I confess I was rather hoping for some poetic French to describe His Rustiness's role, considering they're so good at being extraordinarily literal in their mellifluous tongue. Perhaps "un chien qui secourait les hommes aveugles" (proper French speakers, unlike very slightly above schoolboy-make-it-uppers like me might flinch at that phrase, but I'm sure you get the idea.) However, far more prosaically, a guide dog is simply un chien guide.
But you haven't tuned in to read my relentless babblings; you're after news of how Rusty enjoyed his first French holiday in our little hideaway in central Brittany.
The ferry over the channel was, as almost always, the dreadful old tub l'Armorique. But, as I've noted before, it might be a rubbish boat but the crew are often both helpful and extremely obliging to one without much in the way of usable vision. Mrs the Millbrooker and I like to treat ourselves to a smidgen or eight of chocolate on board the ferry and Rusty was quickly spotted by one of the sales staff. Upon hearing how much he loves soft toys, she produced une peluche as a gift. Rusty, of course, insisted on a photo being taken of this event.
The soft toy in question has, of course, become known simply as "Peluche" and is one of Rusty's favourite carry-it-about-and-occasionally-chew-it-on-your-lap playthings. Overnight on the ferry, he and Peluche were inseparable.
On our first day at Le Bout de Sac (as we call our pad in Trebrivan), we were treated to a lovely lunch of home-raised chicken and chips by our neighbours Jean-Luc and Nathalie. That's our place on the right as you look at the photo and theirs on the left.
Anyone who fancies a bit of a nosey, or indeed might like to consider a holiday there, we have a not-very-much-visited website: just click here.
What happens in Brittany, by and large, is that Mrs the Millbrooker and I head out every other day or so for a decent walk. After lunch we did a little, three and a bit mile, circuit close to home, which gave Rusticles a chance to do a bit of work and get some exercise at the same time.
As is our wont, we stayed up way too late and enjoyed a drop more wine and assorted nightcaps than is good for us and set off for our second full day's expedition (another walk - this time a "proper" distance of around 8 miles) later in the day than intended. Ah well - it was holiday time and we had no one to answer to but ourselves. The walk was from the village of Lennon, near Plounevez du Faou. Here's a few photos; Rusty worked the tarmac bits and trotted around on his extending lead on tracks, footpaths and towpaths.
Brittany being what it is, and where it is, the next couple of days were effectively rained off - but we did visit one of Rusty's (ahem) favourite places to stock up.
Even on holiday, of course, the usual routines of making Rusty be a very smart boy have to be maintained. The patio seemed like a good place to keep up appearances.
And, even on wet days, Rusty type dogs need a touch of exercise so we did some free running in the field behind our house.
Rusty has a new French friend who was working in the little house just over the venelle alongside his builder owner. They went running in the field after these shots were taken, but I didn't get any photos of them tearing around like demented things together.
The weather cleared and we managed plenty more walks. We walked a 9 mile round trip to see La Roche St Barnabe. Judge for yourselves whether you consider this time and effort well spent as you view the famous rock immediately behind Rusty and yours truly.
And we did a very nice walk among the hedgerows near Spezet. That walk included the well known Breton landscape feature of mud. Rusty did enjoy himself, but he had to be made to wade into a stream to clean up afterwards, not that there was much coercion involved. Rusty likes streams. Shortly after this shot was taken, he decided to leap into an even deeper bit of peat bog and got his tummy all splattered as well....
The clean up operation:
And there you have a small insight into our holiday of little adventures. I'll leave you with two things: (1) a photo without His Rustiness in it, just to prove that we do take others, of our "last supper" in Brittany until next time; and (2) a plea for any feedback either on Facebook or in the comments here - is there too much dog in this blog? Would you prefer some more general shots and comments, or should I stick to Rusticles and little else? I'm happy either way, I just don't want you lot getting bored.
Chin chin.
