Friday, 28 May 2010

Hoddom Horsewoman

"So guess who's the Page 3 girl today?" said Elsa as soon as I walked in the door last night at 10.30 p.m. My mind was still on the raised peat bogs I'd been discussing at a meeting all evening, and to be honest I really couldn't care less who was on Page 3 of anything, or why Elsa had suddenly become so interested in topless women in tabloids.

"Go on", she goaded. "Look", flashing a newspaper under my eyes.

I recognised my ponies immediately but hesitated to admit that the fat face grinning at me was my own. Perhaps I should have been more careful with my choice of words in the press release requested by the local paper. Now people will be thinking it's just as well my ponies are "sturdy" Fells because they jolly well need to be to carry that lump.

I told Elsa it was positively the worst picture of me I'd ever seen.

"On no mum, I think not. You should try googling yourself. There's far worse on there." (And no I haven't, and if what Elsa says is true, I'd really rather you didn't either.)

Anyway, notwithstanding the unflattering photo, the Annandale Herald has written a really nice article about my ride, even if everyone I've seen today has said they thought it very amusing that I said I was so looking forward to my own company. Tell me honestly: if you had a darling daughter being so charming, wouldn't you feel the same? And mightn't you be tempted to ask yourself why, oh why, you had encouraged her to accompany you on the first week of an epic trip when there's no-one else around to arbitrate? I had to go out riding not to toughen up ponies and my posterior but just to restore sanity.

Thursday, 27 May 2010

Getting it together

After years of dreaming and months of planning, things are finally coming together for my ride this summer following in the foosteps of the summer from Skye to Smithfield in London.

There are maps everywhere. Identifying the main routes taken by the drovers as they herded cattle south from Scotland to market in London via the traditional fattening grounds in Norfolk was only the first step in planning my route. Some are clearly visible and marked as old drove roads on Ordnance Survey maps. Others have been truncated by reservoirs or long since disappeared under tarmac, including whole stretches of the main drove route south from the North Tyne, now subsumed under the A1. My trusty Fell ponies may be good in traffic, but riding down a dual carriageway for miles on end wasn't exactly what I had in mind. So back to the drawing board to find alternative routes. Then it's a matter of finding out which are passable on horseback. Drovers were all too familiar with treacherous bogs, but finding out which I can still get through or how to get round them isn't easy.

After endless phone calls to stalkers, landowners and others who share my passion for exploring historic tracks on horseback, at last my route is coming together, even if I have yet to sort the final leg through from Norfolk to London. Prompted by the imminent arrival of a journalist from the local paper keen to cover my ride, I drew a very long black line on a large map of the UK. It's really interesting to see how it relates to the route Elsa and I rode from John O'Groats to Lands End in 2006. As Elsa said, by the time I've added all the other places in Britain I've ridden or driven with my ponies in the past, I'll be able to see which other parts remain for me to explore. But meanwhile, as departure day on 27th June 2010 draw nigh, back to getting things together for my ride this summer.

Getting it together

After years of dreaming and months of planning, things are finally coming together for my ride following in the footsteps of the drovers from Skye to Smithfield.

The first stage was identifying which routes the drovers used as they herded cattle south from Scotland to market in London, which sections of drove road still exist and which are passable on horseback. Whole stretches are now under tarmac, including parts of the Great North Road. My trusty steeds may be good in traffic, but the A1 is hardly what I had in mind riding along! So then I've had to go back to my history books to identify other routes used by the drovers, or find suitable alternatives. North of the border, deteriorating drainage is more of a problem, prompting endless phone calls to stalkers, landowners and others who share my passion for riding historic tracks to determine just how bottomless the bogs suggested by my maps, and to identify ways round where necessary. Then there are routes truncated by reservoirs, cattle grids to cross, and the locked gates which I will only get through if I find out who has a key and can persuade them to unlock it for me at the right time, on the right day.

Prompted by the imminent arrival of a journalist from the local newspaper, on Tuesday I drew a very long black line on a huge map of Britain showing roughly my 1,000 mile route from Skye, through the Highlands, over the Pentlands and Southern Uplands, down the east side of England to the traditional fattening grounds in Norfolk. I'm still deciding which way to go on the last leg through to London, but it's really exciting to see how the route for my Drovers' Footsteps ride compares to that which we rode from John O'Groats to Lands End in 2006. And as Elsa said last night, when I've marked on my map where else I've ridden, then I can clearly see which bits of Britain remain for me to explore with my ponies.