I’m not an experienced camper at all but I do ❤︎ it. As a little girl, I always dreamt of camping in the wilderness, with my dog, under the stars. I imagined us asleep, under a big rock overhang. We’d have a fire going and would be nicely cuddled up in a sleeping bag. We’re yet to do it – quite like that – but I believe there is still time. At that point, I didn’t even have a dog (I now have seven) so at least that part of the dream has come true 😊.
The first time my dog and I went camping was when I was 20. She was a lovely Hovawart girl called Cherry and my friend Lubka and I, together with both our furry friends went to a lake near Banska Stiavnica. Cherry had always been a very good guard dog so I put her on a long lead outside the tent thinking she would prefer to sleep outside and guard the tent. Guard it… she did! Each time someone walked past she would bark, run towards them, pull the peg out, say hi, and come back. This happened a few times during the night before I gave up. I eventually let her come into the tent and she fell fast asleep, happily snoring till morning.
Twenty-five years later, here I am again but camping with another Cherry. What a beautiful coincidence, isn’t it?
This time however it’s in Germany, not Slovakia, and this Cherry dog is much, MUCH smaller but not less of a dog. I have to say, John planned the whole trip perfectly. We left our home at about 6 am on Thursday morning and got comfortably to our campsite, Camping Im Siebengebirge, at about 7 pm.
Camping Im Siebengebirge is a lovely and small dog-friendly campsite with quite a few quirky features. It’s also only 20 euros per night! The tent was set up in no time. Our comfy chairs and our little gas camping stove followed and we started to get our dinner ready. While John cooked I took Cherry for a walk which she really enjoyed!
She’s a little explorer, very curious, and scared of nothing. After a lovely vegan burger and baked beans for me, chicken sausages, eggs, and beans for John, we just sat there enjoying late cuppas in the evening sun. As the site was very quiet we let Cherry off the lead and let her explore the tent and surrounding grass area. She found some leaves to play with and chased a few bugs which was then followed by a few mad minutes running in and out of the tent. She’s such a funny little dog and didn’t even attempt to walk away from us. For the rest of the evening, she sat on my or Johns’s lap loving her camping adventure.
Because John had done some research before the trip, we not only had a tent that was very easy to put up but also camping beds and camping mattresses. I didn’t even know they existed but it made the whole experience even more comfortable. Note…I definitely wouldn’t drag it under the rock overhang lol 😂.
With Cherry’s bed between our beds, all three of us slept like logs. We woke up to a beautiful, warm sunny morning, and shortly after we were ready for the second half of our journey. CHERRY IS ON HER WAY HOME! ❤️
Jitka xx