We were tired and cold and I was half frozen, as poor Benny did not have any fresh ginger left, and with the tight little bends in the road, he had a hard time of it. Shame, he was quite frantic, and vomited twice, and we had to stop for Liz to clean up the mess. I then did not only have Benny's terrible breath to contend with, but also the smell of his half digested breakfast, and it made my tummy turn, and my eyes water.
So my window, the side that Benny always stand at, was opened all the way, and as the rain was still pelting down, I was wet, and icily cold, and even though I had two jerseys, my jacket, and a rain jacket on, with my hat on, and a thick winter scarf, I was shivering like a bally blamange.
By the time we reached Liz's family, I was ready to go into some kind of thermo shock, and could hardly walk my legs were so cold. The couple came out when we stopped, as Liz was on the phone with them to find the way, and they stated flatly that the dogs should stay in the car. Then we had another shock. Liz's sister in law had a lovely chicken dinner ready for us, and I felt myself slowly defrosting, and was in a state of bliss, thinking of a lovely warm bath and a soft bed, when an unexpected bomb was thrown our way. We were not invited to sleep with them, although they had a two bedroomed flat. Poor Liz looked at her brother with her big brown eyes wide open in shock, but he just looked back affably, and so did his wife.
So then we had to go out in the cold night and try and find accommodation, and we must have looked very bedraggled, and in bad shock when we sat down in a small pub to try and work out a plan of action. We decided to call on the barman for help, and he gave us a tourist guide, and said that most of the accommodation in the town was carried in that. We were lucky, as the third place we phoned, a small bungalo with one bedroom but a bed in the sittingroom, had an opening for two nights, and we jumped at the opportunity.
It was the most adorable little cottage, and while Liz was trying to calm poor Benny, who had to stay in the car with Stouty while we were with her family,  down, I made for the bathroom, and I thanked the Lord for small mercies, as there was a bath as well as a shower.
After Liz had her bath, we sat down with a glass of red each, and pondered the question as to why we were not invited, as we rightly assumed, and expected, to sleep with her family. I actually knew why, as the house was clinically clean, with white carpets, and very little clutter, and the idea of letting the bedraggled looking dogs into that space was just too repulsive to the two, and I did not quite blame them, as the dogs indeed looked bad, all damp, and smelly.
We drove around for two days, looking at the beautiful scenery, but Liz showed no wish to go back and see her family, and when we left she just gave them a phone call to say goodbye. I think she was hurt badly, but why people sometimes just can't see that their animals are better off at home, I just can not understand. As I said before, Annette, an old friend of Liz, had so far every year offered to look after the two dogs, but Liz just declined the offer point blank.