Ruffin' it and unfulfilled ambitions in Sicily

For a few days my dad and I had been spending some time chilling together in the big blue thing parked in the garage downstairs. I just went along with the flow, it was well worth it coz my dad kept giving me little treats. I was pretty cool about going inside and just listening to him telling me that I was a very good dog. I even put up with his choice of music, it didn't surprise me as I've already been listening to it for a few weeks now. Then, one day, he turned a key thing in the ignition and the big blue thing sprang into life and made lots of noise. That was OK too, because I've been going here, there and everywhere in his little white thing that he has to park on the village car park for a few weeks by now anyway. However, I got the impression that the big blue thing was very special, so I made sure that I didn't have a pee in it whilst my dad was prattling on at me and, once again, my dad said "Ruff, you're a very good dog" and I got even more treats! These humans are so easy to train, it's amazing. My dad will soon be rounding up sheep!

Me in the big blue thing as we set off for Sicily

Then it all made sense! We all set off on my first adventure. We went off to an island called Sicily which was part of a weird country called Italy. The idea was that my mum and dad were going climbing with my uncle Eddie and auntie Mandy. Don't ask me, alright? Yes, I know, I think it's a bit stupid too but each to their own, I say. Anyway, all was super cool, coz I really love my uncle Eddie and auntie Mandy. They let me get away with so much more than my mum and dad. I can leap all over them and uncle Eddie even lets me fool along with him on his bed. I never get near my mum and dad's bed even though it looks so much more comfortable than mine. At least they allow me to sleep in their bedroom.....

Me and my uncle Eddie

I could tell my mum and dad were dead excited about this trip and that's why they'd been taking me down the climbing wall so many times. My dad had even made a flipping wishlist on that UKClimbing website thing, bless him.

The "voyage" went very well. We drove to Genoa and got on a big boat. We were on that for 21 hours and my mum and dad had to take me up on the deck to the "Fido Park" when I wanted the toilet. Mostly we all just slept and some times my uncle and auntie came to see us in our cabin. Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed in the restaurant or bar, I'm so glad we live in France!

My uncle Eddie and auntie Mandy

Me with my mum, uncle Eddie and my dad

When we got off the boat, I could tell my dad wasn't happy. He was moaning at the poor road signs and having lots of trouble finding the way. He said something like "FFS, where's the f...... the autostrada?" We drove to what seemed like a lovely beach near St Vito Lo Capo, after giving up trying to find some friends called Nat and Pat at a cliff near a horrible place called Mondello.
When we woke up, we discovered that the place was covered in loads of broken glass. At least there was lots of sheep poo to eat!

My mum leading at Parco Cerriola in the sun!

The first day was great fun. The sky was blue and it was nice and warm. My mum and dad were really happy too. Then my dad got really pissed off as he couldn't hold on to the holds on an easy 7b climb that was covered in what he called "Gogarth soap". Next day was not so good and my mum and dad just got a warm up done before the heavens opened and we had to go and chill out in The Climbing House where Ivan made lots of fuss over me, it was much nicer than being at the crag.

The main street in St Vito during the first thunder storm

Next day, we went to a big piece of rock apparently called Never Sleeping Wall. My dad is so pathetic, right, he nearly wet his pants when he set eyes on it. However, he was soon moaning again about that Gogarth Soap stuff and he really got angry when he greased off. We went back the next day, too. By all accounts it was a "top day" and my mum and dad didn't find any Gogarth Soap or grease off any holds. They actually managed to do some flipping climbing. Amazing, eh?

My amazing uncle Eddie flashing Il Patrone Nero (7c)

We then had even more rain for a couple of days and we all got pretty bored stuck in the camper van. We even went walking to the Crown of Aragon cliff in the rain, which was fine by me until a nasty Rottweiler dog at the cliff attacked me. I was so glad my mum and dad decided to go back down and not climb there. I was very frightened.

The usual weather

It rained all night but the morning was clear and very windy. So we went back to Never Sleeping Wall. My dad wanted to do Superman, one of the climbs that he'd already greased off. The cliff looked pretty wet. So, to save my dad failing again I decided to bark at the cows. I knew that that would get the attention of the nasty dog that guards them and, sure enough, it soon arrived and barked and barked at us until we packed up and left. I'm so sorry my dad didn't realise one of his dreams, though it wasn't really my fault.

My dad on Superman

We then drove to a place called Syracusa on the other side of the island. On the way we saw a volcano called Mount Etna, it was very big and covered in snow. Things seemed promising, despite the rain. However, after climbing at 3 supposedly fantastic (but in reality very ordinary) cliffs we'd had enough and decided to leave for home. Guess what the weather was doing all the last day? You guessed right, it was chucking it down.

Me in our cabin on the way home

It's great to be back home, where I've got much more room and I don't get wet all the time and bring in mud on my paws. My mum and dad say that we're going to somewhere called Spain in a couple of days. I hope it's nice and dry and we can get lots of fresh air and sunshine. My mum and dad say it's much better than Sicily and that the climbing in Sicily is all hype.

Meanwhile, I'll get back to work on training my dad!

The only nice sunset we saw