The Pony Diaries: Day 42

Day 42 was a very eventful day! First of all I realised that we were only 8 miles away from Appleby where the Appleby Horse Fair is held annually. Me and a friend have talked about going there but we never really got around to it. Maybe next year? And I promise to leave my purse at home!

As roadwork is booooriiiing I decided to try this bridleway that would take us over the hills (and far away?) to Middleton in Teesdale, but it turned out to be a bit on the too action filled side for us - it lead us straight into a bog! Luckily we didn't get that whole getting stuck properly with only Juniblest's head sticking up, but a bit after the reception on my phone disappeared we went straight in all the way up to Juniblest's belly.. I didn't realise just how boggy it was until this happened, but as soon as he was in I was off trying to help him. Did he need that? Of course not! Long live native ponies =) He just rolled on to his side to free his legs - he kept rolling until all four legs were out and then he started getting up. Of course there was a bit of getting up, sinking in before he was back on dry land, but he did it. He did seem a bit worried about it, but not a lot. And all his boots stayed on!
I tried a different track but had to give that one up too.. At one point I left Juniblest to graze while I went to check out the ground (which did not look safe..), but he came after me so I had to chase him away. That was stupid as he took that as an order to go all the way back up the hill and I had to chase him with my heart pounding in fear of him walking into another bog. I know bogs are not located on top of hills, but he was walking briskly far in front of me and if he hadn't stopped gods know where he would have gone.
This was the last drop for my nerves so we walked back to the road and ended up doing road work for the rest of the day =p Boring, but safe!

Then, as we were going on the road towards Les' house this car stopped in front of us and out came a lady who shouted my name the way we pronounce it back home. I realised fairly quickly that this must be Les' wife, but he had clearly forgotten to mention that she is Swedish - or I might have forgotten that he mentioned it? Anyway, on the phone we had just spoken English and although I heard some sort of accent I just assumed it was a Northern English one (and it might well have been because she's lived here since forever! =p). For those of you who don't know, Norwegian and Swedish are as similar as English and American and I can't describe how much this made me feel at home! So we chatted and chatted in our own native languages over dinner and she showed me feeding routines and stuff for the horses before she left for Sweden with her grand daughter. So basically, I've had two days to relax, update the blog and watch Astrid Lindgren movies such as Emil i Lonneberga and Pippi Langstrump (these are shown on Norwegian TV regularly and all Norwegian children grow up with Astrid Lindgren's stories). Can life be any better?
Oh, and I'm also getting my saddle stitched back up while I'm here. Yay!

Also, I got a message on Facebook from a girl who is making my ride look short - she's going from John O' Groats to Land's End on her Thoroughbred for British Heart Fundation! Clearly, we have passed each other without realising a short week ago and she has stayed in some of the places I stayed at. Small world!
Her name is Katrina Littlechild and her blog is found here. She's also on facebook =)

And as always, please don't forget to donate a fair share to WHW and RDA! Cheers!