Hello, sorry I have not communicated for so long. We went over to France on Friday to deliver some animals and to take part in the first alpaca show in Brittany at Belle Isle en Terre. It started off prettty well with a nice calm crossing with sunshine. After that it was wet, wet, wet. Our show animals were already thoroughly damp before we left England as it had been chucking it down here and they just got wetter.
The British contingent consisted of John Potts and Nick Harrington Smith from The Alpaca Stud, Mary Jo, Iain and the baby Amelia from Bozedown Alpacas, Gary and Felicia Sanders from Popham Alpacas and us. We were very brave as we showed animals in several inches of mud and water. I didn’t take any wellies either. We had been talking to the ever cheerful organisers Robin Hodge and Linda Hitchcock about the dangers of the alpacas getting too hot, ha ha, not about whether the river might burst its banks.
Anyway the English and French owners gathered on the Sunday morning with around fifty sodden alpacas. The judge Paul Cullen had very wisely repaired to the local supermarket and acquired some stout, waterproof walking boots and it was decided to clear the tent where the spinners and weavers were supposed to be and turn it into a show ring. We had brought a small pop up tent that was used as a shelter by all, including alpacas, on their way to the ring. Lots of stiff upper lips etc and bad jokes as we got damper and the mud climbed up our trouser legs. A bit like Glastonbury without the music or the drugs. As we were in France there was a mandatory two hour break for lunch when we all went to the local hotel. The windows steamed up immediately as this crowd of damp people tipped up.
Most of us came home with some rosettes and a cup or two, we had exercised our appalling French, thanked Bozedown from the bottom of our hearts for coming over in a camper van with coffee making facilities and generally decided that Robin’s organisation of the show was first class. It was a real shame that the weather was so disgusting as lots of people ventured on to the show field but left pretty fast as the rain never let up.
That evening the boys from The Alpaca Stud or the grumpy old men as we fondly describe them, The Judge Paul Cullen and us had a hilarious dinner at a retaurant at the port of Treguier where we were staying. It was such good fun. Afterwards we went back to the hotel for a nightcap but the bar was shut. Then to our great amusement they turned the lights off! We decided to ignore this and as we had a bottle of wine in the car and some glasses brought that into the hotel instead.
We came back on the Roscoff Plymouth ferry on Monday afternoon and managed to spend the whole trip having lunch/dinner which made the whole experience less dull. The captain went slowly and it took an extra hour even though it really wasn’t rough at all. Came home to discover a tiny, premature, fawn cria in the barn weighing in at 4.2kgs alongside another one which was enormous in comparison at 8.8kgs. The little premmie is gorgeous and still alive and feeding well so hopefully she will make it.