A bad day at Derbyshire Grouse Pointing Test, arriving late and missing the briefing about the troublesome ‘gamey’ sheep and getting eliminated as a result and then a shock from Wiggly about her condition.
I was tired enough to sleep straight away and woke early for our start for East Moor, Derbyshire. We felt that we had left in good time and even broke off the journey for breakfast at a Little Chef.
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However, as we came off the M1, we realised how far it really was and how poor our directions had been so that it ended in a mad rush to get there in time to run at all. This was to prove vital, as we missed the briefing on the sheep. To us, they seemed normal sheep, but the organisers had warned the others direly of the dog's keenness on chasing them here.
Somehow, the beasts are wild and flighty and smell of game and all this evidently attracts the dog's attention. I was drawn low down the order and spent from 9.30am until 3.30pm walking all over the moor, plagued by flies and with Sam exhibiting his normal tetchy behaviour with other dogs.
In our haste, I had forgotten to give him his morning feed and this may not have helped. Most of the moor was in a very poor shape with overgrown heather unattractive to dogs and grouse alike and I was regretting the endeavour even before my demise. There was some better heather that Jimmy was able to run Ben on but, by the time my turn came, we were put into some of the most overgrown stuff you could imagine.
We could not even see Sam, apart from when he bounded up and down when just his head was visible. Even so, he tried very hard and gamely cast out each side for several runs. The judges realised their mistake and got me to pick him up and then to work over to some better stuff. The trouble was a large flock of these wild sheep in the way.
I felt that I had to cast Sam wide to the right as we went to make some sense of this barren bracken clearing and so check out the heather margin. The first time he went for the sheep, I just about stopped him and I wanted to wait with him sitting to calm him down but the judges strode past me and I foolishly let him go again.
He ran and ran after those sheep until I had to run forward and it was some time before I got him under control again. I was thus eliminated in disgrace. I had little time for the others as I walked back to the car and then sat and brooded with Sam by me, realising that he had let me down.
I reckoned that those judges had given me an impossible test for Sam as a novice and I had failed miserably. If only I had that warning about the sheep, I would have stood some chance. I would have liked to have taken him back straight away to other similar sheep, but they were all so well fenced in that it was nigh impossible.
Then I sat in the car and read shooting and deer magazines until called upon to help ferry others back. The amazing thing was that Jimmy then had Ben do exactly the same thing; but even worse as his dog actually brought down a sheep which seemed to take some time to get up.
The judge was furious with Jim and this made him even more glum than me. It was tough going back to the local pub for the de-briefing and to sit through the awards and judges’ comments, but we did out of courtesy to all involved. The atmosphere in my car was depressing with both Jim and I devastated by the outcome.
Then I called Wiggly on the car phone to cheer myself up and there was even worse news. She first asked if I was alone and then said that it was vital that I talk to her in confidence as she had decided to be responsible at last. I stopped at the next service station and let Jimmy out for a while and then heard what she had got to say, expecting her to tell me that it would not be wise to continue the relationship. Instead, she told me of her medical condition.
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It was thus that I had to complete the journey home to Horning and to arrive late to unload and retire well after the rest of the family had gone to bed.