One doggies boat trip to Ireland
The charming Australian new sit com of a similar name (actually ‘Colin from accounts’-check out season 1&2 on BBC2 TV) has truly little to do with the content of this blog, apart from the title I’m afraid and a connection with another cute, but demanding, small in stature, big on character, ‘sort of’ (exact pedigree undetermined) Golden (actually white) Retriever named Charlie!
Charlie the ‘retriever’ recently took his first sea voyage, and this is how it all went for him and his owners/support staff, during a recent trip to Ireland and back to Spain. Getting back and forth to Spain by boat, is now a convenient and attractive option for home buyers from the UK and Ireland. And a real viable travel alternative to the air carriers.
The attractiveness of a second home in Spain is currently all the more appealing, given the fact that the destination is served well by a variety of Ferry routes from the UK and for better or worse with the arrival of Brexit; great routes have also been launched from Rosslare in Ireland to Bilbao/Santander. So, there is no need to cram all your possessions into a 10KG suitcase if you are doing a little holidaying or moving house to Spain, or moving personal stuff to your new vacation home on the Costa del Sol. Take the ferry. Bring as much of your possessions as you like and enjoy a wonderful sea voyage with great facilities on the Brittany Ferries Services from Portsmouth or Rosslare to Santander or Bilbao. There are other ferry competitor services also, so there is a lot of choice, particularly from the UK.
So, Charlie, the ‘pedigree of undetermined ancestry,’ Golden/white Retriever (?)recently experienced his first sea voyage at the ‘big boy’ age of four years. As a result of an ill-advised plan hatched on a warm balmy July night in Summer of 2023, tickets were purchased, and Charlie was Ireland bound before Christmas via Santander, complete with his two owners and a car full of wine and Christmas Gifts for the folks at home (I must confess, gifts were mainly of the alcoholic variety!). And the Christmas gifting went down a treat and we are being encouraged to repeat the experience this year!
It takes 10 hours from Malaga at a ‘snippy/no nonsense’ driving pace to get to Santander, without breaks. So, it is not an undertaking for the faint hearted or anyone with a dislike of a sea challenge at the end of the long road trip. Fortunately, getting a hotel along the route or in and around Santander is ‘easy peasie’, and dog friendly rooms are readily available at a reasonable price in most hotels. The road system in Spain for long distance road trips, is simply wonderful, with both the pay/toll and free autovia’s are well kept and have lots of convenient places to fuel up and stop for breaks along the way. Even better still break the journey and stay in one of the main excellent hotels north of Madrid and break the road trip into more digestible segments if you have time on your hands.
As I hinted earlier, Charlie is a white haired ‘retriever of sorts. He was supposed to be the real deal (and we paid a considerable amount of cash), so our hopes were high that we would get what we bargained for. But, in the end, it seems Charles (to use his more formal title) is some sort of ‘hybrid’. This is a positive term for modern day cars but not a term used to describe pedigree dogs!
He looks like a smaller version of the ‘real deal’, (i.e. A ‘white’ Golden retriever) blended in with a touch of a kangaroo or breed of the dog who can readily ‘Jump six feet’ into the air, at the slightest boundary threat or provocation. As he protects the property in Malaga and jumps high to get a better glimpse of what’s threatening him over the other side of the wall, we are frequently asked if he is using a trampoline by passers-by who marvel at his athletic feats, and the dizzying heights he can reach in an attempt to find out who is on the other side of that wall!! If there was an Olympic sport for the Dog high jump, Charlie is a clear Champion!! He also has the uncanny ability to use his ears as a sort of glider feature, to touch back to ground in a ‘slow motion’ before he springs right back up again for a second, third and fourth observation.
These features, combined with his ‘barky’ nature when confronted with larger dogs, in addition to his impatience when travelling by car (are we there yet? bark bark-woof-woof), had us all on edge with respect to how he would deal with a ten-hour car journey, followed by a thirty-hour ferry journey followed by more driving at the other end. Tensions were high in anticipation of how Charlie would cope, and how his staff might cope in return. Suffice to say, we expected a mediocre performance and some considerable grief along with perforated eardrums. We had Charlie pegged at a possible ‘D minus’ in terms of his overall behaviour on the trip and he surprised us all with a B- behaviour score- not too shabby at all.
The ferry was well organised, and if you take out the usual delays you can expect with roll-on-roll-off type vessels, things went surprisingly smoothly. Dog owners are well looked after, and the dog friendly cabins are well appointed and well Maintained. We travelled on the Salamanca, in a 4 berth Dog Friendly cabin, with private facilities, and we were well impressed overall with the facilities. Dogs can stretch their legs with their owners, on a special deck, and water cleaning facilities for any ‘unmentionables’ that may require flushing during the walking process. I cannot say that Charlie was totally at ease, but he was reasonably well behaved and smart enough to know when to let his ‘staff/carers’ go for a well-deserved drink in the bar and NOT kick up a mega fuss and annoy all the neighbours with unnecessary howling! In one act of protest to these bar visits (done purely in the interest of our research of course), he did chew his lead on one occasion, but we will give him a free pass for that one naughty act of protest at being left behind.
The sea was choppy on the Bay of Biscay at times, and it perhaps was not the ideal time of year to allow Charlie to find his sea legs, but in the end, he was fine and made us all proud of his adaptability and patience, for what surely must have been an overall stressful, new experience. Charlie went along with the ‘Batton-down- the -hatches’ approach and bunked in with one of his two support staff, whilst refusing to use his own bed on the floor, and apart from that minor inconvenience, he was well behaved and deserving of the B- rating. BTW, Cheeky Charlie has appealed this grade, but I am standing firm!
For sure, the summer or late Spring/Autum is a better time to experience travelling by Ferry if you want better odds at taking the choppy seas out of the equation, and with hindsight, perhaps Charlies first introduction to a maritime adventure, could have been best completed at a more seasonably opportune time (summer or spring perhaps). But whatever the season, the joy of the possibility of a ferry trip to your holiday home destination, and the advantages it affords, puts the other possible sun locations like Greece, or Cyprus into perspective. Being able to pack your possessions without a weighing scale, and drive at your own pace makes an enormous difference.
Every new homeowner in Spain should at least one time, pack a car with all sorts of delights to genuinely appreciate the space a car can afford, when going abroad or indeed going back home again. In the era of a ‘small bag under the seat mentality,’ having the space to travel with virtually the kitchen sink in tow, is a pleasure that must be experienced to be believed. No dimensions restrictions (once it can fit in your car, you are good to go), no weight restrictions. (once the wheels don’t buckle too much). Bring the dog along and as much wine/spirts/cava as you can possibly explain away to the customs officer on arrival with a straight face (for ‘personal consumption only Mr. Customs officer’) and drive away!!
I must admit there was a fleeting moment, when I looked at poor Charlie quay side and pondered on how much extra wine we could take if he spent two weeks in Santander.? Just for a little holiday on his own? Just kidding there was no way he was being left behind!
So, there you have it, Charlie the white ‘almost Retriever’ (and most definitely not a rescue dog), passed the mustard test with flying colours. He now an ‘able Seadog ‘with street cred, and with one major adventure behind him in a dog’s life experience he is ready to move on to more challenges, as he experiences life on land and possibly again on the high seas.
Charlie arrived back to Malaga in good spirits and found that his love interest next story, the ‘temptress lady Ruby’, was there to bark along with him on his return and welcomed Charlie back to the neighbourhood. Perhaps one day he will scale that dividing wall with his jumping that separates the two love birds? After his Christmas adventures, will she see him in a new light? Will he continue his courting plan and persist with his quest for Ruby’s heart? or will he now want to move on to pastures new in his quest for love. Only time will tell.
So, consider taking the ferry on your big move to Spain. Bring the dog, the kitchen sink and as much of you like or what you fancy from the home country. We are Martin Real Estate, are always happy to share our experiences and not just help you with the house purchase- this is a lifestyle change, and ditching the low fares airlines, in favour of your floating hotel with car in tow might not be such a bad option! Think of the return home at Christmas and a car full of wonderful Spanish wine!! Heaven.
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