Wednesday 30 November 2011

Cognac at the beginning of our training

Endomondo

I was advised by a friend to get Endomondo on my phone to keep a track of my rides. Endomondo uses a GPS signal to follow your route and therefore works out your speed. Today we just did a 2 mile ride to see how it worked, from the details I now know that we walk at 4mph. In future I will use Endomondo on each of the training rides to get an accurate distance and speed.

A couple of days ago I requested some leaflets on the Pennine Bridleway and recieaved them in the post today, they have some really good maps on the which will come in very useful for planning my route through the Pennines. For more info on the Pennine Bridleway: www.nationaltrail.co.uk/penninebridleway

Wednesday 23 November 2011

Cognac and myself, summer 2011

Monday 21st Nov 2011- 15 mile training ride.

Following myself doing a 10 hour night-shift I had breakfast, packed my lunch up and set out on Cognac into the very foggy day! I left the yard and headed on the country lanes to the South Downs Way, after warming up in walk we proceeded to trot for the first half an hour or so, Cognac was feeling very keen after a few days off! We joined the SDW and followed the trail to Queen Elizabeth Country Park. We had a wander through the woods, which seemed almost magical with all the mist and moss, and then passed under the A3 and attempted to canter up Butser hill- we got the the first gate and walked and trotted the rest off the way. When we got to the top of the hill I un-tacked Cognac and gave him some food on the ground, I tied him to a picnic bench and used the public loos. I had been hoping for a cup of tea but unfortunately the cafe/ kiosk was closed. Cognac stood quietly while I had my sandwiches, which let him cool down and his wet saddle patch to dry a little. I was worried about Cognac getting cold and the day was already starting to draw in at 2pm so we only stopped for half and hour before heading back home. We took a different route home- through Buriton and following the country lanes back- with a nasty stretch on the B2146, which I'll try to avoid in the future.

A New Recruit

I have a new recruit to my ride, Marcus riding this bike- which he has yet to purchase! Marcus is a wecome addition to the team, needless to say he will provide wecome companianship, but he will also be a lot more mobile than me on my horse so will be a great help with gates, busy roads, toilet stops e.t.c. In the past marcus and I have completed the National Trail South Downs Way ( 100 miles off mainly off road hills following the south coast) so I know that he will provide support and not slow me down, he also knows the speed at which we travel and is very `horse- aware`. The only problem we have had in the past is that a bike travels faster down hill than a horse can and a horse often finds it easier to travel faster uphill then a cyclist can manage; once Marcus purchases his new bike we will get out on some training rides together, practising travelling 25- 30 miles on seperate days and then joining several days of training together with some overnight stays. This will allow us to make equipment lists of everything we are going to need and to get Cognac used to and happy with staying away from home.

Wednesday 16 November 2011

Planning the route

I am going to start in Scotland and finish in Cornwall because I live in Sussex and it will be easier to travel a fresh horse the whole length of the country and we will then finish closest to home. I have a rough idea of the route I want to take; starting at John O'Groats, dropping down the east coast of Scotland, alongside Loch Ness and Loch Lochy to the west coast, down to Carlisle, shadowing the Pennine Way, along the Pennine Bridleway to Derby and straight down from there. I want to take the most rural route possible, even if it isn't the most direct. I'd like to use as many bridleways as possible.
The problem is that I cant carry too many maps with me and the larger scale atlas maps don't show bridleways.

Tuesday 15 November 2011

John O`Groats to Land`s End on horseback

I`ve owned my horse for six years now, having got him when I was just fifteen. Over the years we have done many things together, jumping, dressage, cross-country, but summer 2012 we have the ultimate challenge to face...
This time last year I completed Land`s End to John O`Groats on my bike. I cycled 1012 miles, unsupported, over 14 days. Although this was a big challenge in itself I felt that I didn`t really get to enjoy the countryside and missed a lot of the character by just passing through. There was a lot of pressure each day to get my head down and cover the miles.

When I returned home it wasn`t long before I got back onto my horse and back to exploring the local countryside.  I soon started  thinking about how much better you could enjoy the countryside from the back of a horse...