Day Six –WOW… almost a dry day, just the odd light shower from time to time but perfectly manageable.  We had a pleasant ride to Kirkmichael along forestry tracks and stopped for a pause in the car park.  The horses were parked on the grass and we nipped to the shop for drinks and munchies.  Got chatting to a chap called David who was interested in what we were doing.  He had a similar interest in bike-packing so understood the concept perfectly.  Knowing we still had far to go today, we didn’t linger however.

We set off up out of Kirkmichael following the clearly marked Cateran Mini Trail and I was pleased to see that some path repair had taken place, making the initial part of the walk easier.  That was until I came to the stile and wooden barrier blocking the horses way.  Back down to Kirkmichael then and our “far” was about to get even further as we’d have to divert round via the busy B road adding another 4-5kms and adding increased risk / danger.

Being somewhat of a wide load, we went back to find our new friend David to “hire” his help.  He cycled ahead slowing down traffic until we could get back on the trail again.  Think he was very glad to get out of his gardening duties and we very much appreciated his help in negotiating tractors / lorries / motor cycles and camper vans! 

Back on the trail and a combination of sunshine and painkillers had Yvonne appreciate the secret little pass I’d found between two hills before I subjected her to more heather bashing.  A bit easier than the previous day to get back on a trail, but Katy (who usually follows without a lead rope) decided she liked it where she was and couldn’t see the point of heather bashing anyway.  Poor Yvonne had to clamber back through the heather and bog to fetch her (I did offer to do this, but fetching Katy seemed the lesser of two evils as the other job was looking after the other 3 equines!).

By the time we reached the camp spot for this night (complete with Lamas for the horse’s amusement) –there was mutiny emerging in the team.  Yvonne was sore and exhausted and badly needed a rest.  The weather also wasn’t looking great for the next day and we were aiming to ride high in the mountains.

A quick change of plan to stem any serious rebellion –to have our rest day tomorrow and with my husband Dave arriving for logistics and restock of supplies, we juggled the accommodation and plan about.

Day Five –started out wet again, though this time really REALLY wet –a constant torrential downpour!  We decided we couldn’t set out in this and would wait til lunchtime to see if it stopped.  A cooked “brunch” lifted the spirits –there are advantages to “bugging out”.

The rain actually stopped!!! So we set out at 1pm and knew we’d be riding well into the evening to do the required mileage for the day.  Again the trail was boggier and harder going than 2 years ago and Yvonne was struggling with her injury.  A short section of heather bashing between trails was not a fun experience for her and I don’t think she was able to take in the stunning scenery after that.

The sun actually came out and we classically rode into the sunset as we didn’t dismount til about 9.30pm.  We found a beautiful camp spot next to a river with tasty grass for the horses.  It was a case of pitch tent, eat and sleep though as tomorrow was set to be a long day.

Day Four –started out wet again (you’ll be noticing the pattern here by now).  The forecast for later in the day, over night and the next morning was dreadful.  Considering the horses had been shivering whilst we tacked them up this morning –we were looking for somewhere much more sheltered for tonight than we had initially planned.  Yvonne was also struggling despite popping pain killers galore and a shorter day would be a sensible option.

Again the going was boggier and tougher than 2 years ago and more walking than riding was the order of the morning.  Reaching a tricky river crossing, chaos broke out due to somewhat decisive action from the Yogster.

When reaching here 2 years ago, I’d taken 20minutes or so looking for a good place to cross with the horses.  Eventually I’d settled on a rocky slope down to the river rather than a softer large step down and up again.  The rock then, had been bone dry and both horses negotiated the slab safely and in a controlled manner.

Reaching here this year –I discounted the now wet and slippery slab in my mind and was casting my eyes about looking for a different option.  My eyes therefore weren’t on Yogi and remembering this spot from 2 years ago himself, he was adamant he knew the way.  He was off in a blink of an eye, sliding down the slab, a sploosh into the river, out the other side and off up the track.  I only had time to throw his lead rope after him (to prevent a tangle) before Swift was off to follow him too.  She kind of got her front feet down but had left her backs behind and required a little push on her spotty bum to complete the maneuver.

Katy swiftly followed with determination but less style, she preferred the spread eagled leg position with one foot braced on mine for better purchase lol!   Tommy was a little wide eyed but did himself and Yvonne proud.  We gathered up all the horses (had to run after Yogi who was determined to just continue along the track) and gave them a break munching grass whilst we caught our breath and a break from the rain in a handy bothy.

The rain continued so we stopped early at Blair Atholl in a place with proper shelters for the horses.  We decided to pitch our tents under these shelters too even though the base was an uncomfortable concrete one.  Here more complete chaos broke out as we experienced a visit from a Peacock! The horses went completely mental… never seen them show such fear and blind panic.  We had to chase it away many times before it finally got the message.   How on earth do you train your horse to accept Peacocks -I’m certainly not getting one for home noisy things!!!

A pub meal lifted the spirits that evening –there are advantages to “bugging out”.

Day three -started out wet again, but nothing dampens the beauty of the bowl of mountains at the head of Glen Feshie.  The path up out of the Glen over to the next one is spectacular too, so was enough to distract from the weather.  3 wild highland ponies decided to tag along with our little herd, we had to ask a walker to gently chase them back to Glen Feshie or I think they’d have followed us right round the circular!

It’s funny how the mind can block out either the good parts or the bad parts of a memory and the Minigaig Pass was definitely more challenging than I’d remembered.  Maybe the amount of rain prior to leaving for our trip (and during) had a big part to play, but it certainly felt like harder going than I recalled.  We arrived at Bruar Lodge in good time however, and as always had a good reception, even though my email confirmation from the estate office hadn’t reached Dominic (the gamekeeper) and we weren’t actually expected!!!

This had been a hard day, not only with the rain and the soft ground under hoof, but Yvonne had also been injured.  Sometimes horses are unpredictable and you can just be standing in the wrong place at the wrong time… least that’s what I’m telling myself to offset the guilt of one of my horses hurting my friend!  Swift had decided to put new boy Tommy in his place when he crept too close to her, but had caught Yvonne instead with a double barrelled kick.  We suspected Yvonne now had broken ribs and she was in a lot of pain.  From one health care professional to another, there was no telling her… she wasn’t giving up and was determined to continue.

Day two -managed to get packed up in the dry but the rain started out almost as soon as we did and it seemed happy to stay with us for the duration.  I thought I knew Glen Feshie like the back of my hand but in an effort to take a short cut, I went the wrong way and we had to back track.  Did meet some impressive highland cows during the diversion, though Katy didn’t share this view (Yvonne’s pony has a cow phobia!).

The River Feshie was up with all the rainfall and a large catchment area, so the river crossing to get to the bothy was as high as the horses bellies.  No hesitation from Yogi though -straight in and through, just a hint of a pause half way across which I dealt with immediately -if he turned round then everyone would and chaos would result!  Yvonne on Tommy was holding on with everything she could -he is the smallest of the group and has panicked at rivers before but they made it safely across with Katy following calmly behind (miss cool and collected).  Swift didn’t know what all the fuss was about as the water reached barely over her ankles (lanky lass) lol!

A sociable night in the bothy ensued, with friends who came to visit with wine (thanks Mike and Wendy) and chat with other travellers including a Canadian couple bike-packing doing an impressive route indeed.

Day 1 set off with a promising start -Yvonne had broken the day into 2 so was somewhere on the trail ahead of me.  I’m not sure whether team Swogi knew this or were just full of beans as this was familiar territory, but they were setting a super fast pace.  One big river crossing to do, and I was glad to get it behind us.  I’d fretted about how high and fast it might be flowing due to the rainfall over the previous days and it was certainly well up Yogi’s legs at the deepest part.  Luckily no snow melt was present to add to the mix and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.  Altogether a lovely ride in the sunshine with super keen horses and everyone full of high hopes for the trail ahead.

Going round the Cairngorms in 2017 was such a lovely experience that I wanted to do it again, but this time show my good pal and trail partner some of the routes I’d taken.  Yvonne agreed to come with me, with the promise that it wasn’t too difficult, the days weren’t too long and it was beautifully scenic from start to finish…

Well… the start was all of those things, and the finish too, it was just the 11 days in the middle that were all a bit hellish!  We experienced the worst weather yet on a summer trek.  The weather was more akin to that found in October in Scotland, it rained every single day -either heavy downpour showers or constant driving rain for the whole day.  No respite at night either and when the temperature dropped during the second week and the wind picked up -there were times we were at risk of hypothermia.

Still you’ve just got to deal with what you’ve got and just get on with it!

Learning points: I discovered that most of the time, riding in the rain isn’t as bad as my mind imagines it will be.  I will never go on a long distance ride without my trusty poncho, but I need to upgrade my “waterproof” jacket to one that actually works.  Wind, rain and cold with no shelter is not a fun place to be.  You can actually get blown off your horse by the wind.  Horses have amazing memories and can remember how to negotiate a tricky step from two years ago.  Horses don’t like Peacocks!  Your Trail Partner is worth their weight in gold (and mine’s one tough cookie).

Day 1.  Nethy Bridge to Loch an Eileen

Day 2. Loch an Eileen to Head of Glen Feshie

Day 3. Glen Feshie to Glen Bruar Lodge

Day 4. Glen Bruar Lodge to Blair Atholl (bugged out due to weather)

Day 5. Blair Atholl to Straloch

Day 6. Straloch to Blacklunnans

Day 7. Took an early rest day due to weather

Day 8. Blacklunnans to Glen Prosen

Day 9. Glen Prosen to Glen Doll

Day 10. Glen Doll to Gelder Shiel

Day 11. Gelder Shiel to Corndavon Lodge

Day 12. Corndavon Lodge to Tomintoul

Day 13. Tomintoul to Nethy Bridge

Now I’m not about to turn this into a blog about Lyme Disease (LD) and will get back to trail riding shortly.  However, you may have noticed a large part of nothingness for a while on here, followed by a flurry of activity  -and that probably needs an explanation.

I used to be an incredibly organised person, everything had its place, I could juggle lots of things at the same time and nothing got forgotten or overlooked.  Then came LD!  The physical symptoms were obvious (to me anyway), but the cognitive effects crept on in a more subtle way.  I could no longer think in an organised and logical way.  My computer filing system became a mess (my paper filing system became a huge pile) and I struggled to find anything.  Working through any IT problems became impossible as I’d forget what I’d tried / done.

At my worst I couldn’t: listen to music, watch a film, read a book, make simple decisions, concentrate on any conversation, look at a computer screen / phone for more than 5minutes, fill in a form -well you get the idea.  It is only since having the last round of treatment August 2018 that I feel I have regained my clarity of thinking!  I’ve finally sorted out my computer talking to my camera and phone again and have spent about a month downloading and sorting.  I have an organised filing system again, thus I have now been able to share the backlog of adventure stories.

Not all the cognitive effects have gone -I still struggle with sensory overload -such as busy / noisy places, scanning supermarket shelves, listening to music (I used to love music) and I do find working at a computer extremely exhausting.  The most embarrassing problem (or amusing depending on your outlook on life) however is a complete lack of facial recognition.

Yes everyone says they struggle with this as they get older…  meeting that person you know you know, but can’t remember their name…  That might happen with someone you don’t know so well, but when it happens with a colleague or good friend you’ve known for a long time, and you draw a complete blank as to who they are and how you know them, well then that’s a little more worrying and can get you in a whole lot of trouble as the conversation evolves lol!

I still have wavering energy levels too -sometimes I’m full of beans and sometimes I’m flat on my back, but I do appreciate how lucky I am to have got out of this mess in such a good state.  Many people (and I mean THOUSANDS) that I converse with through LD support groups, are nowhere near as well as I am.  They are left to suffer and rot by health care systems who seem disinterested in a disease that is so incredibly sneaky, debilitating and devastating.  It is also very much on the increase world wide.  I wonder when the world is going to sit up and notice?

Not a lot of adventure riding for me in 2018.  Finally the cardiac and infectious diseases consultants agreed that the heart problems could be due to a return/recurrence of Lyme Disease.  Heavy treatment began and then the recovery…  This was the treatment I think I should have had the first time round and I was delighted to discover that symptoms (particularly a lot of joint/spine pain) I’d had for years were finally resolved.  My heart also began to behave itself too.  I guess a break from proper adventure riding is worth that!!!

We ran a repeat of the successful Intro event from 2017, through the Moray Equestrian Access Group www.meag.co.uk Riding from my house to Rachel’s house, had an over night camp with BBQ, a glass of wine and even some music before riding back the next day.  A few different faces, a few different horses and a slightly different route.  The result was the same though -more people introduced to the concept of Long Distance Riding and camping out with your horse(s).  No rainbows this year but we did find fairies in the woods ;o)