Record holders reunion

We have known for a while that we were due to go to Beaglelandia at Capesthorne Hall, near Macclesfield in the UK. It was to be a celebration event for last years Beagle World Record of which I was a part. We were really keen to go so knew we had to work on Lenny’s worries about travelling in the car. We have been taking him in the car more often so he can become better accustomed to longer journeys. He was struggling when he took his first trip in the car. We took him out to Wendover Woods and Ashridge Common amongst others. He has come on leaps and bounds so we were becoming more confident he would be ok.

An early morning start with a quick stroll around the fields is always welcome, although I did have suspicious ears as to what was going on at 6 am on a Sunday. I am not sure if my parents realised there was such a thing as Sunday 6 am before Lenny arrived. Anyway our walk was followed by breakfast and I knew this was a little different to normal but didn’t let on to Lenny as it might have worried him. When the car boot opened I leapt in so Lenny would be encouraged to follow, however he seemed to realise there was something awry and had to be lifted into the car. Off we set, and motorway followed motorway. An hour or so into the journey, Lenny settled and curled up. I was still busy watching where we were going. It was great that Lenny hardly stirred during the trip to Macclesfield for some three hours.

We arrived at Capesthorne Hall and the man on the gate showed us the way to the parking area. As soon as the car boot opened I was greeted by the same, familiar smells from last years event. I was also greeted by the song of the breed filling my ears as it had done last year. When I turned to see Lenny he was sitting smiling and looking really excited to get out and meet as many of the beagles as possible. In fact Lenny was also arooing in my ear, which was a good indication that he was ready to have some fun. However being shackled mean’t we had to be restrained in our exit from the car boot.

I soon saw my good friend, Boot the Spaniel, and I greeted him as you would expect. Lenny was next to me sniffing the grass and enjoying all the sights and smells. I introduced Lenny to Boot. Moments later, we saw Griff and said hello to him too. It was quite a poignant time to see Boot and Griff as we had completed the walk the previous year with their brother, Charley Beagle, who sadly passed over the Rainbow Bridge a year ago this week. We made sure we gave Charley’s mum a leg lean when we got a tickle from her. Within minutes we saw Raffa which was great as I could introduce Lenny to her also. I had warned him that Raffa is an older lady beagle so he had to be mindful and have good manners. He didn’t let me down and was very polite and gentle when he greeted Raffa with a nose bump.

We were strolling across the field and suddenly mum and dad stopped to say hello to another couple of people. It turns out that the people were the mums of Tyrrell and Tink, who are two of our great friends from Australia. It was a total surprise for all of us and we were tickled, stroked and cuddled to within an inch of our furry lives by our “aunties Nic and Annette” from Oz. Everyone was very welcoming and they all wanted to meet Lenny as this was the first time he had been allowed out. I was, as usual, happy to let Lenny hog the limelight so he could be tickled, stroked and cooed over quite a bit. Then we were off again, strolling across the lush grass toward the stalls selling all manner of dog related items. Coming toward us were Dolly and Daisy, two more of our friends from Twitter. We said hello to them in our usual restrained manner. This was a great day, and we started to think it couldn’t get any better surely. Then it did get better as we bumped into Ruby who is a 15 year old beagle lady who is another of our pals from Twitter. We were very polite because she is another older lady beagle and, whilst we can be a couple of hooligans sometimes, we do know when to behave correctly.

We had a picnic with our pals under the shade of some lovely trees and the humans ate their food and chatted whilst we all rested and preserved our energy for afternoon shenanigans.

After lunch we went to the main show ring to see Raffa compete in the Best Older Beagle Category and watched aghast as she didn’t win. Another beagle won. We were shocked.

After we had regained our composure, we walked around the route of the Beagle World record and I managed to pull dad round the entire circuit just like I did last year. We were overtaking people who moved aside as a result of my dad telling them “Sorry, hooligan beagle coming through”. Lenny and mum walked around at a more sedate pace, along with Boot, Griff, Raffa, Dolly, Daisy and Ruby. Raffa, Boot and Ruby went round the course in their chariots as they are older furs and they need to rest their bones more often than us young whippersnappers.

Once the walk was finished we tucked into our dinner with some speed as we were hungry. We had to eat quickly though, as there was a group photo of all the dogs who had taken part in the day. The camera drone was put up and we all waved our paws to make sure everyone could see us in the picture.

Only after all the shenanigans did everyone decided that we had had enough fun for the day and made plans to return home. Lenny and I tried our best to persuade the humans to stay but they were adamant that we should get back in the crates in the car and return home. People said cheerio to one another and everyone set off home. I was tired and when I looked at Lenny I could see he was out on his paws too. I remember dad starting the car and I remember arriving home. I think I slept and dreamed of having great fun with all my friends. Lenny is good in the car, he managed both legs of the trip without incident and he was polite to all our pals. We loved meeting friends again and wondered when we would get the chance to do it all once more.

• 

• 

We shall sleep on that thought.