury sleeping in a “proper” bed and not having the hassle of tent assembly and disassembly....
We were a lot later leaving home than we had hoped for, courtesy of me working in the morning. By the time we hit the road we were destined to hit Friday rush hour traffic. And we did....
By the time we made the decision to come off the M5 and head across country to Wales, we had come to realise that the dogs were extremely stressed in the back of the van. They have never travelled in a van before and were not happy about the arrangement that we had made for them. They could not see out of any window and they unable to reach the front of the vehicle and unable to make contact with us.
We decided to stop in a little village to take the dogs for a relaxing walk to destress....
We found a lovely little footpath beside a church, heading into a lovely grassy meadow. Off we strolled, minding our own business as the birds sang in the trees and little baby bunnies bounced along the grass....
We could hear an agitated dog on the other side of the fence as Kroi walked close beside the fence. Suddenly a nose and muzzle appeared through a hole in the fence and grabbed at Kroi's face. I knew instantly that he had been bitten badly. Continuing to a safe distance away from the fence we tried to settle him and assess the damage. There were severe gauge marks across his nose, and it was bleeding heavily. If the aggressor had been able to get more of a grip, Kroi would probably have lost a section of his nose, thankfully it did not and the scarring will be minimal, as long as no infection sets in.
We could hear an agitated dog on the other side of the fence as Kroi walked close beside the fence. Suddenly a nose and muzzle appeared through a hole in the fence and grabbed at Kroi's face. I knew instantly that he had been bitten badly. Continuing to a safe distance away from the fence we tried to settle him and assess the damage. There were severe gauge marks across his nose, and it was bleeding heavily. If the aggressor had been able to get more of a grip, Kroi would probably have lost a section of his nose, thankfully it did not and the scarring will be minimal, as long as no infection sets in.
We then discovered that this dog (or dogs as there are several on the premises) have attacked before, badly biting other dogs and at least one person. We spoke with one of the “victims” who had a serious injury on her hand requiring stitches.
Needless to say, our little adventure cost us a lot of time and our ETA was now after 10pm. The weather was also horrendous as we travelled through North Wales. Spectacular waterfalls cascading down the mountains, rivers bursting their banks and flooding all around us. The wind buffeting the van from side to side as Ian struggled to keep us safely on the road. Camping in this weather was not a pleasant thought.
As luck would have it, we stopped to say hello to our friends Heidi, Russ and Jac in Llanberis, who own a pub and accommodation. Gallt y Glyn, also has the most perfect bunkhouse, ideal for a visiting family of humans and huskies. Some beers and a catch up later and we all ended up having the best night's sleep in a very long while....
We are due to return to Gallt y Glyn in July for the International Mountain Festival race and another very special run that hundreds of children are participating in. Krofti is going to have so much fun with Jac and we are so excited about being part of such a very special event!!
(Photo courtesy of Ian J Berry - nose healing well :-) )
