Hi Everyone and a happy if not belated New Year to my many admirers from all over the world. Enough of that self gratification!
It's now time to bore you all with an account of how I spent my Christmas and New Year! I did have an idea that we were going away and when no Christmas tree appeared I knew for certain.
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| Another 'Silly o'clock' start. We were heading for Ireland via Whales |
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| We stopped off in Bath so me and Luther decided to have one, much to dad's annoyance |
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| Here's our route, we finally made it to Fishguard in time for our tea. So that's how to spell Wales, silly me |
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| Afterwards we found a dog friendly pub where mum and dad could have theirs, The Royal Oak (more about that later) |
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| We stayed at this B&B, which doubles up as a Chinese restaurant and a Spa! Turned out that were the only guests staying there, I heard dad refer to it as 'A f**kin' rum ol' place! |
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| We were catching the afternoon ferry to Ireland so there was plenty of time for a walk |
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| And a swim - the first of many |
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| Posing |
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| While we were at the beach we came across this, do all different countries have their own language? F**k knows what it says? |
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| Ha ha, it's in English as well |
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| Looks like they signed a treaty in The Royal Oak, that's the pub we were in last night. The only treats we got were a couple of chips off mum's plate, sshhhhhh don't tell |
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| Look you can see the boat we caught to Ireland, no not the one on the left, the big one behind us! |
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| There it is waiting for us to board. We got left in the boot of the car for the crossing which took nearly four hours, not very impressive but at least the sea was smooth and it rocked me off to sleep. Do you know what? We didn't even have to show our passports once |
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| So after we had crossed The Irish Sea we still had to drive from Rosslare to Ballymacarbry |
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| Hooray we made it to granddad & grandma's, let's see what Ireland has to offer |
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| After a good nights sleep we were greeted with some excellent news - a trip to... |
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| ...the seaside! Clonea Strand, it was about a 30 minute drive away |
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| Cor what a beach |
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| Luther - nearly a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow |
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| One with the grandparents |
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| Christmas Eve and we went with dad to Tramore, near Waterford so he could do a Parkrun, I don't know why he didn't just run up the road |
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| I shouldn't moan because it meant another swim for us |
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| Well I've never seen a horse and cart on a beach before |
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| Christmas day walks |
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| What I haven't told you yet is that my Uncles turned up on Christmas Eve to stay with their two Jack Russells, Ned and Tom there was a settling in period between the four of us, they were so bossy! That's Ned trying to get in the river with the big boys |
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| The river runs through the bottom of the garden and they tried to fence us in |
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| Suffice to say we did manage to sneak in |
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| Luther with a couple of our presents |
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| We also got new customised bowls |
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| Time to christen them |
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| Luther looking very pleased with his Boxing Day beheading! |
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| Boxing Day and another trip to the beach, this time Youghal which is down near Cork |
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| Did you know that in Ireland they call it St Stephens Day? |
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| Talking of saints, heres St Steven taking a selfie |
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| So who's heard of Moby Dick? It was a book about a giant white whale (not wale!) They made a film about here in 1956 starring Gregory Peck |
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| This holiday was such good fun, we we seemed to go swimming everyday, were really spoilt and the grub was good - what more could a dog wish for? |
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| This was a walk at Marlfield near to Clonmel |
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| Ooops that's us chasing a swan, you'll be pleased to know it got away! |
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| Another visit to Clonea Strand |
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| Luther - It's like a scene from Baywatch! |
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| Our last day in Ireland and not a swim in sight! |
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| So after eight days in Ireland it was time to head back to Rosslare for our 9am crossing back to Wales. Thanks Granddad & Grandma for spoiling us rotten xx |
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| After another smooth crossing and a 2 hour drive we arrived at our cottage in Pontardawe, which was about 10 miles from Swansea. Once we had unloaded the car we went down to Swansea Bay for a swim - hooray! |
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| Mind you we deserved it having spent all of that time cooped up in the back of the car |
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| I've never seen such a big beach, the tide went out for miles and I could hardly see the sea |
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| However I did manage to find some water to play in |
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| Settling into the cottage |
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| Half price Christmas dog treats from Pets at Home |
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| Our cottage |
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| We had to be kept on a lead outside the gardens as there were shit loads of sheep in the fields |
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| New Year's Eve and another Parkrun for dad, he was 'training' for some stupid run in Essex in January. |
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| This one was at Swansea Bay which meant another swim and a play on the beach for us |
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| If you look closely you can see dad running in the background, he didn't look great so me an' Luth dug a hole - just in case! |
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| So mum and dad popped out for a drink on New Years Eve and left us in the cottage so we (Luther) decided to help ourselves to a Christmas stocking, the last bad act of 2016! |
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| Happy New Year from Rhossili |
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| Cor look at that beach |
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| FFS take the picture and let us get in there! |
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| Another massive beach |
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| Look what we found - a shipwreck! |
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| The SS Helvetia sank here in November 1887 |
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| We did consider excavating it but gave up very quickly - not the best photo of Luther by the way! |
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| One last piece of beach art |
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| Enough! |
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| We had a walk round to Worms Head afterwards but it was too late to walk across and back, oh well next time |
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| Sheep! |
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| Monday morning and time to go home and face reality again, but not before stopping off at Henrhyd Falls, in the Brecon Beacons |
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| To The Bat Cave! |
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| We couldn't resist the urge for one last swim, after all who knows when we'll get another one? |
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| Did you know that Batman was filmed here? The Batcave is just behind the waterfall. |
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| Here's Batman in 'The Dark Knight Rises' - so I'm not the only Superhero then! |
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| People come here dressed as Batman and pose in front of the waterfall, don't tell Max! |
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| One last selfie for the road |
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| 'To the Batcave, Robin! We haven't a moment to lose!' |
So that was our Christmas and New Year's adventure. I'm home now and back to the boring daily routine of F**k all and a walk! Still it'll soon be Spring.
See you all soon.
Love from Rudie The Dog and SUPERHERO - don't forget!! xx
