Before the lockdown

Hmmmm....no signs yet that we can get away and stay somewhere overnight (or longer) in my campervan, so I'm having a bit of a daydream about what we did last February, in 2020, when we could go away. Oops, just realised that this was  possible because it was before the endless lockdown hoo haa's  began. I'm feeling a bit nostalgic and just a tad sick and tired of visiting the same places on my walks. They're very nice but, you know, it's all a bit samey. Anyway, here's what I wrote a year ago, before that coronavirus thingy:

I went away with my two humans, for a few days in my motorhome. Camping at this time of year - February, wet, stormy, windy - is perhaps not the best but it's sometimes good to get away and see new places. Or in my case, smell new smells. And the van is one of my most favourite places to be.

We stayed in a place called Rutland, on a campsite which had plenty of space to walk around and it had a dog walk too, in a wood. But it was muddy, very muddy, and every time we went out I had to go through that rubbing and cleaning of my paws when we came back in.

We went to a place they called Rutland Water to look at birds. Boy was it muddy there! I couldn't go into part of it as it wasn't dog-friendly, but there is another place in the bird reseve that is OK for dogs. We didn't go there because my humans had enough of the mud they had to walk through to get to the bird hides. I stayed in my van, in the warm, and they walked me around the parking area and along the road nearby. Needless to say, it was wet and muddy. I think I came off best when I saw what was on their walking boots!

Rutland Water

We went to a town called Oakham, which was very dog-friendly. I was welcomed into the Castle area and the old building which was a sort of museum with masses of horseshoes all over the walls.

The best bit of the winter camping trip was a visit to a huge country park with a massive posh house. It was called Burleigh House but it was closed (there were signs saying No Dogs so I couldn't go in anyway) and we walked in the grounds. It was very windy and cold and I wore my fleece onesie, which keeps me dry and warm and clean.

We walked past the big house which had a ditch thing all around it. My humans said it was a ha-ha. I thought they were laughing or something.

The  ha-ha

We also went to the nearby big town called Stamford, which my humans seemed to like quite a lot. I suppose it was quite a nice place as I was allowed to go in everywhere. There are several churches there which I could go in as they were dog-friendly too.

What a difference it makes to find so many dog-friendly places to go to when we visit somewhere new in my van.