Monday 29th August. Well today was packing up day. We started off by popping into the local Carrefour for some supplies to take home and then returned to the caravan to take down the awning which by now had lost its night time dew. Me & Sydney were left on our stand so we could actually see how hard Mum & Dad worked. We had a lovely view of the mountains one way and Mum & Dad working the other – well there is no prize for guessing which way we looked! Mum & Dad cleared everything up and packed up ready to leave in the evening. We were put back in our cages for tea and after tea we were put in the caravan ready for the evening journey to Bilbao. Crossing the border was, once again, a non-event with just a slow drive across the border into Spain. Once in Spain, Dad was frustrated because he is not allowed to drive more than 80kph whilst towing so we had a fairly steady drive to the Motorway services at Bilbao where we were to spend the night. Dad parked up in the lorry park with a number of lorries also spending the night. The first thing Mum did was to give us our water back before they went off to the services and left us to sleep. They found out the service restaurant block closed at 00:50 and re-opened at 05:00 so of no real consequence to us. They soon came back and we all went to sleep. Well we were awoken at about 06:30 to the sound of lorry engines running to build up their air brake pressure and soon Mum & Dad got up for breakfast at 07:00. They returned at about 07:30, checked our food and it was off to the ferry port. We boarded the ferry at about 09:00 and we had to stay in the caravan because the bars in the kennels on deck 10 were to wide for us Fids. Well it was only 24 hours so they topped up our food and water, gave us a new apple each and said goodbye. The crossing was very smooth and Syd & I slept most of the way.
Wednesday 31st August. We arrived at Portsmouth at 09:15 and on checking us, Mum found neither of us had touched our Apples – well I told you we spent most of the time asleep! We got off the boat quickly and by 09:30 were on the Motorway on our way home. Apart from dad needing a “comfort break” at Salisbury, it was nonstop all the way and by 12:30 we were back in our big cage telling the others all about our wonderful holiday. Dad said we made so much noise telling the others that he had to shut the door on us – but we were soooo excited! After lunch dad came in to make up with all the fids he’d left behind all that time ago and, fortunately they were all glad to see him with the possible exception of Joza who, because he went off only a week after getting her, was more used to Adam & Stacey than Dad but he is working hard on her right now.
Thursday 1st September was Stacey’s half day so Dad and Stacey decided to take Phoebe, Oscar & Magic to Lacock. Me & Syd didn’t mind them having a turn at going out – I mean we had been out every day for 5 weeks! While they were out they found Elderberries and Blackberries. Phoebe wasn’t keen on trying anything new but Oscar & Magic remembered them from last year and tucked in. When Stacey got home her shirt was covered in blue spots! (hehehe).
On Sunday, Mum & Dad went to Ken’s Nurseries to pick some Apples to put away in storage until the winter for us fids – we like Apples all year round you know!!! (yumee yumee). While they were there they found some Plums. A lot were past it on the ground but they collected what they could and brought them home when Mum made some Plum Jam. On Friday she had also found a load of Damsons in a verge to a road she was driving and collected them and also made some Damson Jam. We don’t mind because few of us fids like Plums and Damsons. They keep trying but most of us turn our beaks up at them!