The Journey

Tuesday 25^th July

Awake at 5am and it is hardly light, but we rise even if we don’t shine. Tim has been getting steadily more anxious over the last few hours. He trots after us, crying, as we move about, his nose only inches away from me. Showers, breakfast on the run. Tim would not go for his walk because he wouldn’t leave Bill behind. (I suspect he thinks Bill will disappear again for 5 weeks as he did in March to go to Australia) As Bill was busy stripping the bed, he didn’t want to come for a walk. Anyway, we were ready to leave by seven, bang on schedule. We stopped in Brantôme because Tim was shrieking in the back of the car. I thought he wanted a poo, but when we opened the boot, Tim shot out and raced around the car park barking at the top of his voice. How French residents of the town must have loved us, with a beserk dog being very naughty. Still it wasn’t that early, perhaps 8.30 by then. When I say Tim is in the boot, he has plenty of room and windows he can see out of to each side as well as the big window at the back. He has water there, biscuits and his quilt that he leep on every night.

It seemed a long trek to Abbeville, where we had booked in for the night, and we had several more Tim stops on the way. When we got there our plan to have dinner outside on the patio with Tim came to nought, for the weather was too chilly. The waiting staff told us to take him into the restaurant. In England this would never happen, so we walked in very slowly, checking to see that we were welcome. We chose a corner where he had the window and a wall behind him, and he sat beside me very quietly and watched everyone come and go. He was big enough to see everything on the table, and was fascinated. Of course, he got “perks” from me, which helped to keep him attentive. The only time he barked was when a small white poodle came in. The poodle owners quickly vanished behind the wall into the larger part of the restaurant, and all was peace once more. Then a quiet night upstairs in crisp white sheets, and an early start the following morning.