Yorkshire - James Herriot Country
After picking up a car rental at Heathrow and fighting with the M25 and then M1 traffic we arrived in the Yorkshire area some 4 hours or so later. Following precise road directions (downloaded from the British AA website) I was dismayed to find that we were being diverted from our planned destination (the old Roman town of York) by an extremely large protest march in the Selby area (greenies versus the local power station). The police officers at the roadblocks suggested that we lay up for a couple of hours in the village pub across the road - an instruction that I had no problem following. A couple of hours and pints later we hit the road again for York - completely protester free.
One highlight of our stay in Yorkshire was to be able to visit the town of Thirsk about 30 minutes north of York. Thirsk is better known as the fictional town of Darrowby which is the home town of James Herriott of All Creatures Great and Small fame. After a visit to the James Herriott museum and purchasing a copy of the James Herriott Biography written by his son (and autographed), followed by a pint or two at the local Darrowby hotel we were on our way back to York.
We then headed down the road a bit to Goole which was where we were to stay as it is close to the show-grounds. We met up with some of the committee on the day prior to the show as well as old friends Cinzia (my co-judge) and Sergio Aymaretti-Camia and their beautiful daughter Emanuela. We had such a great, but short time with them. The hospitality shown by the committee was also fantastic and I do truly thank them - Sue & Mick Virgo, Mike and Avril Lancashire and Derek and Hazel Arris, along with my ring stewards Lizzie Vowles and Peter Wright.
Yorkeshire Afghan Hound Society Specialty
It was a great honour to be invited to judge at the Yorkshire Afghan Hound Society specialty Show. Together with Cinzia we had the biggest Afghan entry for 2006 (outside of Crufts) - some 132 bitches for me and 110 dogs for Cinzia. I am truly grateful to the British Afghan Hound exhibitors for this.
 
Carlton Towers (left) and YAHS BOB & R/U BOB (right)
Unfortunately it had been raining heavily for quite a few days prior to the show and we did expect the worst. However on arrival at the Carlton Towers (with Aussie Drizabone in hand) we were presented with a fabulous sight - sun shining, exhibitors all over the place, beautiful ring settings, all with a back-drop of the majestic Carlton Towers Castle residence and gardens. What a setting for the show !! After some last minute ring procedure instructions in the sitting room of the magnificent residence we were ready.
132 exhibits is quite a full days work in especially windy conditions - but no rain!! After completing my bitch judging I was extremely happy with both of my CC and res CC's - really great on the move and the type that I liked. They are both Saxonmill bred with the same dam (Ch Saxonmill Jellicle Jett) but different sires. My CC winner (Saxonmill Grizabella) was sired by the well known Int UK Sw Dk Ir Lux Bel Ch Exxos Gameboy at Zharook (JW) - this CC finished her UK championship. It seems that imports are having quite a bit of influence in the UK these days. This has changed considerably the UK Afghans since I first observed them there at some shows 15 or so years ago, as well as a number of times since.
Then for BOB came Ch Khafka's Exotic Spice - a very imposing dog that showed with great style and carriage. I could not deny him and after a great amount of deliberation I was happy to agree with Cinzia and award him best in show. I was quite impressed with him - Aussie breeding is there as well being out of a Jacosta bitch !! For reserve BIS both Cinzia and I agreed on the bitch for res BIS - her performance never let down through BOB and res BOB judging. Our referee Mick Virgo was very pleased that he was not called upon to make the final decision.
Another former Aussie acquaintance there was Michael Trafford in his capacity as show photographer. It was great to catch up with him.
The next day we drove back to Heathrow for an early morning flight to Barcelona.
Spain . . . Not Just a place to visit . . . A way of life
We arrived in Barcelona Spain on the Tuesday before the Specialty Show (to be held in Pamplona later in the week), where we spent our first few days as tourists.
In Barcelona we commenced our "Spanish way of Life" education with late lunches followed by afternoon siestas and late dinners of tapas, paella and various specialty meat dishes, along of course with the local Cerevicas and Vino (beer and wine). A trip to many of the tourist attractions (including a day on the Barcelona "Turistic Bus") was usually followed by lunch and afternoon siesta. Then the day would finish with a late evening walk along La Ramblas and a visit to one of the many local restaurants for tapas and paella. We would wander with many other thousands of tourists and locals visiting the bars and restaurants until very late at night. Street entertainment included bands and Spanish and Latin dancers.
One other thing we learnt about Spanish way of life was that if something did not happen today then there was always tomorrow. This was very prophetic with our departure from Barcelona for Pamplona to judge the show. Initially we were going to fly to Pamplona, but with the very short flight it made more sense to drive. Paquita Kriens (the club president and ring steward for the show) was to pick us up at our hotel for the trip. We were to travel to Pamplona with the club treasurer and her partner (Carmen and Antonio). After a delay of a few hours due to a mix-up at the car rental company, the first car to arrive was a typically small two door European car and was unable to hold our luggage, let alone 5 people.
Once the rental car was sorted out and we just managed to squeeze in our luggage and five people into only a little larger vehicle, we were on our way. By this time it was about 5.30pm on Friday afternoon of a long weekend (Monday public holiday). We were then told that Pamplona was a five hour drive, but with the 2 hours in stop-start traffic getting out of Barcelona (long weekend) we eventually arrived at our hotel in Pamplona around 12.30am the next morning.
Luckily the starting time for the show was moved to 5pm on the Saturday rather than the originally planned 10am start. We managed to get a good night's sleep and then strolled to breakfast at around 10.00am next morning. There we met my co-judge for Salukis from Norway, Lotta Brun and her partner Jack Jackson. After breakfast we all spent the next couple of hours strolling around the old town areas of Pamplona (yes where they run the bulls) - after we managed to find it.
We then returned to our hotel to prepare for the show. Due to show preparations Paquita and her committee left for the show-grounds some time before us judges, and Jack was to drive us to the grounds in his rental car - some 5-10 minutes away. None of us had ever been to Pamplona previously, and with good instructions at the hotel, a detailed map and also a GPS satellite navigation system we set off one hour early. A single wrong turn (GPS error of course - not me being the navigator) caused us some concern, however with a couple stops for directions (luckily Lotta can speak some Spanish) we eventually found the show-grounds with almost 30 minutes to spare.
XXVII Exposicion Monografica Nacional De Galgos Afganos y Salukis
The 27th Spanish National Specialty for Afghans and Salukis was held in a local college sports stadium in Pamplona on an extremely hot day on Saturday 9th September. The inside atmosphere was close and sticky, and together with the concrete floor was not good conditions for showing. The allotted time for the Monografica was from 5.00pm to 8.00pm. We finally got underway with Lotta judging Salukis at around 5.30pm. At around 7.00pm I got underway with judging the Afghan Hounds and finished around 10.00pm. There was a lovely entry of 35 Afghans that were almost all adults (only one puppy entry). A magnificent open bitch class of 14 entries capped of a beautiful entry for me.
 
Monografica BOB/BIS and R/U BIS (left) and Open Bitch 1st, 2nd & 3rd (right)
Looking at the catalogue afterwards there is quite an influence here from imports - from Australia as well as from the rest of Europe. I think I had something like 5 or 6 Aussie bred dogs and a number of French dogs came across the border to show. The quality was good and I did not have any problem in finding quite a bit of what I liked and also that moved to how I wanted. My BOB afghan was a Swedish bitch (Ch Kingsleah Queen of Golddragon) and my co-judge Lotta Brun and I had no problem in agreeing that she should be BIS. She is a real show dog - great movement and presence for quite a petite bitch.
Other major winners were the French dog Ch Thor De Menuel Galopin whom I awarded CC and best male - I also found him a very impressive dog and hard to deny. I was later told that this dog was #1 Afghan in France for last year. For my CC bitch I chose Khafka's The Blond who is a repeat of Exotic Spice (my UK BOB) - she was from the very impressive open bitch class of 14 exhibits.
After the show we had a very late dinner at a local restaurant up the street from our Hotel. We had a great time here getting to know the committee and co-judge a lot better. The hospitality shown by Paquita and Juan Carlos Nobrega (club secretary) and the show organizing committee was wonderful. After breakfast next morning at the hotel, we departed Pamplona with breed identity Jose Vincente bound for Madrid. Jose lives in a small village just outside of Madrid and kindly offered for us to stay with him and get to see Madrid.
Lunch here was also followed by afternoon siesta. Later that evening we visited the oldest restaurant in the world (according to the Guinness Book of Records). This was "Botin de Cuchilleros" located in the heart of old town Madrid - founded in 1725. The house specialty of baby suckling pig was "to die for" - what an experience.
For the next 4-5 days we were tourists in Madrid and we had a time to remember for which Lyn and I will be forever grateful. More of our "Spanish way of Life" education followed, with late lunches, afternoon siestas, late dinners and more Cerevicas and Vino.
 
Ibizan and Azawhak
A particularly exciting experience while in Madrid was a visit to El Solar De Tara to see many beautiful dogs. These included the rarer sighthounds such as Azawhaks and Ibizans as well as Irish Setters, Shih Tzus and Maltese. We are grateful to Eduardo and Miguel for this opportunity.
What a wonderful city Madrid turned out to be for us - the architecture of the buildings and spectacular fountains, together with the atmosphere of the old town, have made Madrid a city to remember for us.
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