The idea of travelling all the way to Edinburgh from Weymouth for a dog show may strike many people as crazy especially as we are not the most successful exhibitors in the world!

We were left in a situation where we had two chances to qualify our new boy William for Crufts and as Bobby was aleady qualified (and we see it as our only sort of holiday) it was very important for us to get him to the NEC in March, we could make the Scotland show into a fun adventure for all of us.

We left for Scotland on a wet and dreary Friday morning heading north, we had spent days packing and organising what we had to take with us, finally had the van packed with new tyres and oil etc checked so we were on our way! we stayed that night in Birmingham city centre and finding the hotel was a nightmare, the boys enjoyed investigating the new smells in the hotel room as we dropped off the bags before heading out again to Kathy Lanes house (Lanebern) to see her latest litter of gorgeous pups, we finally got back to the hotel late and ordered room service and we needed it!.

Bright and early we started the huge journey to Scotland and actually made good time, before we knew it we were at Gretna green! we decided to stop here and stretch our legs and refill we mooched around the old blacksmiths shop enjoying being tourists and buying lots of momentoes.

Later that night after reaching our hotel near Edinburgh we met up with Sarah and Hazel (Lazeybears) and had a wonderful evening at a local pub, eating drinking and watching x-factor.

Sunday was show day, William did us proud and won his class amongst strong opposition and did brilliantly in the challenge, we were sad to see everyone leaving for their long journey home although we had a great day waiting excitedly to cheer on Tan in the group, he did brilliantly (as usual) and Gilbert would have taken BIS if we were judging!.

Monday was our journey home, we stopped again at Gretna whilst heading down to the border so Vicki could buy yet more touristy products! it gave us chance to get some pics in front of the 'gretna green' sign, we headed south through the lake district and around lake ullswater (which is such an amazing place) we took the boys on a walk up a waterfall and as much as I enjoyed it im not sure Vicki did!!.

Next stop was Windermere winding through the lake district and the landscape was awe inspiring! luckily the weather was glorious and we were having such a great day, we headed next to Kendal to buy some mint cake before heading home.

We got home late and tired, we had had a great weekend with our dogs, with our friends, with each other, doesnt get much better than that!!