This post is part of the A to Z Challenge.
Right from my very first camping weekend back in 1997 I've always been accompanied by a couple of four-legged friends. The first two were Skippy, my own little white Jack Russell, and Sandy, a little brown Jack Russell/mongrel rescue dog belonging to my then partner. They went on many camping trips with us and loved it so much that on going home day they would stage a sit-in on some of the camping stuff to stop it from being packed away. When Skippy sadly died in early 1999 her place was taken soon afterwards by Sugar who was only eight months old at the time; she became a good companion to Sandy and took to camping like a duck to water.
In March 2003 two dogs became three when Sam came along; he was a German Shepherd/Border Collie rescue dog and at only four months old was a complete clown but loveable with it. He soon got into the camping way of life though and was always happy whenever we took him on the beach. Then in January 2006 Sandy passed away; she was almost twenty years old and had camped with us for nine years. So we were back to two again, with Sam and Sugar continuing to enjoy our camping trips and being constant companions to each other.
April 2009 saw my partner disappearing for new horizons and taking Sam with him, something which had a profound and detrimental effect on Sugar. She went off her food, didn't want to go for walks, and was generally a very unhappy little dog, so something had to be done, and soon. Enter Sophie, found on the internet and my third little Jack Russell. She was with a family who lived in south Derbyshire and I couldn't drive at the time so a friend took me down there, and the minute I saw her I knew I was bringing her home. Small and dainty she definitely had the cute factor, and though she still looked like a pup she was actually just one day away from her second birthday. Sugar accepted her new friend straight away and went back to being the happy little dog she had always been; Sophie took to camping and the rest, as they say, is history. The two of them are constant companions both to each other and to me, and camping just wouldn't be the same without them!
About Me
- Tigermouse
- Hi! I'm Eunice and I live in Bolton, Lancashire, with my two dogs Sophie and Sugar and an assortment of cats - well it used to be Sophie and Sugar, now it's Sophie and Poppie. I first began camping back in 1997 when my then partner took me to Anglesey for my birthday weekend. We slept in the back of the car - a hatchback - using the cushions off the settee at home as a mattress, and cooked and brewed up on a single burner camping stove. The site was good, the views were great, the weather fantastic and I was completely hooked. Following that weekend we got a two-man tent and some proper accessories and returned to Anglesey two weeks later, then over time we progressed to a three-man tent followed by an old trailer tent, then a new trailer tent, a campervan and finally a caravan. When my partner decided that the grass was greener on the other side of the street - literally - in April 2009 and I suddenly found myself alone after fifteen years, I decided there was no way I was going to give up camping and caravanning if I could cope on my own. This blog is the story of my travels, trials and tribulations since becoming a solo camper - I hope you like it
