Worthing and Ely

Today we drove 150 miles to stalk a dog. Carol had been given the opportunity to see her last guide dog puppy, Ursa, in training before she is paired with a client. So it was an early morning to drive the three and a half hours past London and into Cambridgeshire. We had a service stop on the way (I feel like I’m on Contiki again) where I got a Kinder Surprise toy and Justine ate two Cadbury Crème eggs!

We met Wendy the trainer in Tesco’s (Carol’s favourite place) where she went through Ursa’s progress with us. Then we were told to be incognito as we followed the two of them around the streets of Ely to see how she was going with her physical training. It would have been quite odd watching the four of us struggling to keep up with a guide dog and taking zoomed in photos of her walking. I felt like such a stalker.

When we reached Jubilee gardens Wendy let Ursa off the leash and she went bounding around. As she passed Carol she did a double take and suddenly recognized her, it was really quite adorable. After jumping over Carol she heard Nicola and bounded over to her as well. Justine and I weren’t interesting or familiar enough because we didn’t get any attention like that! Back she went on the leash and we walked back to Tesco’s where it was time to say goodbye to the happy little thing. But not before she got her treat!

We walked back up to the Cathedral and had lunch at the Minister pub opposite. Chips and burgers are always quite a good option from a pub. Then it was back into the car for the long drive back to Worthing. Having a lazy night, with cheese on toast for dinner, we watched some British soap operas (East Enders and Coronation Street) before heading off to our nice warm beds.