Gyp's Dog Blog: October 2013

The refuge with Pointe Percee in background

Ages since I put paw to paper but must tell you about my foreign travels. Si and Lizzie took me to France last month and I went up Alps and hung out in cafes and met frog dogs! It was AMAZING and I want to go again (you're not the only one Gyp!) because there's so much space to run around out there and the weather and the people are so ace...

We drove down to the Alps in my mate Billy's van – Billy was as excited as me to be going to France and he talked about nothing but road cycling the whole way down there. This made me uneasy as I never get to go on the road cycling trips – only with the mountain bikes. Anyway, I needn't have worried 'cos although my hoomans went out loads on their bikes, Si and Lizzie took me for loads of walks and runs in the wild woods all around where we stayed. The first week we were at Ali and Al's place near La Clusaz where Si used to run ski touring courses. I got halfway up a massive mountain called Pointe Percee – me and Lizzie stayed at the ace refuge where they served food and drink while Si and Billy climbed to the summit as it was too rocky for my paws.

It was very sad afterwards though because when we got back we found that my friend Phil the ginger cat had been savaged by a really nasty dog and had died. We were a quiet and morose bunch that evening and Al and Ali were very upset but they played with me and I cheered them up a bit...

I went for another trip up a mountain to watch Si fly his paraglider – I heard one of his friends has a harness and takes his collie with him but I want to keep my paws firmly on the ground! Me and Lizzie had a great walk before we drove back down with Billy to the landing field just outside La Clusaz to pick Si up.

In our second week we stayed in a place called Bourg d'Oisans at a brilliant apartment on a farm owned by an ace lady that Si knew called Mel. I was allowed the run of the apartment and could go where I wanted as Mel said I was excellently behaved and that Si had trained me well. I like Mel a lot but she's got a lot of boisterous dogs and I'm not so sure about them – I'm a bit of a solitary fellow who prefers human company.

Si and Billy did quite a bit of climbing on the trip so Lizzie and me had some massive walks and often met them in some amazing scenery when they'd finished. They disappeared for a couple of days and I was worried about Si but he turned up eventually and said they'd been climbing on a massive rock wall called the Aiguille Dibona.

Lizzie, Gyp, Billy, Rich, Adele, Penny and Si

Our good mates Rich and Adele turned up to stay for the second week. Adele is my third favourite person in the world but they had Penny Pooch with them and she is a cantankerous old lady who scares me. She preferred to lodge in their van rather than our plush apartment so luckily I didn't see much of her!

Rich, Billy and Si kept going out and racing each other on the bikes up what they called cols which sometimes meant when they got back they were too tired to play out. Luckily the girls were more sensible and looked after me and Penny really well in the evenings. To be fair, Si always made up for it by taking me a long run in the morning in the woods where we had to be careful as there was lots of wild boar hunting going on. A few times we had men with rifles materialising out of bushes and their hunting dogs were fierce looking and definitely not to be messed with!

The weather was fantastic but not crazy hot like it had been in England a few weeks earlier. One of the highlights of my week was swimming in Lake Annecy and diving off the bank into the crystal clear blue water. Si loves swimming too but slapped his bald head diving in from a big height – I laughed a lot!

Think we're going again next year with the gang if all goes well – can't wait!!!