Grass!!

Endless forest tracks

Setting out from Bonar Bridge towards the Alladale Estate

Sad to say goodbye...

I felt quite emotional saying goodbye as I felt so comfortable with the whole group and Cognac and myself had been made so welcome, it felt like we had been riding with them for weeks , not the one day that it was. Cognac was sad to leave the 'bucket- man' Graham as he had much enjoyed getting breakfast and lunch!
I plan to go up to Brora as soon as possible to meet all the other ponies and to share the rest of the stories of my trip with Jan and Graham.

We set off into the woods and promptly got lost! Well not so much lost... The forest track just seemed to take a little longer to get to the end of then it should have done and it came out further down the road then it should've done... Ummm, whoops. Missioned it to Bonar Bridge. Jan and Graham's magic key saved me a long detour. IStacie MacDonald kindly took Cognac and myself in for two nights and fed and organised us! And made me make phone calls... And I enjoyed cuddles with baby Amelle and meeting all the ponies and dogs and cats!. Stacie also organised for the farrier to come and reshoe Cognac as we had already worn through our original set ( I blame the rough Tarmac on the roads and also the amount of roadwork we had to do on the first three days)

Riding with Highlands Unbridled

The most beautiful days ride ever! So perfect! More picture to follow when I download from my camera. Graham was driving over to meet us at the Crask Inn, so he kindly took my tent and things in the trailer, leaving Cognac and myself with just our front saddle bags so that we could keep up the others (I don't normally canter him with all the equipment on). Cognac was very happy to receive a morning feed curtesy of Jan and Graham and I was given a lunch box for me and a lunch bag for himself! We cantered along sandy tracks and then rode alongside loch Choire, riding in the edge of the lochs water to avoid dodgy bridges. The while area is peat bogs and the track we follow was made up of gravel on top of a wooden 'board- walk' you could see the ground spring under the horses hooves in front! We then climbed out way to the top of the mountain pass to turn back and look down on the loch- absolutely stunning! We then jumped off and walked, ran, skidded and leapt our way over and through the peat bogs down the other side of the mountain. We got back oo board and criss cross the river to avoid anymore bogs. A beautiful days ride in the wilderness with great company... Even so The Crask Inn, a white dot on the horizon was a welcome view after a days ride! We settled the horses and then it was time for bar, shower and dinner. Dinner was accompanied by stories of spending all night on the mountain side holding horses, helicopter rescues, lice infestations, and banks! After dinner Jan gave me tonnes of advice for the best ridingroutes down to Fort William and a magic forestry commission key.

Thurso to Cornmill Bunkhouse

Saturday morning I had a good sort out of my equipment as Jez was heading home as Cognac and I was going in alone. We've got a days rest at Bonar Bridge, but until then the route is very remote. So I needed to make sure I had everything I needed for the next few days. We said Goodbye to Jez and off we qe t. Saturday's route was quite simple and all on the road. We stopped for lunch on a tiny sandy beach and went for a paddle in the sea. We had the bunkhouse to ourselves so we shut tw front gate and let Cognac loose in the area surrounding the bunkhouse. I was offered some lovely lentil soup, which I enjoyed.

The Crask

Ponies in the field- the view out my window at the Crask Inn.

Cornmill bunkhouse to The Garvault hotel

We set off in the morning down a long, single track road heading South. The scenery had really changed since we entered Sutherland. The hills and lochs are getting bigger and stretch into the distance... We reached Badenloch where we met Jan, Graham and all the guys from Highlands Unbridled, who had ridden over from Brora on the east coast. We turned Cognac out with their six ponies (all mares- lucky boy!) and I got a lift with them up the road to the Garvault Hotel- the most remote hotel in Britain. Beautiful views from all directions! I got to know everyone in the bar (!) before joining them for dinner and retiring to my tent in the hotel garden.

Monday- riding with Highlands Unbridled from Brora.

Riding through a mountain pass and over Peat bogs with Highlands Unbridled. Stunning scenery!

Lunchtime!

We stopped to fill up on grass, on Sunday.