Day 28

Due to us suddenly coming into a tourist area we couldn't find accommodation for Saturday night as everything was all booked up and we had to stay at Hoe Grange Holidays one more day. Not exactly the worst thing that could happen =) And the timing was beautiful as Saturday night was the night of the yearly carnival and Wickerman burning!

Also, talking about roadtrip to Norway on a tractor - the son in the house had just come back from driving the breadth and length of England on a Grey Fergie from the 1940's if I rememember correctly (I'm not very good with tractors...)! That's an epic adventure for you, eh? =D
Please visit their homepage and if you're not really fed up with donating, please leave a little something for Help for Heroes.

And as always, a donation to RDA and WHW is highly appreciated too. Thank you ever so much to all of you who already have donated!

Fudge the Jack Russell who's not very interested in posing

Can't remember his name but it has to do with food. To me he looks like Thomas O'Malley =)

Felicity from Hoe Grange and the Wickerman...

Woooooff! goes the Wickerman

Day 26 and 27

Juniblest got a day off on the Thursday and I went into Ashbourne to get some bandages for him because those legs keep swelling ever so slightly overnight. I don't like it and thought bandages would be worth a go. The original plan was to set off at 8am in the morning, but due to a rather interesting trip to the pub with the locals (whom I had slight difficulties understanding - a clear sign that I'm going North!) we set off a bit later...
Two of the guys from the pub decided they would visit me in Norway through a road trip on a tractor. I honestly hope they do!

In our lunch break I bumped into a birthday party for a lady who turned 90 that day and after managing to tell them that I had been a music student for the last three years I ended up in front of a crowd with complete strangers singing the Norwegian birthday song for someone I didn't know the name of =) Gotta love coincidences like that, eh?

As we hit the Pennine Bridleway about halfway in Juniblest came back from his shell. This was when I realised just how hard the last few days had been on him with the heat and all the roadwork... But his spark came back and he trotted freshly along the track in the slight breeze as the landscape changed from endless backroads to something between Lord of the Rings and Postman Pat. We were both surprised when we found our destination as we expected it to be much further on and Juniblest was all energetic and rude when we got there - a very good sign!
I tried bandaging his front legs and although the pressure was fairly even it looked very wonky...

Please go to these links and follow the instructions to get a nice surprise: RDA and WHW =)

View's alright around here =)

A bit of the Pennine Bridleway <3

*Lord of the Rings movie soundtrack* (Apart from the powerline)

Wonky-legs! My first bandaging in years...

"Let me out! I wanna go further!"

Day 25

The first half of today was really tedious as we had to crawl our way out from Long Eaton, Nottingham and the roads and industrial areas seemed endless. The going was slow and we were both so tired when we got to the really nice bridleways that we couldn't appreciate them fully - but they were very nice! One of them was quite interesting as we more or less had to go down some stairs. I started doubting that we were on the right track but at the bottom there was a bridleway sign pointing towards it and we did come out where the map said we would so we were where we were supposed to be =)

We have not stopped fundraising so I'd be very happy if you could leave a donation for World Horse Welfare and/or RDA!

Another small part of Norway in England =)

Stairs for horses....?

It did say Bridleway....

I parked Juniblest to take pictures of the stairs...

Just a break to heed the call of nature... Thought that was best demonstrated by taking a picture of him rather than me. And no, the angle is not because I multitasked.

Belper?

Day 24

I know there's a lot about the weather wherever people turn their heads at the moment, but I will go on about it anyway =) Basically, it's really hot now so to save Juniblest a bit of sweat and electrolytes I soak him before I leave a place and again whenever we stop at pubs - after he's been offered a drink of course.

Please donate to RDA and WHW =)

All hosed down and ready to go

Soaked at the pub, all asleep

We were so close to Gotham that Batman could have saved us in case we ran into trouble =)

Town...

Cooling feet down after a long, hard day...

Day 21,22 and 23

A lot has happened these three days! I gave Juniblest the Saturday off but since I was too lenient with starch and sugar believing that he can cope with quite a lot since he's working so hard I had to give him Sunday off as well because I found him with a pulse in his feet Saturday evening. He does not show discomfort at all, but he has a pulse and his soles are quite soft so I'm monitoring him very closely. Full on laminitis is the last thing I want!
I lead him yesterday (Monday) just in case but he seemed alright so I might try to ride today. And have many breaks and keep a close eye on him. Not accept treats from anyone and all that. I have to be cruel to be kind to that pony...

I'll keep you updated!

To help us help horses in need please leave some pounds for World Horse Welfare
To support an amazing foundation please leave some pounds for Riding for the Disabled

Cooling feet down! Doing a bit of Parelli has turned out to be a massive blessing - I can just point to the stream and he'll go in. The slope we had to go down to get to this stream was so steep even I doubted it, and I never worry about slopes! Neither does Juniblest so he just walked/slid down it =)

Focus would be good...

How to stand when you're cooling your pony down... Thank you a thousand times, Juniblest, for not pulling me in!

Slow down for Willy the killer whale? It really looks like him, don't you think?

An alpaca! I realised here that the "lamas" we met earlier were alpacas... Therefore, they didn't speak Laman, but Alpacan.. =)

Day 20

The weather has been awful at times and Friday morning was not exactly one of the sunny days.. I slept in a lorry - which was surprisingly comfortable and warm! - and I decided to sit in there with a cup of tea and a good book (about dog phsycology =D) for a while hoping that the showers would pass. They did and we set off at about 12 noon.
Juniblest had managed to tangle more or less one bale of straw into that tail and there were no signs of him being thoroughly washed and cleaned two days ago... Pony? No, pig... =)

Both World Horse Welfare and Riding for the Disabled are in need of a bit of generosity from the public so if you could spare a dime please visit their fundraising pages: WHW and RDA
Cheers!

Beautiful area although it's rather damp =)

This is what Juniblest tried to smuggle out of the stable...

Day 19

As mentioned earlier we took the Wednesday off. Juniblest got to hang out in a field and I went to Market Harborough to hang around and have cup of hot chocolate that was waaaay too big for me...
On Thursday we cracked on and we got to go through two absolutely epic tunnels! I thought there would be only one so when I found the first one and a sign said "no access for horses, please use bridleway to the right" I completely ignored it. This was too cool for us to miss! 500 metres of complete darkness - it felt like Moria in Lord of the Rings... =D As usual Juniblest took the whole thing in his stride. He literally said "oh, it's dark. Ok, then" and walked on as normal.
In the first tunnel the ventilation whole in the middle was letting in a lot of water so we just popped under it without any further thought, but the second one had a ventilation whole that made an awesome spotlight for Juniblest to imitate Michael Jackson in so I had to hop off and take a few pictures - hope you like them as much as I do!

And then, there's the begging again: If you fancy supporting our two charities, please go to the following links: Riding for the Disabled Association or World Horse Welfare =)

On the bench it was written "Someone's (can't remember the name) favourite view. I thought I should get a picture of it =)

Tunnel!

The entrance of the first one..

Juniblest thinks he sees the end of the tunnel but he's not sure

Half way through - it is definitely the end over there

Coming out of the darkness

Thriller night!

Day 17

Due to a bit of a lousy internet reception lately I haven't updated the blog as often as I'd like to but to you that will mean a bit of an avalanche of blog posts now, so hopefully you'll be alright =) Basically, we're still kicking!

On the 17th day of our journey we left beautiful Gayton and Evergreen stables to go to Hill View Equestrian in Spratton. I imagined this would be a massive centre but it turned out to be a quiet private yard run by a lovely lady who sounded very surprised when I called her. That all made sense to me when I got there and realised that the only person down there was her =)

We ended up staying one day longer than planned because the place and the lady (and her dogs!) were so nice - and because Juniblest had been walking for two days straight and I really should stick to that "2 days ride, one day off" plan.

If you fancy supporting our two charities, please go to the following links: Riding for the Disabled Association or World Horse Welfare
I have finally managed to put all the physical cash people have given me along the road into their accounts =)

Picture time!

Beautiful Gayton

Especially when the sun shines!

Grey tail + mud = a mess...

We met an ent! (Lord of the Rings)

More of Gayton

We had time for a trip to the pub, Juniblest having a nap as always

We found an old train track!

Oooooh, train's coming! (Not really, it was parked..)

Juniblest pretending to be a train =)

At Hill View he was offered a bath and although he might have preferred to stay brown I couldn't resist it...

Bathed, fed and watered - happy pony =)

Cal the Northern Inuit and Moya the White German Shepherd <3

<3