Long Way Home – (for more than one of us)

I slept very nicely in the hotel, waking soon after 05.00.

I had forgotten to take a USB plug for my charging cables. Cables – yes, I had remembered them, but plug – no. And although this is a modern/ish hotel, it does not have USB sockets. Luckily I had a mobile power pack with me. However, come the morning, despite being connected, my watch had failed to charge.

I then tried to charge it in the car, but meddling fingers saw to it that that did not work. So my watch has been unavailable for much of the day.

The day dawned better than the night before as far as the weather was concerned . There is always a good buffet brekkie to be had at this hotel. But their croissants are rubbish. Or they were today. T appeared with a tray loaded with full English, yogurt, fruit, various pastries.

Then I watched his brain signal to him that he had taken more than he could eat. So the surfeit was slowly slid into various pockets.

After brekkie, I decided (no point in pretending there is any shared decision making any more) to drive home via the A35 south coast road, in the hope of dropping in on Lyme Regis, which we did. We could actually park quite easily, had a wander by the Cobb, had a coffee and beer by the western sandy beach. It was warm and sunny.

Tourists were beginning to creep out of their hidey holes and populate the beach. I noted that this end of the beach appeared to be dog friendly all year. Or else there were a lot of people ignoring the rules.

We travelled home the long way round on the A35. It follows the south coast and is a very, very long route. Although the drive took a while, the traffic ran smoothly without hold ups and the views were pretty spectacular. As we reached the edge of the New Forest I briefly contemplated a night there. only briefly.

I let everyone know we were back and Dave said H had been a good girl. And returned nicely to him on their morning walk.

HHMMPH! I TRIED NOT TO PANIC…

When Dave texted me about two minutes later to say she had taken herself off again. That is twice in five weeks. On both occasions Dave had left the side door open. Only momentarily on this occasion. No idea where she had gone – up the hill to the safety of woodland, or down the hill towards traffic, a dangerous crossroads and a 4/ 5 km trek home? If she could remember the way, by towpath, or, heaven forbid, by road.

Ali was at work, F had to be at hockey, Lena and Timur were at home, worrying, Dave and George out searching.

I drove down to the Rec and called her, whilst G walked through the meadows. D took F to hockey and then checked Underhill and alerted T who knew nothing and, later, remembered nothing.
I then huffed my way up the hill and into the woods calling her.

Dave returned to the Rec and thankfully (there is a God up there) she appeared in the far corner and came to him. Whether her appearance was in response to my earlier calling, or his present calling, or whether she just thought she would like a lift home and was checking the car park for the car, we shall never know.

Because of the obvious dangers, next time she stays there, at the Illis, I will give them a wire to tie her to. And I am thinking of investing in a GPS tracker.

So the day ended messily with two longer trips. And an awful lot of anxiety. Luckily , she was not missing that long before she was found.

So today will involve researching dog trackers.

Thought for the Day