When you start out on a journey like this, it can take a couple of days to get into a routine, for the horses (& my head) to settle and for us to get into a “journeying together rhythm”.

It’s hard to describe, but the first few days you feel inefficient, bothersome, the horses don’t seem to go where you want & fidgit when you are getting them ready etc.  That’s only the journeying aspect… setting up camp and the corral and taking it all down again in the morning has it’s own rhythm too and can take a few days to smooth itself out.

I anticipate for this trip, it will be day 4 before we “get into the groove”.  It will start to happen end of day 2, but day 3 is a hard one so that will set us back a bit, then day 4 we should be sorted… oh I am looking forward to day 4 :o)

Sometimes if the horses have been working hard, the rhythm can appear on day one… but not this time.   THE BEAR IS FEELING GOOOOOOD!  This means he just wants to do his turbo charged power walk and don’t you dare to stop him.  Although this helps to cover the miles (should be in Glen Elg by lunch time day 5 lol!), it totally affects the rhythm and until he has settled himself out a bit, Swift and I will struggle to keep up mentally and physically.

I don’t know where he gets his drive from, but it’s a good thing to have and his drive will carry him, Swift and me through the trip!

Set off tomorrow, excited to get started on Wednesday, will try and post as much as internet access will allow.

If you haven’t voted for PFK yet in the Direct Debit Big Break -then Yogi has a request…

https://www.directdebit.co.uk/directdebitpromotions/bigbreak2014/pages/causedetail.aspx?causeid=633

Feeling a bit… well… weird! Usually before a long distance trek, I will be worrying about this obstacle and that track and will the horses stay in the Corral over night etc etc Worrying about… well every little detail really.

Yes I admit it, I can be somewhat of a control freak and want things to go just right!

It’s only 2 days to go, and I don’t feel like this, this time.   I just feel excited and can’t wait to get started… so why?

1) Is it because there are just too many little details to worry over on this trip and I can’t keep them all in my head, so I will just have to deal with them one at a time?

2) Is it because suddenly this thing went so public due to being nagged to raise money for something / anything and then I chose a popular charity (on facebook anyway)? I therefore feel that failing isn’t an option as so many people are watching?

3) Is it because of point 2) –I feel so supported, so many kind offers and donations with so many people wishing they could come with me, so many people wishing me well, many bigging me up by telling me how brave I am (chuckle)?

4) Is it because this time, I haven’t taken anyone’s word for what trails are passable with horses and have actually been out there and checked 95% of the route first hand. i.e. is it because I feel so well prepared?

5) Is it because due to a certain event a couple of months ago that seemed to fly passed so quickly (some of you will know what that was but not going to elaborate here), I am determined not to let this fly passed and I want to enjoy it rather than as I usually do -chase to the finish line. Wish me luck with this one, it’s something I always struggle with!

6) Is it because in the first 3 days of the trek I will be staying with some very kind people who I hadn’t met before my reccy, and they have opened their homes to me and made me feel so welcome that I can’t wait to spend the evenings with them? This has definitely helped me to not worry about the hard 3^rd day to come.

7) Is it because I feel like I’ve been there, done it and got the T-shirt with all my previous long distance treks? I’ve certainly ironed out a lot of small problems with kit, logistics, handling the horses, obstacle negotiation etc BUT this is still the longest one I’ve done so far.

On my last trek which had a big remote day in it that I knew would be really hard, I fretted for days and the night before could not eat a thing. I just felt sick. Not worrying about me, so much as worrying about the horses and what I am asking them to do for me. I was right to worry then, as it was a hellish day and I nearly lost both horses over a cliff (that as they say is another story).

We all survived that particular experience and I learnt a hell of a lot, so will not get myself into that kind of situation again… but I am still asking a lot of my horses this trip. So… although I feel excitement rather than nerves this time, I also feel a little guilt… about whether it is right to put my horses through this just for my ambition.

Yes they will enjoy it, yes it will be good for them mentally and physically, yes they will be well cared for and yes if I don’t think they can make it I will pull the plug immediately and not just push on for my sake. BUT… there is that niggling doubt about the what if’s… the things that may go wrong that could put my horses in danger… its not the kind of nerves I’ve experienced before but there is still a little bit of (healthy?) worry in there!

A friend just send me this, think it sums me up quite well!  Feeling all fired up for the trip and can’t wait to get started…

All packed for the 3 weeks with 10 days worth of food (for me and the horses), it weighs in at 25kg. 

Doesn’t sound a lot but feels it when you lift the pack bags…  I will try and reduce this over the next few days as much as I can.

At the moment this includes several “luxury items”, they may or may not survive the cut!

I am loath to take out my D-SLR Camera though as this is going to be a bit of a special & scenic journey.  Is this luxury or essential??

I have now recieved my emergency satellite device, which can be set up to send the odd non-urgent text message and can even post to facebook apparently, oh and it can track my progress too.  I’ve got about half of it working (the emergency bit and non-urgent texting).

Guess what I will be playing with for the rest of the weekend!

So… tack cleaning next and catching up with paperwork (i.e. bills sigh!) before I head off. 

Only 4 days to go… EEeek!

I have a love-hate relationship with the packing part of any expedition.

I love sitting down with a cup of tea to write the list of things I intend to take.

I love gathering all the kit from various parts of the house and assembling them all in one room (chosen room this time = the dining room as it has a large floor space).

I love fixing up old bits of kit to last that “one more trip” whether with needle & thread or that trusty gaffa tape.

I love sorting it all out into definiates, maybes (those luxury if-there-is-room items) & not required this time.

I hate not being able to find things I knew I’d seen recently and had put “there” as I will need it for the exped, but now can’t figure out where “there” was.

I hate the detail of packing everything down small into waterproof bags and being anal about labelling each bag with its contents.

I hate the tedium of balancing the saddle bags, kit in, kit out, move it around, re-weigh, kit back in and repeat.

Re the hates though… I do know that time spent doing this now, will save me a huge amount of faff on the trip.  When you have a pack horse as tall as Swift is (or as wide as Yogi is -sorry bud but you will be thinner by the end of the trip), you don’t want to be spending ages on your tip toes rooting through the bags trying to find where you’d put something.  Nor do you want to be ages trying to find something you may need in an emergency.

Sigh… cup of tea I think to rejuvenate,  then back to the scales!

I am sure all you want to hear about are tales from the trails, but what about the preparation side?

Many of my friends have been getting posts and tales for weeks about: locked gates, missing bridges, cattle grids with no side gates, steep rocky hills, river crossings, dual carriageways (some with newly discovered underpasses, some without any), bogs (Yogi’s pet hate) and the other side of the coin… offers of free grazing, free B&B room, moving of cattle / young horses from where I will be riding through, a free meal, emergency support etc.

All this comes from doing about a week of reccying the route (with trusty JRT grrrr), plus making lots of phone calls and using contacts from previous treks.  The reccy’s (in my opinion) for a more remote hill route like this, are essential.  They tell you about the obstacles you are going to face so that you can get physically and mentally prepared.  You also meet (generally) some very helpful people from the saddle of your bike!

So apart from all the above, there is the equipment prep and the packing to be done (will probably post about that tomorrow), the mental prep and the physical prep.

Physically -well the days on your bike / running / hill walking to reccy the route helps with that, but there is a little celebration I’d like to make today!  -I am 4 pounds off my target weight for this trip :o)

Yes… some of the prep has included slimming down a bit for the sake of my horse’s backs.  I’m not overly fat, but why should I make my horses carry an extra stone in weight when they don’t need to.  I weigh my saddle bags as I decide what to pack, so why don’t I look at what I am carrying around my waist too?

After a bad ski injury 3 years ago, I put on almost one and a half stones in weight due to boredom & inactivity.  Then when I was just about recovered from that, I fell off Swift during one of her spotty-bum moments of overload and broke a bone in my back… sigh!  Not only did these injuries affect my activity levels, but they affected my confidence too.  I was less inclined to want to get out on my bike or go running (in case I aggrovated the injuries or caused another) so the weight stayed on.

This trip, and thinking about how far my horses are going to have to carry my fatter-than-it-used-to-be ass… has been the motivation I needed to get fitter and get lighter.  With one week to go, I have 4 pounds left to go (to make that 1.5 stone lost in 6 months). I doubt I will make it exactly for day one of the trip, but knowing the hill I have to climb up on day 3 (which I won’t ask my horses to carry my ass up -despite it being lighter now) I am pretty sure I will have made my target by day 4!

Now that Swift is into ridden work and I can swap the pack horse around, BOTH horses will appreciate my efforts :oD

The support I have recieved for this trip just amazes me:  a most welcomed free B&B room for the night, people donating to PFK who have never even met me, offers of emergency support, offers for grazing, people sharing my story and now… with one week to go… a lovely company has offered to support me with some spare parts for my hoof boots.

Thank you Cannock Chase Equine  http://www.cannockchaseequine.co.uk/

They may be a long way from me geographically but they have excellent customer service, a wide range of stock choice and fast delivery.  They are great at giving advice over the phone if you just need a question answered too.   A big thumbs up from Claire, Yogi & Swift (OK… erm… well they don’t actually have thumbs but you know what I mean!).

Due to popular demand, I have set up this blog so that I can keep you updated as I ride across Scotland.  It might not be everyday as internet access will be limited, but I will try my best!  And of course… there will be photos!

So far I have raised just over £300 for PFK… there may be more on its way from those of you that have pledged to do a bank transfer but I would love to make the £500 mark… so please, please share about my trip and encourage friends (& strangers!) to donate to this worthy cause.  Details on how to donate are on the seperate PFK page on here.

Getting excited… going to start packing soon :o)