Safe Return Doubtful

41 miles (67 km) – Total so far: 1,636 miles (2,633 km)

I’ve been in Arches National Park today. It’s wonderful to cycle without most of my gear n, which I left in the Lazy Lizard Hostel. I managed to get going for just after 8, as the temperature is forecast to hit 38C this afternoon, and I was back for lunch at RedRocks cafe just after 12. It was some fanatastic riding.

At Balanced Rock, the furthermost point I went to in the park. The road is closed for repair after this today, but it only continues another 3 miles.

Cycle path bridge over the Colorado river headed out to the Park

Looking down Park Avenue

Chris is cycling from Florida Keys across the US, and the reason I spoke to him and took his photo, is that his dog is with him, in the trailer.
I can’t see my dog, Roja, going for this – but we may try…
Chris’s dog is a corgi – I doubt the Queen would approve.

These rocks knows as Courthouse Wash – thee is a large series of pictographs created over thousands of years, as this side of the wall is so sheltered

Looking down to the Visitors’ Centre and entrance, around a couple of switchbacks

Storytime:

Frisbee

Frisbee

We pretty much always had a dog when we were growing up, but there was one time when we didn’t. I was living away and Nick and Nigel were still at home, Nigel awaiting results from A Levels. Nick was playing a lot of sport and not doing a huge amount else, and he found a dog, it had probably been thrown out, and was a real mix, a medium size dog and mainly black and some brown colouring. He brought it home and my parents were adamant, no chance to keep it. After many please pleases, chiefly from Nigel, my mum agreed that it could stay for one night. By the morning it was “Nigel’s dog”, and despite what my mum said, it was staying. Part of the problem though was it’s hooligan behaviour. It tore around the house non-stop, chewed anything possible, and some things impossible, and made considerable noise. I think though those were the characteristics that appealed most to Nigel.

Having established its residency, and that was a day by day, one step forwards, two steps back, procedure, it needed a name. “Frisbee”, Nigel cam up with, as he claimed that if you threw it away it kept coming back. I don’t think “boomerang” suited so well. Though Frisbee mellowed, he never really calmed down, and in many ways he was an ideal dog for the house at the time.

One day Nigel decided to take it to the beach for a walk. Those who know Hoylake, may be aware that our house at that time was near the Catholic Church, maybe a mile from the beach, but that was too far to walk for Nigel. He had no driving qualification at the time, but hopped into my mum’s fiat and drove down, all of which my mother was unaware of, it was a huge house, and easy to lose people in.

The first thing my mother knew of it was an hour or so later when a stranger knocked on the door, and asked if she could come urgently as her son had had an accident. Nigel had been on his way back from the beach, when, and this is according to him, Frisbee vomited on him, having apparently, swallowed a lot of salt water, causing him to veer into a parked car. Fortunately neither he nor Frisbee were hurt at all, and fortunately also, it was out Dentist’s car, and my mother was able to negotiate Nigel out of some potentially serious bother.

I haven’t had my own dog since leaving home all those years ago, and it wasn’t until a couple of years ago when I was back living in England, and the Lake District, that I was persuaded by some good friends that with their help it could be done. Since then of course I haven’t looked back. It is a red fox Labrador and no sooner than my brothers had met him, of course, like old times, they wanted one also. Dunc hadn’t had a dog for a few years, and went for a black Lab. Nick lost his dog of many years and his partner decided on a red fox also, but female. Nigel and Sandra had just lost Toffee and Heidi (from an earlier story) and Nigel wanted ‘a proper dog’, so went for a golden Lab, Charlie, but female. In those last few months that Nigel was ill the fa,ily were always around him of course, and Charlie was a huge part of that – in photos, on Skype, and at his feet constantly.