A northern dog show.

The choice was easy a few weeks back when it came to entering a show for 12th April, Wishaw or Ross and Cromarty at Invergordon. There can be no comparing the scenic beauty of the two routes from here. For me the trip north won hands down. I have been entering this show for about 4 years now but never with the success we achieved yesterday.(more of that later.)
I intentionally left earlier than necessary as I wanted to stop at various viewpoints to take photos so we, me and 4 dogs, set off on the 145 mile, 2 and a half hour, journey at 5.45 a.m. At first there was mist up the River Tay, then drizzle going over Drumochter Summit, but near Aviemore the sun broke through and from then on we had a glorious day, the best and warmest of the year so far!
The papillon numbers were disappointing with quite a few absentees, but my 4 dogs all came home with red tickets. George won Post Graduate, Swallow won Limit and Mo won Open. Spencer had already won Best Vintage in Show from an entry of 7, aged from 11 years upwards.
Swallow went on to take Best of Breed, then the Toy Group and eventually, Reserve Best in Show! I have no photos of my own of her taken at the show but a friend, Morag, of Logie Bear fame, obliged so I'll post one when it arrives by email.
There were 265 dogs in total, entered for the show--not bad when you consider how far north this venue is--not that far from John-O'-Groats!... there must be more "dafties" than me about!