Pippa's trip to Betws-y-Coed

This podcast is about my trip to look around Betws-y-Coed with Pippa my black Labrador, have a look at her Instagram page pippatheblacklabrador for the Piptastic rating, based on dog walking, dog shopping, dog friendliness, dog swimming.  Also included is the story of how much to my embarrassment Pippa managed to pull some guys trousers down.

Transcript

Pippa and I headed off to Betws-y-Coed today as my Dad had mentioned that there was a good selection of walking boot shops there and I needed another pair having been painting on the boat in the cheap pair that I bought in January that had already seen better days.  He had said that I needed a more expensive pair. I do walk in them every day, as it was a nice sunny day, I thought that I would load Pippa into the car and take her for a trip out for the afternoon.  I had got another location in mind but realised that I would need a full day for that one, the good new is though that Travelodge’s allow dogs so I can drive up the night before and stay over with her in her crate in a Travelodge, which opens a lot more places to visit.  So doggy seatbelt on, we headed off to Betws -y- Coed, it took us just over an hour to get there, as it was a Friday lunchtime the traffic wasn’t too bad, by Friday teatime it would be tailed back a long way with people keen to get into North Wales ahead of the bank holiday weekend, a lot of people have caravans there and go up for weekends.  

I haven’t been to Betws-y-Coed for a while and its is still the same but also very different.  I found the usual car park and went for the long stay, they now have a contactless card machine and I was happy to pay £3 for 4 hours parking, that seems perfectly reasonable to me and meant I actually spent longer there and bought more things than I had intended to.  I took Pippa for a quick wander and toilet break before putting her back in the car while I did my toilet break, having to get some change as it is 50p to use the toilet, note to self to add some coins in the car for this in future. I headed into a book shop and bought a book that looks quite good on a woman who gave up her job and went to live on a farm, I thought it would be a good research novel to read as I have started to write something similar about my time at Little Raws Farm.  Book bought I headed to the loo and handed the male attendant my 50p.  

I walked back to the car around an array of shops and eateries and noticed that some of them had dog’s welcome signs at them and bowls of water outside.  I had brought Pippa some water and a dog biscuit with me, but it was good to know that there were bowls about.  I decided that I would have a go at taking her into a shop as this is a big walking location and every other person I saw had a dog or was looking at Pippa with a I want one expression, in fact one guy was very keen to take her off into the sunset, especially when she managed to pull down his trousers to which he advised that he had spent his whole life looking for a female like her, more on that later though, but I was reminded of the time my old farrier took his new puppy somewhere and she managed to pull down some woman’s top exposing her bra, at which he was mortified.  

We headed to the shop Mountain Warehouse, where there was a sign in the window that said we welcome dogs here.  She first had to say hello to the three guys who were walking past the shop, one of whom appeared to have fallen instantly in love with her.  We then headed into the shop, Pippa was a bit unsure as it was her first tome going into a shop and a couple of customers laughed at her as she tried to get the mannequin to stroke her and then parked at the dog sporting a dog coat next to the mannequin. I did smile as well and introduced her to the dog, we then walked around the shop, in a fairly calm fashion. I just have to keep her on a short lead as she likes being everyone’s friend, mostly, with just the occasional man she doesn’t like the look of. We then headed out the shop, I was really pleased with how it went, we continued on our stroll, Pippa was a bit scared when someone knocked over a few suitcases but quickly recovered.  We headed over to the Ice cream shop where there was a sign up that advised they sold doggy ice cream, we then carried on looking at the shops, I noticed that you could take your dog in the bookshop I had been in, I think I remembered seeing somewhere that dogs are now allowed in Waterstones as well.  Then we came to the Pizzeria where there was a large hamper of dog jumpers to keep your dog warm while you sat and ate your pizza, which I thought was a great idea.  

I continued on with my stroll crossing over the road, using the pedestrian lights, Pippa was used to the beeping now after being in London for the day.  We headed to Go Outdoors where there was yet another dog friendly bowl and welcome sign.  There were a few shops that had lots of displays and she is very clumsy and still only a baby so I would be concerned that she would knock things over at the moment, but next year I would probably risk taking her into those shops.   I walked past the Glan Aber pub and noticed the dog friendly sign on the wall.  We then came to an independent walking boot store with a dogs welcome sign up and we headed up the steps and in, they sold folding dog bowls and I bought a red one as I had seen these and thought they were a good idea, if we head off on long walks then I can take her tea in my rucksack and this new lightweight bowl with me.  We had a quick look around that shop before paying and one of the guys in the shop made a massive fuss of her and fed her a couple of biscuits, I said thanks it was her first time in a shop and it would help with the shopping experience. On the way back I nearly lost an arm as we walked past that shop door and Pippa wanted to go in for another biscuit.  

Pippa and I continued onto a really nice walk area by the river, there are lots of walks that you can do around Betws-y-Coed there is a nice waterfall walk up the road, but I just wanted to explore the place.  There is a wooden walkway that we went on and it took us to some really good paths and down to the river where after a bit of persuasion she went in ankle deep, she is the only Labrador I have owned who doesn’t seem to be that interested in water.  After out little stroll around we headed back, if you wanted to go for a longer walk you would need to dig out your ordinand survey map and plan it in advance. 

We met the trouser guy as were coming out of the woods, he had just spent a week kayaking and was here in his van, he was really nice, from Sussex I think it was.  He had previously owned rescue dogs and he was really impressed with Pippa who stood calmly not jumping up at him, despite getting very excited at all the attention from him, he observed that i must have done a lot of work on that with her,  She was also ignoring the two chocolate spaniels that were running around, not wanting to play with them, which for a ten month old Labrador is very good, but she is my dog and is happy just being with me, going places with me, as I write this she is asleep making noises in her dreams happy just being with me.  He mentioned a book that he had just been reading and called On Talking Terms with Dogs by a Norwegian dog trainer, Turid Rugaas, he told me about when a dog circles back to you, a bit like a sheep dog does, it is giving another dog a calming signal, but some owners get cross because the dog hasn’t come in a direct line to them.  I said it is a bit like horses and you read their body language, he said so you work with them rather than trying to beat them into submission which unfortunately some people do, yes I said that was exactly right and I told him about my fell pony and that he has already come on a long way in the 6 weeks that I have had him back, just doing a bit with him on a daily basis is all it takes to build up trust with him again and a farmer who used to work for an estate and ride the highland ponies that I knew in Scotland said that you just need to gain their trust and they will do anything for you, which is how Merlin used to be when I owned him previously.   It was a really interesting conversation between two kindred spirts and it is such conversations that are really important and in it I found out that he was single.  My neighbour keeps asking me if I have got the telephone numbers of any guys, that Pippa seems to find, but apart from James Blunt who is married, the guy on the train, the guy in the pub, who I didn’t even speak to and could be in a relationship with Liz from the Marathon Retreat for all I know.  However I am doing another weekend away with her, before this podcast is released and if you are wondering if I will be asking her who was supporting her at the marathon, of course I will.  Then there is Damien also from the Marathon Retreat and then when we met up at the London Marathon there seemed to be all this chemistry between us that hadn’t been there in Portugal, but he was now going out with a really nice French girl and then there is Mark who somehow managed to make me feel something again when he told me about his life. Having felt cold and empty I suddenly found myself having feelings and thinking of him and his situation and it is him that I check to see if he has liked something in the WhatsApp group chat, but was there any chemistry between us, not in Portugal, but maybe there will be in Medoc who knows.  One thing I do know is that I am starting to think about men again but I am not sure I would go out with a stranger, it would have to be someone that I knew or a friend of a friend.  

That was the point that Pippa decided to pull the guys trousers down with her head, not really sure how and no I didn’t have time to check out the package. We headed back along the road and this time headed in the direction of the park, we The ultimate Dog Shop which had a large selection of harnesses and treats, I didn’t get anything though as I have just ordered her a personalised dog harness and she has lots of treats and reindeer horns that she has stolen from her brother across the road.  

We then cut through the park, I had left the ball in the car or I would have played ball with her, but there is a sign up advising you that dogs are not allowed on the football pitch for obvious reasons.  We then headed back to the car and I gave Pippa her biscuit opened her windows before popping back to one of the shops to get myself a proper pair of walking boots, I had sought out some recommended makes from Ben Turner the Adventure Coach and went with a pair of Scarppas, in a size 7 as I am 6.5 but they were a snug fit and I will be adding thicker socks as well.  Shopping done I headed back to the car and Pippa and I set off on our way home having had yet another really nice day out enjoying the sunshine and it was even more justified when we arrived back to Chester and it had clearly been raining.

Piptastic Score from Pippa for Betws -y -Coed is 5 stars, because it had a dog friendly pub, a dog friendly pizza place and chip shop, several dog friendly shops, doggy treat stores, you could buy doggy ice cream, there were loads of dog water bowls outside lots of shops, she got a biscuit, there were lots of other dogs there and there was somewhere for her to run about and play ball, she got lots of attention and she rinsed her cheesy feet in the river so she gets out of having a bath for another week.