Tales of Tails & Travels

2 months have flown by and now we are finally back with Skinny, re-doing some paint work and sorting those little issues that came up on our trip down from Scotland.

As a quick overview the past few months have been spent locuming, mainly I do out of hours shifts, allowing me to bunch long hours together then spend the week helping with the renovations around our house. I also had an ongoing position where I had a chance to do some training, which I loved. Seeing a young vet gain confidence in their own skills is incredible; and something I missed from working full time. As mentioned we have been renovating our house, which we have finally finished!! It went on the market and we got an offer within a fortnight so we are that step closer to being able to move onto Skinny full time. In and around that we have just been using the time to catch up with friends and discuss plans for Skinny.

Painting Skinny- Again

Currently we have Skinny on the hard. Over winter we experienced a popped fender and some line rash which rubbed through the paint job we did last year. So it was time to repaint the topside hull, we also got around to adding those finishing touches like our name decal, waterline stripes and coveline. I’ll pop some pictures below of the process. Including a little bit on a different tekkers for the final coat to help with the shine.

Travelling with the boys

We have spoken about our hope to sail to Ireland, now we are in Wales it would be a prime opportunity. However, as you’ll know, we have the boys (Avery & Amos) which complicate things when it comes to entering and staying in the EU. Obviously there are issues for us too as humans, but one problem at a time.

A quick low down for those who maybe aren’t aware- Brexit made getting into and around Europe a whole lot harder for Brits and their pets. Previously those in Great Britain could get a pet passport, this required the dog to be over 12 weeks of age; have a microchip; to have had a rabies vaccination no less than 21 days prior to travel and then for certain countries (Ireland, Malta & Finland) a tapeworm treatment more than 24 hours but less than 5 days before entry (otherwise it is before re-entry into GB). That was it, one item that would last you 5 years or until you fill it up whichever came first. Now you need an AHC (Animal Health Certificate), which has the same requirements but it has pertinent differences being that it only allows for a single trip, must be done within 10 days of travel and only allows 4 months onwards travel within the EU and return otherwise you will need a new document to re-enter the UK. Oh and the AHC- easily 2 times the cost of a Pet Passport (not a snub, I am a vet, I do the certs, they should be more money they are a faff and so much extra paperwork versus the old passport system). The other element is permitted ports of entry and permitted means of entry; basically you can only enter a country at specified ports for example Dublin Port on a permitted vessel which often means a commercial ferry and not a private vessel (so not on Skinny).

All of that is to say that getting the boys in and out of Ireland is NOT legally an option when you are looking at sailing in on your private vessel. In practice it seems that they do not have the man power to do anything about it, but is it worth the risk? Every EU country has their own guidelines, so if you’re taking your dogs then give it a google and read up on their government websites.

So with this roadblock in the way we changed tack (pun intended) and started looking into what we could do to help with our issue of travelling with the boys. Which led us to finding out that we could get an EU Pet Passport for our boys. Which we did. It was actually a rather straight forward process. We got our AHC from a vets in Holyhead, making sure to ring ahead to book in the right time period before travel. We also contacted a vets in Dublin ahead of our trip over to arrange everything. So for just under £600 they both have their EU Pet Passports. And we had a trip to Ireland.

Dublin & Galway

We took the ferry from Holyhead to Dublin. Dogs go free, but you cannot have them wandering around on the ferry with you. There is a choice of leaving them in the car or putting them in the on board kennels. We made the decision to leave them in the car, which frankly left me feeling a little bit of dread but I knew they would be more settled somewhere they are familiar with. As it is we were able to do a doggy check (asked at reception and if they have enough staff free they will allow you to head downstairs and do a welfare check). I do not know why I was concerned, they were both fast asleep and done their crumpled face ‘ugh where am I’ grumbles when we walked up to them. The trip was 3 and a half hours and they slept the whole way. All of this travelling around and seeing new places has been tiring for them.

I may get hate for this but Dublin was… underwhelming. Maybe it is because Jake and I aren’t drinkers, maybe it was because we had the dogs. There was a report 5 or so years ago that listed Dublin as one of the least dog friendly cities in Europe. There are dog friendly cafes and restaurants that we found, a couple of which were genuinely happy to see the boys, but one of them the waitress was visibly uncomfortable coming to the table. We had folk in the streets side step away or downright freeze when they saw the boys. That being said we did pick up a loaf of soda bread that was out of this world.

We head out of the city to Howth, Blackrock and Dun Laoghaire which were all lovely spots; the options for dog friendly eateries and activities were more abundant, there were marinas and yachts to nosey at and the atmosphere was more our vibe.

After our short time in Dublin we made our way over to Galway. Galway is such a vibrant city, it is welcoming, bustling and beautiful. I will let the pictures below do the talking I think you’ll easily see why we loved it so much.

As well as checking out the city itself we got some miles in and drove around the countryside to find Jake’s favourite; waterfalls. Jake even got in for a swim at one of them- something that resulted in hyperventilating and a very short swim, I was on camera duty so could not possibly have got in too, shame. We were blessed with stunning weather whilst we enjoyed lakes, woodland walks and breathtaking views.

Back in Wales

On return to Wales we made the most of checking out the local area. Which meant yes, more waterfalls. We also walked to Ty Coch Inn which is an adorable pub on the seafront which can only be accessed by a stroll along the beach or cliff tops. Got Avery on a stand up paddle board with myself at Plas Heli, and a video of me falling over. Walked up to the Tin Man at Llanbedrog, making sure to have breakfast at Aqua Beach Bar on the way back.