Not your usual subjects for the Nomad Racing Blog but time
to update on a few other activities that have been happening this year.
Firstly we had a new addition to the family when Herbie, a
black Labrador joined us at the age of eight weeks. We had been talking about
getting a dog as both Grainne and I have had Labradors in the past; indeed I
still have “joint custody” of Gem my Golden Labrador who now lives with Anne, my
ex. Then out of the blue my Sister Gina announces she is getting another puppy
(she’s also used to have a Labrador… do you see a theme here)? And there just
happened to be several puppies still available from the litter.
Needless to say, the rest was inevitable so Herbie came to live
with us and brother Hector with Gina. Since then we have gone through all the
fun and games that puppies entail. The joys of toilet training, holes dug all
over the garden and anything that can be chewed, bitten or swallowed whole will
be chewed, bitten or swallowed whole! That even included the shed!!!
Shed? What shed?
Hector and Herbie met up again for the first time at sixteen
weeks, eight weeks to the day that they last saw each other but it was obvious
they knew each other straight away. They then proceeded to go crazy for the
next two and a half hours, virtually non stop!
Needless to say they slept well after that!
So what of bicycles? One week after collecting Herbie we
were off to Cumbria to cycle the Coast to Coast (C2C) route. This was the great
idea of old university friends Tim and Andrea, who you may recall were responsible
for our Via Ferrata trip to Italy last year. Well we managed to do bugger all
training but still managed 140 miles of cycling and 3,596 feet of ascent in four
days.
And no, Herbie couldn’t come with us as the trip had been organised and booked before we even knew we were getting him but family and friends assisted with puppy sitting duties for the week, so all was good.
The start at Whitehaven, Cumbria
The finish, the beach at Sunderland
It is a tradition of the C2C to dip your wheels in the sea at each end
Somewhere in Cumbria
With Tim, somewhere in the rain near Newcastle
And no, Herbie couldn’t come with us as the trip had been organised and booked before we even knew we were getting him but family and friends assisted with puppy sitting duties for the week, so all was good.
The mountain bikes have now been chucked back in the shed
and Herbie is now fast approaching six months old and the chewing is still going, although not
quite as bad now (or at least that’s what we try to tell ourselves) even the shed has been repaired! Although digging up the garden seems to be a daily "game" thankfully the fact it's covered in slate chippings does mean it;s easy to restore each time!
Who me?
He’s even been introduced to motorbikes…
