The Beastly Beasts

Beasts in Ireland - Day 8

posted by Chris at 21:13

Bit of a misnomer this one, as this was the journey back, so only the first 30 miles was actually in Ireland; well, 42 if you count 12 miles of terratorial waters I suppose.

Guess what! It was raining we got up - no surprise there then. It fact is was grey; so grey there could have been a battleship on the Barrow and we wouldn't have known.

Anyway, car packed, Beasts in and we were off for the 9 o'clock ferry. Once again kennels for the Beasts, and again Monty wasn't overly keen. What we did find this time though a CCTV screen that showed the kennels from the passenger area. Not that you could see a great deal as the camera looked down from above, which is really usefull (not) to see into the kennels.

The crossing was uneventful, except that I think I may now be hooked on SuDoku puzzles, and the journey home stress free. Probably the most remarkable thing about it was that it was sunny in Wales!!

Beasts in Ireland - Day 7

posted by Chris at 08:49

Unbelievably this is our last day here. We still hadn't heard anything from Lorraine, so we gave her another call this morning only to get her voicemail again.

We decided that we would head out to where Lorraine lives anyway, just to see where Monty came from, and perhaps meet Lorraine that way.

So armed with an address we set off to Enniscorthy. Enniscorthy is a really nice town, like most in Ireland. The one thing that strikes me is that towns in Ireland, this part at least, have not turned into homogenous blobs like in the UK; each one has it's own character and range of shops. I hope they stay that way.

We grabbed some lunch and ate al fresco again - on some benches in the town square. Once again you could see the looks as we walked around with three dogs, two of which were greyhounds. And again the only person that dared come close was a small child. This time though, despite assurances to mum, she wasn't allowed to touch them.

After lunch I decided to become super sleuth, and see if we could track down Lorraine (writing this after the event, it does sound like I'm some kind of stalker!!). So, how do do this - the Post Office seemed a good start. The man in the Post Office was very helpful, and pointed me in the right direction. At this point I got the jist that part of the address was an area of Enniscorthy (I was wrong). So off we went, and soon left the confines of the town; not good. At this point I needed some go juice for the car, so pulled into a "retail park" and filled the car (68p/liter v. 90p in the UK - are we getting ripped off or what?). Opposite the garage was a vets - they must know where a doggy rescue person lives. No, they don't. But they did tell me that what I thought was an area of Enniscorthy is in fact a town a few miles up the road. So off up the road we went.

When we got there I decided that the best place would be the post office again, and once again, they were very helpful, and gave me directions. The lady there asked me if this was the Lorraine that recently got married. Of course I hadn't a clue, but may explain why there's been no replies if she's on honeymoon. Gill's theory is that she's lying dead in her house and the body hasn't been discovered yet. Gill's a bit like that. One of her favourite phrases is "There's bin a mudda!!" - she likes Taggart.

So, having got this far we decided to follow the directions and see what happened. As we drove on out into the countryside, we passed a very nice house that matched the address we had, but not the directions. A little further we found another house that matched the directions. Thing was, no-one appeared to be in at either. Anyway, assuming we were in the right place at least we now know where Monty spent his first week of freedom; and it's a very nice place.

So we didn't meet Lorraine after all, which from our side was a great shame. We would have loved to have thanked her personally for what she did for Monty, and given her the chance to see him again. Anyway, Lorraine, if you did get married recently, congratulations; or if you're lying in a pool of blood (dried and a tad smelly by now I would think), sorry. Maybe next time.

Beasts in Ireland - Day 6

posted by Chris at 20:37

Well would you belive it - it was raining again this morning. So once again a slow start to the day.

It brightened up about 1 o'clock, so we decided to head out somewhere; eventually deciding on the Bannow Drive along the Bannow Penninsula, and hoped to find a nice beach for the Beasts.

Ballyhack Harbour

The Bannow Drive is extremely pretty, with views over the country side and out to sea. We stopped at the top of Bannow Bay, then headed off to the sea proper down at Bannow itself. Just like Dungarvan, there is miles and miles of sandy beach, with rock pools to peer in, and the place was deserted. Mind you, the wind was about a 5 or 6 coming from the south, and the loose sand at the top of the beach literally sand blasted you as you got out the car. But once on the beach itself it was handsome. As always Kai went mental. Monty had a bit of a run then decided he wanted back to the car, Jack only came out for a bit 'coz of his leg, and Gill just sat in the car.

Kai and I found a tennis ball on the beach, so we entertained ourselves - sod the others.

Beasts in Ireland - Day 5

posted by Chris at 21:27

As mentioned earlier, the sub-plot of this holiday is to try and meet up with the people responsible for rescuing Monty, and getting him to the UK. Primary of these is Lorraine at Wexford Pet Helpers, but despite the e-mail, voicemail and text message to say we were here, we have heard nothing. The other lady responsible for Monty, advice to Lorraine and help arranging transport, was Mary at Dungarvan Rescue.

We set off to Dungarvan with the weather throwing it down, again. Once there we stopped for a bite to eat and called Mary just to check if it was OK to drop in. First surprise came when a London accent answered the phone; but yes it was OK to pop in.

Chatting with Mary, and you soon realise how dedicated she is to her work. She came over to Ireland 18 years ago to start a rescue, and has been doing it ever since. I have to say that if you are going to spend 18 years dedicated to anything, Dungarvan is a very nice place to do it. I wondered why here though; turns out her dad comes from here, and 18 years ago no-one else was doing any rescue work in Ireland.

The Lovely Mary and Monty

Monty's bum has been playing up a bit, and Mary kindly gave us some Bimastat to help dry him up. Although he seems OK in himself, we think it might be the stress of travel and strange places - he is a sensitive soul.

We couldn?t stop too long as Mary was getting ready for work at the Village Inn pub, but did say to pop in later for a drink. So we went off to find a walk for the Beasts. It turned out to be the beach. Tide right out and there was mile and miles of sandy beach for the Beasts to go mad on. Kai went mad as he always does on beaches, and Jack and him had a good charge around. Monty joined in a bit, but he prefers his grassy fields.

The Beasts thought they could drink me under the table!

We turned up at the pub at 3:30pm, when Mary is supposed to start work. She wasn't there. According to the gentleman that was, this is not exactly an uncommon phenomenon. His recommendation was to come back after 3:45; nearer 4 o'clock would be better. So we decided to do a quick bit of shopping, and then go to the pub. One bit of advice - don't use the EuroSpar in Dungarven for fresh items. Two things I bought there were in date and off.

We were allowed to take the Beasts in the pub, which gave Mary a chance to meet them properly. Kai worked his magic on everyone there; to a man they said how handsome he was. I think even Mary was quite taken. Jack, who was limping, though with no obvious wound, charmed her with his happy up front nature. Monty took a bit of persuading, but eventually went to Mary. As she said, "There is something about him that just makes you want to take care of him.".

We chatted about dogs, Dog Pages, you name it (even the clientele). Mary did notice Monty was a bit thin (hair wise that is). Her theory, which kind of makes sense to me, is hormone unbalance after being neutered, which would also explain why it's growing back - his hormones getting back in kilter. I mentioned to her that my research on alopecia on the net mentioned that lethargy in greyhounds was a symptom. We agreed that this would be incredibly difficult to tell from normal greyhound behaviour.

We told her about our experience in Waterford, and it seems that greyhounds in Ireland are regarded as vicious dogs. Now, I don't know about you, but greyhound and vicious are two words that don't really fit together in my opinion. What are these people going to do if they meet a Rottie with a strop on???!!!

The Passage East Ferry

And so home, in the rain. And now, having been fed and watered, the Beasts have crashed out.

Beasts in Ireland - Day 4

posted by Chris at 07:57

Not an early start today, and the weather was the kind of weather that enables Ireland to be called the Emerald Isle - it chucked it down.

The Passage East ferry wasn't running today, as it was time for it's annual inspection. Service resumes at 11:00am tomorrow. This meant that for 99.99% of the population there was absolutely no need to come to Ballyhack, and, if possible, it was even quieter today than yesterday.

Late afternoon the weather eased off, in fact became quite warm and pleasant, so the Beasts and I went for a walk. We ended up taking quite a long walk; along the coast to Arthurstown, left on to the New Ross road heading north to Campile, then back to Ballyhack - about 9 miles in total.

There is a wonderful irony walking a dog around here; it's virtually all fields, mostly empty fields at that. And yet there is nowhere to let a dog off for a good run. Hence we were confined to the roads.

As we went on our way I started to notice a pattern regarding behaviour of drivers; old boys would slow right down, move right over, and give a small wave or nod when passing us; younger male drivers would slow down to some degree and pull over, and also acknowledge us with a wave and/or a nod. The fairer sex, often hailed as the more considerate road users in the UK, did none of these things. Sorry girls, but your south-eastern Irish sisters are most inconsiderate to pedestrians and Beasts.

While heading north we passed a lady who commented on the fact I had two greyhounds, and that she "had not seen greyhounds around these parts for quite some while". This, coupled with the attitude of the older male drivers, made me wonder if everyone thought I was out exercising my champion runners.

At Campile we came to a cross-roads, straight on to New Ross, right to Campile village, left to ....? If you have ever been to Ireland and tried reading a map you know that unless the road you want is the equivalent of a significant B road or better, it probably doesn't appear on the map. The road left came in the latter category. However, it did point in the right direction, and I knew that the hill out of Ballyhack did join up with the New Ross road; so left it was.

Kerrygold Butter Machines

Turned out to be a good call. The road continued heading in exactly the right direction, and soon the distance to Ballyhack was dropping quite quickly (thank heavens for portable GPS gizzmos). After about three miles I recognised where we were; about to pass the farm guarded by the Troll Dog!! So, two options, one mile to home but pass the Troll Dog, or turn around to avoid the Troll Dog but walk another 8 miles back the way we came. No prizes for guessing which I chose (come on - there was beer in the fridge and I was thirsty).

I thought we'd made it without alerting the Troll; in fact we'd got some way past the farm gate when the bloody thing came running down the road after us. The Beasts were on short leads, and we were walking away, but this thing just kept coming; barking, teeth bared, the whole works. We just kept going, and I guess we must have passed some magic boundary as it eventually stopped chasing us and contented itself with barking at us.

The Barrow & Passage East from the Top of Ballyhack Hill

Once this incident was over, the remaining mile passed quickly. Coming down the hill we got some wonderful views across the Barrow estuary as the evening was now perfect. And did the beer taste good? Ohhhh yes!

Beasts in Ireland - Day 3

posted by Chris at 20:12

Early start today - well - earlier. We went into Waterford on the Passage East ferry. We gave a lift to one of the local lads on his way over to the supermarket to stock up on beer; he'd run out after a two week bender!!

We were a spectacle in Waterford. At a guess I would imagine that no-one takes dogs into towns in Ireland, and certainly not a greyhound, and definitely not two greyhounds and a lurcher. The number of comments both to us and about us was amazing. We had lunch al fresco outside a pub, and either people looked in amazement, or commented incredulously that "they're greyhounds". The exception was a young lad in his push chair and his gran. He was fascinated by Monty and Jack. I told his gran they were OK so they came over and he gave them both a stroke. A bit later he came back with mum and gran, and insisted on giving them another stroke each. Who knows, maybe sometime in the future when it matters he'll remember two greyhounds in Waterford when he was little.

When we got back the Beasts and I went for a walk up the hill that you have to take if you don't want the ferry (which everyone does). I was trying to find somewhere that we could overlook the Barrow estuary, with no success. On the way up a car pulled up along side, and an Antipodean accent (fairly sure it was Australian,but could have been a Kiwi) asked "Godda winna there mate?". I think the English accent reply of "No, they don't race." Came as a bit of a surprise to him. What they actually wanted was to know the quickest way to Waterford. They'd just missed the Passage East ferry, and were a bit concerned as to how long it would be before the next one. I told them that if they did a U-ey, they'd probably just make it back down the hill in time.

Sunset over the Barrow

As we wandered, minding our own business, we passed a farm, and what I will refer to as the Troll Dog came out and gave us what for. The Troll Dog was a sheepdog (covered in what I will politely call mud - it was a dairy farm), intent on guarding what it considered it's domain. Monty just wanted to get away, Kai and Jack on the other hand, while normally happy to socialise with other dogs, were prepared to stand their ground. While patently I am a dog lover, this was one of the most evil looking things I have ever seen. A tactical withdrawal back down the lane was hastily made, followed for some distance by the Troll dog.

Now, fed and watered, the Beasts are totally crashed.

No reply from Lorraine, so as we are in such a naff mobile signal area, I sent her a text just to make sure she had our details.

Beasts in Ireland - Day 2

posted by Chris at 21:02

Ballyhack is a typical Irish village in that if you blinked as you drove through you'd miss it. One minor issue; you don't drive through Ballyhack. Ballyhack is on the eastern shore of the Barrow in Co. Wexford, and is the eastern end of the Passage East ferry - Passage East is the village on the western shore of the Barrow in Co. Wateford (still with me?)

Today was Gill's birthday (not telling how old). So coupled with the fact we were all a bit shattered from yesterday's journey, it seemed like a good excuse for a very slow start.

Hook Head Lighthouse

The weather today was much much better, and in the afternoon we went down to Hook Head, which is home to Europe's oldest working lighthouse. The Beasts did a bit of rock hopping, and I had a chat with a couple of divers. Seems that they do scenic diving off Hook Head, which I can imagine is very good; but a pet theory of mine is that lighthouses were often put in places where ships got wrecked. Point being there's probably shed loads of decent wrecks in the very near vicinity, and who knows what they would have been carrying.

Tried calling Lorraine only to get her voicemail, so left a message to say we were in Ireland and would like to meet.

Beasts in Ireland - Day 1

posted by Chris at 21:33

We are off on our hols to Ireland, and this and the next few posts are the diary of events. As well as a break for Gill and I, we decided to go to the south-east of Ireland to try and meet up with Lorraine of Wexford Pet Helpers, and Mary of Dungarvan Rescue as both had played a role (greater and lesser respectively) in Monty's rescue. We hoped they would both like to see Monty, and to have a chat about the events. Gill had e-mailed Lorraine a couple of weeks ago to let her know we were coming.

Today was the Journey. We left Northampton for Fishguard at 8:00. The trip was uneventful and we arrived with an hour to spare so decided to grab some food. Fishguard itself had nothing open, but we eventually we found an excellent chippy in Goodwick (which is where the Fishguard ferry terminal is - so why not the Goodwick ferry?) opposite the Rose & Crown; just up the hill past the ferry terminal.

When we left Northampton it was sunny and warm, and so it stayed while we were in England. Then we got to Wales. It was almost as if the rain defined the English/Welsh border. And it rained, all the way, a lot; the further into Wales we went, the more it rained. Even the Police at the ferry commented on how naff the weather was.

On the way we had stopped at Cardiff West services were we met Tara, a retired lady greyhound. Tara's owner admired Monty and Jack's collars and wanted to know where she could get one; another potential Greyhound Gap customer.

On the ferry the Beasts were not allowed upstairs, the options being in the car or in the kennels. As it's a 3.5 hour crossing we opted for the kennels as at least they would have their own space. Kai and Jack went straight into theirs; Monty was not so keen but did settle down once persuaded to get in.

At Rosslare Harbour the Beasts were (of course) pleased to see us, and seemed extremely glad to get back into the car. A short drive (compared to the first stint anyway - just 30 miles) later, and we were at Ballyhack, HQ for the week. Here we met Mrs. Carrol who showed us the house, that is to be ours for the week.

One of the requirements was for a fully enclosed garden for the dogs. This qualifies; 4m high stone walls on three sides, and the house on the fourth!

View from the house

The house is excellent, though the brochure images that suggest the views across the Barrow are a tad optimistic. As the pic shows, we are directly opposite Carolls boatyard; the family business. However, I guess they must be quite a good boat yard as they had two lifeboats in. And todays piece of trivia; the RNLI (that's the UK RNLI) provide the lifeboats for Ireland.

Don't Call Me Scar Face - Update

posted by Chris at 23:31

Just in case readers of a concerned disposition were worried about Jack, please let me set your mind at rest. Today he was his normal happy self, and had a good run up at Hunsbury. And I've just let the Beasts in from the garden where Jack and Kai were having a game of tag. This invloves running round like mad things until one catches the other, then the chasee and chaser swap roles.

It says in the adoption papers we aren't allowed to race Jack, which is a pity 'coz the rate they were going I think I'd make a bob or two. Still, there's always Kai.

Don't Call Me Scar Face

posted by Chris at 20:58

This evening's walk was interesting. Back down to Delapre Abbey, and the thick end of an hours walk goes by with no incident. Jack went to see a fisherman, but that was the event, until ........

On the way back to the car park all three of the beasts are sniffing round a patch of nettles. From said patch of nettles explodes a rabbit, which goes haring off (pun intended) up the path towards the car park, with two beasts in hot pursuit. Avid readers of BeastBlog will of course be aware the there are three beasts; Monty went the wrong way to start with, but soon joined the chase.

Now, the rabbit was no slouch, and soon reached the end of the path, closely followed by Jack and Kai, with Monty closing fast. The benefit of this to the rabbit is that at the end of the path is a metal five bar gate with bollards at one side to allow pedestrian and cycle access. A rabbit is of course somewhat shorter that a greyhound or lurcher, and it simply ran under the gate. Kai, not being stupid, but determined, took the pedestrian access. This however meant a slight detour and significant decelleration; the rabbit was not to be his. Monty, realising he had joined the race to late, simply gave up. Leaving Jack.

Jack attempted to emulate the the rabbit, with, I have to say, not much success. The meeting of gate and greyhound left the gate unscathed, and the greyhound on the floor looking a bit dazed and confused, and yelling the place down.

At the time both Gill and I were extremely concerned, thinking Jack had dome himself some major damage. However, by the time I'd run up to him he was already on his feet and off with Kai via the less hazardous but more accessable pedestrian route.

The total damage was a couple of grazes on his forehead (small, but no doubt a bit sore) - hence Scar Face - and a slight scuff of a pad (definitely sore), but as events during the evening showed, no lasting damage.

The rabbit? No doubt comfortably in its burrow telling all anyone that will listen about its escape.

It's Official

posted by Chris at 19:54

Although it's a couple of weeks since we succumbed to Jack's charms and agreed he was staying, today the papers turned up from Claire; duly signed and returned with cheque. This means he's ours, well, we're his, now.

April's White Lodge Walk

posted by Chris at 17:21

Just back from the White Lodge walk at Rutland Water. Another good turn out; and even the weather was kind(ish) - it didn't rain, but when the wind got up and the sun went in it did get a bit chilly.

As always, nice to see people and beasts, and a chance to have a bit of a chat and swap doggy stories. It seems there are few people out there who read this!!

The looks from other people at these walks always makes me smile. I suppose if you've gone out for a Sunday afternoon walk, and are presented with a rather large gathering of greyhounds, lurchers and other assorted beasts, it must be quite a daunting sight. But it does get people interested, and often gives a chance to spread the word of the Gospel according to White Lodge. There may possibly have been a convert; back at the car park, Lynne borrowed Jack - the failed foster - to show off to some people who were interested in Greyhounds. Given the selection available, not sure why Jack, but I'm sure there was a method in the madness (or should that be the other way round?).

Anyway, here's a few pics from today. Should you want to copy any of them please feel free. I would appreciate comments (use the link at the botom of the post) as to the names of the dogs (and people) to improve the captions.

At Rutland Water

Scaring the Sheep - NOT

Now this lot would scare you -

the people that is

Not impressed by the Paparazzi

A very handsom lady

The Beasts!! plus one

Dog I Most Want to Take Home
Actually there were two; this chap and a beautiful Saluki, who looked just like Izzy (our saluki lurcher who died last year).