Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you all. Have a good one and keep safe.

Frankfurt Christmas Market

On the 4th December Steph, her dad and brother went to the Frankfurt Christmas Market in Birmingham. The market has become an annual event and has been in Birmingham every December for quite some time now. Steph wanted to go because she wanted some German wooden decorations. Steph and her family used to live in Germany when she was a child and she remembers the German wooden decorations on the tree and we thought we should get some for our tree.

Steph bought a wooden table top tree complete with its own tiny little wooden decorations for £12, a wooden Father Christmas figurine for £8 and 6 wooden hanging tree ornaments varying from £1 to £1.50 each. Lunch at the market was a Bratwurst sausage in a fresh French stick for £3.

They got to the market at opening time which was 10am and a good job because by 11.30am the place was packed out! They took a break from the market and the cold to do some Christmas shopping in the Bullring Shopping centre.

Good Bye Cymru

We really enjoyed our holiday with Spike and Chewy and we know that they really enjoyed it too. Where will we go next year? Perhaps back to Wales? Steph used to live on the Isle of Anglesey, Wales when she was a child and there are some beautiful places to visit, so maybe a log cabin on a lake on Anglesey? Sounds tempting! We would love to take the dogs to Scotland, but we're not sure about all the car travel for them, the best thing would be to do the journey in stages and stop over half way. There are plenty of B&B's that are dog friendly, so this is a very possible option. We would love to visit Scotland, a cottage near a loch? Tempting also.

We are thinking hard about our holiday next year as well. Steph has a 'must visit' list, so it would be good to pick a destination from there! We are both 30 years old next year as well, so there will be celebrations!

We went to London in September to celebrate our first wedding anniversary. We will write this report soon. In the mean time we are fast approaching Christmas, so some festive photo's are in order we think. Steph went to the Frankfurt Christmas market in Birmingham on 4th December, so some pictures from that and other festive photos to come.

Shell Island

We paid £5 for a one day pass for Shell Island. You can come and go, but you need to keep hold of your ticket to avoid paying the fee again. Shell Island can be cut off from the main land when the tide is in, just check the tidal times before you visit. We parked up and headed onto the beach. The beach on Shell Island has very rocky parts, very pebbly parts and of course little shell parts, but there is a part with enough sand ideal for dogs.

We've been to Shell Island before back in 2006 and camped. It's great to camp and we really enjoyed it, we may do it again sometime. Spike particularly liked camping as we found when we couldn't throw his ball for him because we were cooking or cleaning, he would go to the next tent and drop his ball at the feet of the first person he could find! He was very popular with the kids and the parents as it kept the kids busy!

Shell Island has some lovely dunes, but they can be dangerous so caution is needed. We wasted our one day pass really as we only stayed a few hours. The dogs got tired, the island was very busy with visitors and the weather wasn't nice enough to just sit on the beach and relax, so we headed back to the caravan site.

Black Rock Sands

We spent a day in Porthmadog and at Black Rock Sands. There was a really friendly pub in the town centre, we were a bit late for lunch but they served us anyway. It was a really beautiful day and we ate in the beer garden. Spike and Chewy made friends with a friendly golden retriever.

We've been to Porthmadog and Black Rock Sands a couple of years ago. The beach isn't ideal for the dogs to swim, but they can get plenty of exercise and you can drive right up to the sea if you want to, just be careful you're not caught out by the tide!

We had an ice cream at the beach, a 99 to be exact. The dogs had a drink and a dog biscuit each. After this day out we went back to the caravan to relax and the dogs were exhausted, they put their paws up and fell asleep!

Tywyn and Harlech

We took a day out to Tywyn. Tywyn isn't the best place to walk the dogs as the beach is mainly pebbles and stones, not the best surface for their paws, so we stuck to the path at the top of the beach. The weather was pretty bad as well, the worst day for weather in fact. Andy's grandparents have a caravan in Tywyn, so he rang them to see if they were there. Turns out they were which worked out well as we hadn't seen them for a while and the weather was getting worse. By the time we got to them, it really started to rain. The dogs were very well behaved in the caravan. There is a scenic train ride through Tywyn and Andy's mum and other family members were passing through and came to the caravan to say hello. The caravan was pretty crowded, but good to catch up with everyone.

Another day was spent in Harlech. There is a pretty castle in Harlech, but unfortunately dogs are not allowed in the grounds, so we admired it from outside.

We of course took the dogs to the beach. The car park is quite a walk from the beach, but it was a lovely day, so the walk was really nice. As usual, the dogs had the best time playing on the beach. We managed to get a picture of the four of us using our mini tripod and the timer.

Our Caravan

We had our own little 'garden' outside the caravan and it was just so nice to relax there after the long walks with Spike and Chewy. The 'garden' also doubled up as a dog grooming parlour as well, as the dogs definitely needed a groom after swimming in the sea.

A couple of chairs and a glass of wine! And relax!

Barmouth

Our day out in Barmouth was lovely. The weather was fantastic and the beach wasn't over-crowded, well not on the end where dogs are permitted.

The usual activities, basically doing what the dogs wanted. Throwing the ball in the sea for retrieval and swimming and throwing the frizbees along the shoreline. We had lunch in a dog friendly pub just opposite the beach in the beer garden.

When the dogs were worn out we went for a stroll around the town, that proved to be tough for Spike and Chewy. There was too much going on and too many tempting smells in the form of candy floss, ice cream, pop corn, etc... We headed back to the caravan park and the four of us relaxed outside the caravan on the grass.