The Little Firecracker's Highland Fling I warn you now this will be long, so I do hope you are sitting comfortably..... I also warn you that I have nicked some of Julia's photos from Facebook and have probably got a bit muddled as to which pictures went with which day - but hey - there was a lot of it! I've also probably missed things out unwittingly - but hey this is long enough already! The seeds for this adventure were sown when I helped crew Leo and Julia for their Cairngorm 100 attempt last year. I had a fabulous time, was blown away by the whole ethos of the event and knew that I would have to give it a go one day. They weren't going to run the biggie this year, (100 miles, 1 day, 1 horse - mountains, bogs, rivers, boulders and views to die for), but were running the Four Day Trail Ride - which is more or less the same course but ridden over four days instead of one. I thought this would be an excellent thing to do as a practice for the biggie - giving Sham and I a heads up of the course and maybe lessen the terror when sitting on the start line at 2am in 2019 with 100 miles of extreme Scottish terrain ahead of us.... well that was the rationale behind this year's Pony Trekking Holiday. Lots of preparation and expense of buying rufty tufty saddle bags (both front and back), rufty tufty spare tyre hoof boots (both front and back), every form of midge and horsefly protection and a generally rather long list of 'stuff'. Our 'ride preparation' wasn't ideal - the week before Sham spooked going downhill into the stream, lost his footing and scraped his knees. Then the Sunday before I went to give them their breakfast and he was majorly struggling to eat - vet called. A bit of something stuck between his teeth and scraping his cheek. removed the offending stick and then came back with major drill and lots of sedative on the Wednesday and drilled his teeth to try to stop him being able to grind at that point and put some potty putty into the gap where the gum had receded a bit and fingers crossed that the gum will grow back. I manfully took him for his daily hour's walk every day and crossed my fingers that his self-harming campaign was at an end. On the Monday before he got shod with his smart new rufty tufty pads and was ready to go.
Transcript
The Little Firecracker's Highland FlingI warn you now this will be long, so I do hope you are sitting comfortably.....
I also warn you that I have nicked some of Julia's photos from Facebook and have probably got a bit muddled as to which pictures went with which day - but hey - there was a lot of it! I've also probably missed things out unwittingly - but hey this is long enough already!
The seeds for this adventure were sown when I helped crew Leo and Julia for their Cairngorm 100 attempt last year. I had a fabulous time, was blown away by the whole ethos of the event and knew that I would have to give it a go one day. They weren't going to run the biggie this year, (100 miles, 1 day, 1 horse - mountains, bogs, rivers, boulders and views to die for), but were running the Four Day Trail Ride - which is more or less the same course but ridden over four days instead of one. I thought this would be an excellent thing to do as a practice for the biggie - giving Sham and I a heads up of the course and maybe lessen the terror when sitting on the start line at 2am in 2019 with 100 miles of extreme Scottish terrain ahead of us.... well that was the rationale behind this year's Pony Trekking Holiday.
Lots of preparation and expense of buying rufty tufty saddle bags (both front and back), rufty tufty spare tyre hoof boots (both front and back), every form of midge and horsefly protection and a generally rather long list of 'stuff'.
Our 'ride preparation' wasn't ideal - the week before Sham spooked going downhill into the stream, lost his footing and scraped his knees. Then the Sunday before I went to give them their breakfast and he was majorly struggling to eat - vet called. A bit of something stuck between his teeth and scraping his cheek. removed the offending stick and then came back with major drill and lots of sedative on the Wednesday and drilled his teeth to try to stop him being able to grind at that point and put some potty putty into the gap where the gum had receded a bit and fingers crossed that the gum will grow back. I manfully took him for his daily hour's walk every day and crossed my fingers that his self-harming campaign was at an end. On the Monday before he got shod with his smart new rufty tufty pads and was ready to go.
The original plan was that Sham and I would go in Violet and take two days getting up there - overnighting with Francis in North Berwick on the way up and the Gnomes would take a day or two longer to get up to Francis in the caravan and we'd convoy the last bit. Unfortunately Auntie Eve couldn't come, and Mother couldn't do it on her own, so the plan changed to Mother, Flurrie, Sham and I all going in Violet with a large tent for Mother and Flurrie.
Friday 22nd June - day of packing! As my dear friend Carole called it - endurance tetris!
5am alarm6am picked up Mother and Flurrie7am Violet loaded with the whole team and on the road with a mere 435 miles ahead.....
Had an absolutely super drive round the dreaded M25 and oft iffy M11 and after four hours had our very needed hour's pit stop at Wetherby Services HGV department from 11:00-12:00, then loaded up and off again for the second half.
Another four hours heading ever northwards and at about ten past four we were driving into Francis' yard. Sham was very snorty! He recognised it immediately (he lived with Francis for 18 months before I had him) and also there was a rather raucous football game going on in a garden which added to his impressive prancey snorting. Francis turned up and we marched Sham down to his overnight accommodation. He was going to overnight in the field he used to share with Francis' horses - unfortunately for him there wasn't another horse nearby this weekend and it took him some time to get his
head round the fact that he was all on his own and shouted rather a lot! Mother and I set up camp at the bottom of the field. Round One of Raising 'The Bloody Tent'.....
We had a lovely evening with Francis and Mark, Flurrie being constantly told off by Mowgli - justifiably I may add! Mother kept the Gnome Catering flag flying by bringing Beef Stroganoff and home made lemon mousse with her. We cheerfully bade Mark and Francis a good night and wended our way down her picturesque driveway to our little campsite and confused pony at about 9pm.
Up and at 'em by 7am, 'The Bloody Tent' packed up again, everything sorted in Violet and ready to rock on to Glen Clova by 8! We were meeting Francis, Mark and Liz with ponies Harry and Phoebe down the lane at 9am so faultlessly loaded Mother, Flurrie and Sham at 8:45 and set off again - 130 miles today then - a mere bagatelle.....Little wait at our rendez vous spot as Francis had indeed forgotten her riding hat (despite remarking the evening before that she mustn't forget her hat....) so had to nip home to retrieve it and then we were off! Now it really felt like our adventure was beginning properly as we were in convoy with seasoned Cairngormers in sniffing distance of the mountains themselves.
Super easy drive to Glen Clova following Team Francis and we rolled into the venue field at about 12:15. Set up the ponies' corrals, set up 'The Bloody Tent' (Round 2) and all four of us flopped and enjoyed the sun. What a treat to lay on my bed in Violet with the ramp down and chat to my dear little pony (thank you for the photos Sally). Boy was it bloody hot!!! Now I knew it was going to be around 30 degrees down south, but Aberdeen is ALWAYS at least ten degrees below Sussex - nope - not this week!!! At just gone 3pm the other South East riders arrived (Julia and Leo) - Team Southern Lunatics was complete!
How wonderful, lots of catching up, lots of meeting new people, lots of ponies arriving of all shapes and sizes and hairiness levels - yep this was such a good thing to do!
Super evening in the hotel where we all ate together, service was painfully slow, but the food was fine and the company was great.
The riders were all being divided into three groups. Francis was going to lead the Fluffy and Hairy brigade including any who wished to go slower out first, Penny with the middle group and then our own southern belle Sally Toye would head the 'Foreigners' (damned cheek!) consisting of me, Leo, Julia and welsh Carol, to bring up the rear.
All very excited we went to bed.
PART 2
Monday 25th June - Pony Trekking Holiday Day 1 - Glen Clova to Invercauld - 43km
The ponies were going to trek 43km to Invercauld and the crews and vehicles were going to do the thrilling/hair-raising 70 mile drive through the ski slopes around Braemar and meet us at the other end.
Perhaps now is the time to admit that Mother hadn't had any practice driving Violet.... also perhaps we should admit that she has only driven an automatic for the past two years.... bless her, she gamely altered the seat position to 'Gnome' and prepared herself for her baptism by fire of driving 70 miles of testing driving sandwiched between Peter and Viv so that she didn't get lost.
As it was so hot everyone tried to set off a bit earlier, but it didn't really happen and I think we set off at about 9:30ish - I had a fair bit of faffing with my new all singing all dancing saddlebags, but managed to get everything securely attached. Got Sham's super new heavy duty but mildly stretchy breastplate from Pioneer Endurance fitting snugly and got on. Ah! One must remember the saddlebags at the back when leaping on! I didn't and had a mildly undignified out of control trot away from the mounting block as I tried to gather everything up and find my stirrup. By this time Sham was VERY excited and trembling like a leaf. I went up to find the rest of my fellow southerners and we readied for the off. Sally was riding Clive's horse Nabab (no idea of the spelling) who was rather wound up. At least Sham's over-excitement usually just manifests itself as alarmed eyes and trembling and not too much of the plungey about stuff Nabab was doing. Hoorah we're off - let the real fun begin!
Sham was hugely excited by this point (there is a reason why I try not to ride in groups of more than two or three), pulling like a train and having a lovely time. I spent the first bit along the road getting to know welsh Carol and her lovely mare Maddie - who Sham instantly fell in love with. There is two to three miles along the valley and then you're off the track and through some woods and then the infamous Capel Burn crossing - I was too busy negotiating it to photograph - but its a steep down, over some big boulders, pick through medium boulders, over a big one or two then steep, slippy,
muddy up and out. I have found this picture of Julia and Milo from last year courtesy of Kenny MacArther - KDM photography - it doesn't show the steep grassy slippy bits down to it and up out of it, but it shows you what we did - and yes it is a tad scary.
Nabab did the customary bit of fussing in front but with some good Thelwell kicking Sally got him through and then it was the Firecracker's turn - he tip toed down the steep, slippy muddy bit and then just picked his way over and around the boulders and then bounded out and up the hill as though he'd been doing it every day of his life - what a little treasure. All the horses got through it pretty smoothly, but we decided the Elegance Award went to Seavie and Leo.
No resting on our laurels - the BIG climb starts here! Never, ever have I done a hill (cliff face/mountain) like this - Exmoor is tough, but it has nothing like this - here's the gradient - 240m to 693m in about a mile.
All the ponies did brilliantly up here (as did all our breastplates as no one needed to adjust their saddles at the top). Little Sham just kept soldiering on, dripping with sweat, panting, but steadily putting one foot in front of the other with no encouragement needed from me. We did have a couple of stops for a breather on the way up and Sally very nobly got off and strode up a couple of sections - I felt that I really should get off and give Sham a break, but quite frankly I couldn't trust my legs to get me back on
again....
Hurrah! We got to the top and the views were jaw droppingly breathtaking and quite humbling to look down where we had come up - or rather quite what our ponies had faithfully carried us up!
Clive was at the top to welcome and congratulate us, and was going to follow us down collecting his wooden drain covers. Let me explain - he and Sally spent the afternoon of yesterday putting out boards over all the drains that cross the track - they are about 5 inch wide, square, iron, open gutters set into the track and are perfectly sized for pulling horses shoes off and/or damaging their feet. The drains run the whole width of the track and the covers are about two foot long - so some good leg yielding practice all the way down aiming for the centre of the board. Sham got the hang of it quite quickly and only sort of went in a drain when Nabab very rudely pushed him of the board - thank fully no harm done.
At the bottom there was a lovely burn and we washed off the very sweaty horses and gave them all a drink and generally had a little rest - this is where I found out that its actually far harder getting off with the rear saddle bags than getting on! Your leg gets caught up and doesn't reach the ground quick enough to keep you upright.... From here on in I swung my leg over the front instead for every dismount!
Off we set again. Now this is where I need to tell you that Sham was pulling like a train and a bloody nightmare when behind - I couldn't believe it, he'd just carried a middle aged mildly overweight woman up the North Face of the Eiger and was still full of bouncy beans. Unfortunately for my riding chums this meant that the little sod did far more than his fair share at the front as that was the only time my arms were saved a bit. Mmmmm, bad Sham! Hackamore had been fine in the wide openness of the Downs, at competitions etc, he'll settle, he'll get used to being in a group....
We then rode along past Loch Muick which was magical, one really felt one was in the Lord of the Rings at times - here are some pictures of the day in no particular order as I get a tad confused as to what's what after a week of gorgeous views!
We were all bumbling along nicely, Sally was schooling Nabab as she went, Sham was still being a bit too pully for my liking, Maddie was being a total tart as she had come into season and Seavie and Milo were just impeccable! Sham resumed his self harming by tripping up and going down on his knees, thankfully no blood and no damage - twit! We just gently carried bumbling along and then lo, look, we've caught up the group ahead! What do we do? Hold back or try and overtake? We all decided that as it was so stiflingly hot we didn't really want to be riding any longer than we had to and so decided to keep bumbling along at our current speed and ask to overtake. Which we did, most politely and carried on to our lunch stop at the Distillery - no don't get excited, it was only near the Distillery! Here Mark was with the crew transit van with all our lunches in it, lots of water and lots of smiles and helpfulness and we all slid off our ponies and tried to find some shade. Peter and Viv were there, unfortunately they couldn't fit Mother in the Landy with them - but she probably benefitted more from a nap after epic maiden voyage that morning (apparently on getting out of Violet she announced that she couldn't decide between 'terrifying' and 'thrilling' to describe the drive - Peter said she'd done brilliantly. It was a bit manic as Francis' first group hadn't left yet, we arrived and then Penny's overtaken ride came in about fifteen minutes after us! We had a bit of an incident when Nabab went for Seavie and ended up knocking Leo over - thankfully she had her body protector and hat on so no major damage done. All the other horses were just chilling out in sociable fashion - but gave him a wider berth after that. It was a nice rest, Sham did have a bit of a munch and a bit of a drink and then Sally and I tried the trick of swapping their feeds and they really ate once they knew it was someone elses. Unfortunately, we were here rather longer than we wanted as we had been put on the naughty step for overtaking and made to wait til last to go out again (still not sure what the logic was behind that). Eventually we set off again with only about 7 miles to go to Invercauld.
INSERT PICTURE WITH JULIA AT CREW STOP
Not long after leaving our lunch stop we came across Anne leading her lovely little black and white cob back towards us to a pick up point. He'd trodden on a nail and it had gone right up into his frog - poor chap. Luckily, he was able to continue the other three days with ministrations from Francis and was sound as a bell.
We had a lovely time gently wending our way down into the valley and along in to Invercauld - not daring to go too fast and catch anyone up again.... there were some lovely wooded bits, Viv had very kindly walked down to open the last deer gate for us and then we went over the lovely bridge to our lodgings for the night at about 4pm. Sham striding out with his new ginger girlfriend Maddie, with Carol and I nattering
away. Leo and Julia bringing up the rear with Viv - Sally had already gone past Gnome Cam!
INSERT PICTURE COMING UP TRACK
Mother had the corral all set up in some lovely shade (sadly the tent was still in a heap), I popped Sham in his corral and oh the bliss of getting hat, gloves and boots off and a cup of tea! What a fantastic day we all had - goodness this ride is amazing already!
Mother and I battled with The Bloody Tent (Round 3) - by this point I was beginning to hate the relaxed elastic in the poles that meant they kept coming apart when you tried to thread them through AND then the clipping in of the internal pod inside a hot tent once you were already hot and bothered and rapidly getting to the 'Don't you Darling me' stage.....
Lovely evening sitting next to Sham's corral, sausage sandwiches and white wine and then a very welcome bed in my purple camper van.
INSERT PICTURE OF CAMP AND CORALLING
PART 4
Tuesday 26th - Pony Trekking Day 2 - Loop from Invercault to The Top of The World and Back - 43km
Today was going to be different from all the other days for two reasons. We didn't have to strike camp and move on (hurrah The Bloody Tent could stay where it was!) and there was a choice of routes to do. There was the Cairngorm 100 (ish) route to The Top of the World (Carn Laith) which was 43km, there was a different loop of 27km to up the Quoich and Slugain and then there was the option to do both, but box out to Inverey (I think) to bring it down to 50km. After lots of discussions and to-ings and fro-ings it was decided that Sally (on a different one of Clive's horses) would take Leo, Julia and (oh dear I can't remember her name) on the shorter Quoich route as that had bits in that none of these seasoned Cairngormer's had done before. Penny would also take a group on this route. Clive was taking a group to do the double and Francis would take Liz, Grainne and me to the Top of the World!
After all the pulling of the day before I decided to try Sham in his Indian bosal instead of the short S hack he wore yesterday as the cross-under/Dr Cooks effect usually makes him sit up and listen more than the curb strap of the S hackamore and the nose band is just twisted rope which is also a little 'louder' than the padded hackamore noseband. The downside is that he does get a bit cross with the more effective cross-under after a few hours but that was a risk my poor arms and shoulders would be willing to take - plus he'd have had the edge taken off him by yesterdays efforts surely....
Woo hoo! Off we go again! I'm beginning to get the hang of this avoiding the saddlebag when mounting thing - it would help if Sham could be guaranteed to stand stock still rather than trotting off across the venue!
Oh yes, the day before my right knee started to get painful. Exactly the same thing that happened to me doing our two day 130km at North Norfolk in 2016, so to nip it in the bud I put my robo cop knee on - this is a skateboarder's knee pad with the internal padding cut out which just leaves the hard shell as a protective layer to stop the skin of my knee being irritated by my hugely padded squidgy knee rolls gently rubbing it for four or five hours - it works a treat and I really don't notice I'm wearing it - plus its fantastic protection from gate posts!
INSERT PICTURES – SUGGEST ONE OF GROUP, TRILBY FACING CAMERA AND PETER (?) OPENING GATE AS THEY LEAVE
Well no, Sham had not had the side taken out of him yesterday - still totally full of bouncy beans and yep, you've guessed it, pulling like a bloody steam train when trotting or cantering - thankfully though I did have a bit more braking power with the bosal. Unfortunately for my arms and shoulders we went an awful long way all along the bottom of the valley first, so no hills to slow him down!
It was lovely to get to ride with Francis at along last and our little group of four gingers
was very chilled out and relaxed and we had a lovely time. Grainne's super little horse Amber was also in a hackamore and behaving impeccably! Oh the joys of having a teenager with a run of deer gates. To be fair us grown ups did get off occasionally - Francis more than me I will admit, but I did do the odd token gesture.
We wound along the valley with the horses drinking well out of burns and the river at the punch bowl, and then we went across the beautiful Mar Lodge bridge and had a bit of tarmac and then began our climb to the Top of the World.
INSERT PICTURES AT BRIDGE
Up, up, up we climbed! We were doing it 'the wrong way round' and so went up the way the CG100 comes down. We met Clive and his group coming down - he seemed a bit surprised to see us coming up and had clearly forgotten that he'd asked Francis to try it this way to see how it rode - oh lordy, on the naughty step again! Up, up we went, the final bit to the top was incredibly steep - sadly Sham has bugger all mane to cling onto so I just had to rely on my trusty breastplate which did its job beautifully once again.
At the top we all got off and had lunch. Sadly there was no grass for the ponies to eat, but happily I'd put a biggish bag of fibre nuts for them to share in my capacious saddlebag and also found out that Sham has a penchant for Honey Roasted Cashews!
INSERT COUPLE OF PICTURES FROM THE TOP
On we all clambered cheerfully and set off down the undulating descent - the lovely undulations meant we could get a few sneaky canters in much to Sham's delight - he does love a good canter! Towards the bottom it was a bit tricky and boggy in places and then we plunged into the welcome shade of the woods - here Sham was fussing so much with the flies that he tripped over and went on his knees AGAIN! Luckily it was on a grassy bit, but really, this is getting a mildly irritating new habit of his that really needs to stop!
After the lovely grassy wooded bit we were back on the road and rejoining the route we came out on to go all the way back the same way - not actually as boring as it sounds as there's just so much beauty surrounding you to pass the time.
At the river crossing Francis took us off on a detour to see the Punch Bowl - I'm not sure if its the hole in the rock, or the whirlpooly bit - but here's the pictures!
INSERT COUPLE OF PICTURES
At this point little Grainne had gone very quiet and I think was beginning to wilt, so we made the decision to push on for home all along the valley and had a lot of canters along the grassy bit in the middle of the track. Grainne was also suffering from
saddlebag slippage and had to keep re-tightening, then we tried strapping her rug pack on to mine, that didn't work for long either so Francis ended up carrying it! I had a real highlight here where a red squirrel leapt out on to the track in front of Sham, stopped dead, and whizzed back to the side and up a tree - such pretty little things and I think the first red squirrel I've ever seen! Unfortunately on a stoney trot section Pheobe decided to go down on her knees - sadly she did cut herself a bit, but after a little walk and then a little test trot, she seemed fine and so we carried on. I have no idea what time we got back to the venue, but Team Ginger had had a lovely day and indeed felt on top of the world! And yes, you've guessed it Sham was gung ho right to the end!
INSERT COUPLE OF PICTURES
Another wonderfully lazy evening beside Sham's corral - supper of Bacon Sarnie, Chocolate and Wine and then a very needed bed for all!
INSERT PICTURE OF CAMPING IN THE SUN
PART 5
Wednesday 27th June - Pony Trekking Day 3 - Invercauld to Tomintoul - 37km for Sham and me 30 miles for Violet, Flurrie and Mum.
The whole circus readies to move further up the road - pull apart The Bloody Tent and pack everything up. Almost a shame to leave such a gorgeous venue field where we had loads of grass, lots of shade and a very handy large river about 50 yards away to fill up our water canisters with Scottish mountain water that Sham has really rather developed a taste for and has drunk well all along. We're back to the foreigners today - Leo, Julia, Carol and I being guided beautifully by Auntie Sally. Hey ho silver, off we go again - and ooh we're off the naughty step and allowed to set off first! Gosh!
INSERT FIRST PICTURE (lightest looking one)
Another jolly hot day, but happy riders setting off to have some more fun with their ponies. I was toying with putting Sham's bit in after more pulling yesterday, but as he hasn't had one for about ten months I thought it might come as a bit of a shock and horribly wind him up and give me an even worse ride so I thought I'd give him the benefit of the doubt and put the S hackamore back on with a much tighter curb strap. Surely by day 3 he'd have got his head around riding in a group and surely he'd feel mildly weary...
The first section was a wonderful climb up, gently zig zagging between huge hills for miles, loads of hares scampering about us and grouse taking off in alarm - Sham didn't mind either of these, but the mink traps over the ditches at the side needed to be spooked at EVERY time! (we have no idea if they were actually mink traps but decided that was a fair explanation for the little wire boxes on logs with a sort of pressure mechanism on them). We had a super long, long canter on on up up oh it was such a glorious section and as we neared the top we could see the second group miles behind us beginning their ascent.
INSERT 3 OF THE PICTURES OF THE VIEW AND HORSES INCLUDED
After moseying up, up up we then moseyed down, down down and crossed a wide river. Sham just toddled through normally, no antics just in, little paddle, nice long drink and out, but as we trotted away I felt an off stride, then okay, then off - bugger what's up - I called to all to stop and Leo and Julia called out that he'd lost a front shoe! Oh bollocks! Off I leap and Auntie Sally came to my rescue with a YouTube hoof boot fitting lesson - with me handing implements to my surgeon as and when needed - that woman really is a must have item on any adventure! I guess it took about 15 to 20 minutes to get Sham booted up smartly in his Easiboot Epic and set off again, all of us keeping an eye out in case it came off. Sham didn't notice any difference and gamely trotted and cantered along with no trips or stumbles and yes, you've guessed it - pulling like a train. Now I know it takes two to pull - I have read all the theory of easing off and letting them find their own speed, slowing down my rising to slow down his trot - believe me I had tried it all repeatedly over the three days. If I loosened the reins we just got faster and faster and faster and cantered off willy nilly, so I just kept nudging the reins to remind him I was there and unimpressed! If he was in front or walking he didn't pull
so at least I got some rest! Definitely lots more schooling needed when we get home.
We meandered down to the most beautiful loch and let all the ponies have a good ole paddle and slosh and we ate our lunch in the saddle whilst in the loch with little fish swimming around our horse's legs - quite a magical moment really - and then we carried on.
INSERT PICTURE 2 AND 4
We toddled along all along the edge of the loch on a lovely little windy twisty bath, having to be aware of little boggy bits here, there and everywhere and then we hit hard track - and that hard track just went on and on and on, sometimes track, sometimes tarmac, but relentless and never-ending and gutty - it was also midday so we were cooking and I think spirits flagged for all at varying points on this section - we knew it was coming - we knew we had to endure it so we did, but we didn't have to pretend to enjoy it all!
INSERT PICTURE 2
Crikey it was sooo hot, the hottest day in the Cairngorms for 23 years apparently! About 5km from Tomintoul the most wonderful mirage appeared in the heat haze in front of us - the Davenport Landy with Peter and Viv awash with drinks, food and cheery smiles - oh it was heaven and soooo needed by all of us.
Totally refreshed we breezed through the last 5km and were just walking down the lane to the corralling field when we saw a loose horse trotting down the lane with someone running after it and desperately trying to catch it before it got to the main road at the end - thankfully they did! It was Clive and his spare horse. We all made doubly sure of our corrals as there was no fence all along the edge of our field which wasn't exactly ideal. Hurrah, hurrah another hugely successful day done and we meandered down to our crews and corrals and a very needed cup of tea at just gone 2pm. Much to my relief, Sham's hoof boot stayed on beautifully and he'd gone very well in it and then when I took it and the vet wrap off his foot was perfect, no rubs or anything so he could happily wear it for the whole of the last day and get us to the end - as long as he didn't lose another front shoe as his other boot is a smaller one for his diddy back feet. Like the swanky saddlebags from America it was worth investing in instead of going for cheaper options.
INSERT PICTURE WITH HORSES IN IT
Unfortunately, The Bloody Tent was still in a tangled heap....
We sat in the shade drinking tea for a while when we heard a Good Bye from Arkela Sally who, after sorting her horse out and settling him in, got her two wheeled steed out, mounted and set off to pedal the whole way we had ridden to collect her Lego Brick Camper Van!!! The woman is truely barking!! She was offered lifts, but no - off she set at about 3pm ish. She arrived at Invercauld at about 8pm and back with us on four wheels at about 10pm.
INSERT PICTURE OF SALLY ON BIKE AND LEO SITTING OUTSIDE TRAILER
Right Mother, its no good we're going to have to do Round 93 with The Bloody Tent.... After a bit of huffing and puffing and struggling darling Viv (who is a true camping pro) took pity on our amateurish efforts and came and speeded us up wonderfully.
INSERT PICTURES 1, 2 AND 5
PART 6
Ooh what a treat last night - walking up to The Clockhouse Restaurant for supper - how lovely.
Francis had decided that I would join her group tomorrow so that we could swap ponies for a bit as she wanted to have a little ride on Sham and re-live their 2013 days - that was fine by me - Harry seemed a much more polite ride that my shoulders and blistered hands would welcome!
We had a very civilised evening with divine food and happily staggered back to our campsite at about tennish - about the same time that Sally had returned. Julia had picked up the meal that Sally had allegedly ordered (she was a bit confused when she picked it up, but thought hey, Sally's barking mad....) when Sally opened the two tupperware tubs we all fell about in hysterics - she had a tub of lentils and a tub of beetroot (btw Sally, Julia, Peter, Leo & Viv I've burst out giggling again just typing about it!) Ah that gave us a good half hour of entertainment whilst we all rallied so Sally had something a bit more palatable to eat. Now very late - 11pm!!! Time for bed said Zebedee.Up until now all had been wonderful, Sham hadn't been perfect and hadn't been the easiest ride but he had been awesome on that terrain and great fun a lot of the time and my pony trekking holiday had lived up to every expectation. It was going to be another bloody hot day for our last ride, but the second half of it would be through the magical forestry with oodles of shade - I was hugely looking forward to it and also for completing our 100 miles.At 2am I woke up feeling rather queasy. I lay there thinking my stomach was just in shock after having a proper meal and sat up in bed sipping water and waiting for sleep to return - it didn't - I just kept feeling more and more queasy - at about 4:30 I started violently and painfully throwing up - and then worse - I don't really need to give you details now do I? Now this kind of thing is bad enough in your own home - but in a horse van in the middle of a field and two buckets? Oh god I was a wretched, weeping, retching heap. By about 6:30am I managed to crawl to The Bloody Tent and alert Mother that her youngest was in need. Poor Mum there wasn't a lot she could do apart from comforting noises and bucket emptying. It all just went on and on. Now why does your body just keep retching and retching so bloody painfully when there is absolutely nothing left. By now the whole camp was alerted to my plight and lots of concerned figures came to console the poor ashen faced slumped figure surrounded by buckets. I thought it must stop soon - that's what happens when you throw up - you get rid of whatever is wrong and then you are okay! It started to abate a bit and we had much longer gaps between episodes and so I started making plans for Sham and I to join Team Foreigner at the lunch stop. As time went on it was very obvious that that wasn't going to be an option - my Cairngorm Adventure was over after 80 miles.
Mother got a lift up to the village to find a chemist and get drugs and Peter readied his trailer to take Sham and his corral to Nethy Bridge to save us having to pull my bed apart to get Sham into Violet. It was ever so sad seeing my confused pony who'd been
ever so good when all the other ponies left just walking meekly in and then being driven away.
INSERT PICTURE OF SHAM IN CORRAL
I was completely useless, all I could do was hug my bucket and pray for the end of the world to stop it all hurting so much.
Mother did much better than a chemist - the resourceful little Gnome got herself driven back by a real life Doctor!!! She used that age old excuse in the medical centre that she'd forgotten her stick and it was ever such a long walk back - Gnome Resourcefulness at its very best! The lovely, lovely lady doctor checked me all over, blood pressure very, very low. Gave me an anti-sickness jab (the most painful injection I have ever had in my life - but blimey it worked), anti sickness pills, strong immodium type pills, lots of sympathy and encouragement and was just super. She pronounced it gastro-enteritis which I could have either got from food or a virus. None of us know how I got it as no-one else did.
Poor Mum had to single-handedly strike camp with me feebly managing to lift the odd tent peg or cup - I was sooo feeble and felt so ill I was neither use nor ornament shuffling around in my jim jams.
Finally The Bloody Tent was flat and thrown on my bed in Violet and we were off to Nethy Bridge - thankfully just a 17 mile hop on open country so I could easily leap out if needed....
Arrived at Nethy to find my pony beautifully valeted by dear Peter. We parked up and I just sat groaning and feeling pissed off and looking sorry for myself, trying to find shade and waiting for all my lovely chums to arrive on their ponies.
INSERT PICTURES 1, 2 , 4 AND 5
I won't dwell on this bit - I felt total pants all day and all night, luckily given respite by long sleeps - I really can't remember feeling THAT ill for so long. Everybody was so kind and so wonderful and so concerned and so helpful - it was really quite humbling. Julia and Viv put The Bloody Tent up for Mum for its fifth and final time. All the able bodied souls in the bunkhouse partied at the end of ride barbecue - we went to bed. Well to be totally accurate I'd been in bed all day - so I just stayed there and prayed I'd be well enough for us to do our first leg home tomorrow. The very feint silver lining is that Sham got a rest day before his big journey back down south....
PART 7
Friday 29th June
Well I still felt pants, food was still a repulsive thought - but luckily us enduro riders are always knee deep in electrolytes, I dosed myself up with all my pills and slowly and carefully we struck camp and readied for the road. The Bloody Tent was pulled down - it had gone up and down ten times on its trip and if I'm honest it wasn't a lot easier to take down with its fall-y apart-y poles - but it had served Mother and Flurrie well. Mother shuffled about like the 76 year old she is and I shuffled about like the 90 year old I felt and after an eternity we were loaded up and setting off about an hour after our fellow southerners for our 215 miles to Rachel's.
We went a bit wrong getting to the A9, but we got there eventually after asking a local and then we were off whizzing along. We had a super run down to Edinburgh and then it was hideous - stop/start all around Edinburgh for bloody hours. At last we were on the A1 south - whizzed past North Berwick and Francis and got another hour further south to Belford and the wonderful MacDonald Horsey B&B. For those not in the know Sham was bred by Gudrun von Tevenar at her Red House stud in Kent. Rachel bought him as a youngster and took him to Northumberland and then I bought him from Rachel in January 2014 and brought him back to within 15 miles of his birthplace, now the dear little soul was going to visit his old home and his old chums - especially Fergus who called for him for three days when I bought him and whisked him away.
We rolled into Rachel's yard to lots of smiles and waves and huge relief - with the problems around Edinburgh it had taken us 5 1/2 hours and I was feeling pretty ropey by this point.Sham knew exactly where he was and looked pleasingly perky. We popped him into a pen and then went and fenced off a section of Rachel's horse's field so that he could have some company and catch up with Fergus. We popped him in and he did his floaty trot around the field whilst Fergus desperately tried to chat but kept getting chased away by the alpha mare. Eventually they did have a good ole chat and also later in the evening Rachel saw them having a good ole groom across the fence - aaaaahhhhh. (Sorry about the rubbish pictures - I was totally shot to bits by this point).
INSERT PICTURE 1
Had a lovely cup of tea in Rachel's lovely old farmhouse kitchen and then Mum, Flurrie and I were ushered upstairs to our room for a flop and a bath before supper - proper beds - need I say more? The hugest bath in Northumberland - heaven!
INSERT PICTURE IN ROOM
We had a super evening and a lovely supper of freshly caught fish and Rachel's Mother's legendary Apple Crumble and lots of bonhomie and then fell into bed totally shattered at about 9:30. We both slept well and were up and about by 6:30 - what a treat to just have to pack a bag and not deal with striking a bloody tent! It was so lovely to have a proper catch up.
Breakfast and chats and then really we couldn't delay it any longer - we had 370 miles
to get through and wanted to be round the M25 earlyish - just in case.... So loaded up by 8am and set off
INSERT PICTURE OF TRILBY AT THE LORRY (with the below comment underneath it)
Bending over is not easy for a sicko y'knowWe didn't have any problems on the drive down, we had our pit stop at Blythe Services and then it was the push for home. Mother spent a lot of time dozing and I just gritted my teeth and prayed for the miles to go by quicker. I was still feeling very rough and ate anything very tentatively. The whole of my throat and oesophagus feels burned, but I didn't feel too bad if I sat still, so driving wasn't too much of a problem. I hit the wall just south of Duxford and it seemed that the M25 was NEVER going to appear - but of course it did. We alerted Sid when we were at Tunbridge Wells so that he would be ready to leap into action and deal with Sham on our return as I was going to be no use to man nor beast.
4:15 we pulled into the yard -oh thank god - WE DID IT!!!
Sid was brilliant. He had been camping in the ponies field in Mum's caravan for the whole week and looking after the rest of the herd 24/7 and taking Solli out every day at 4am in the cool and generally having a lovely time going native for a week. Solli had shouted for Sham for 4 days allegedly and was touchingly soooo pleased to see him back. Sham did his customary hoolie round the field - looking shiney and floaty and obscenely well.What an amazing trip.
Thank you to Francis for organising and letting us stay, Clive and Penny for co-organising, Mark for all his running around in smiley fashion, Rachel for our luxurious pit stop, Sally for being an awesome sherpa, Julia, Viv, Leo and Peter for being so patient and helpful with us, Carol for being a great riding buddy. Mother for manning up and doing extreme driving and nursing and generally just joining in with the big adventure - okay so I had to crew my crew on occasion - but we muddled through pretty successfully and cheerfully.
So that's it - after all the months of anticipation, planning, training and shopping we did it! Well we did 80% of it. My pony proved he can do tough and tricky Scottish stuff so that's it - as long as we are both in fine fettle next year we're entering the biggie and attempting it in one day - ooh er!
Violet the Van did 1,285 miles effortlessly - just gotta love her - especially as she did it all on only £280 of diesel!
