Now we're coming near to the end of the Ride Welland website development, one of the key features of the website is still sorely lacking - day and holiday ride maps and routecards. So emboldened by a few sessions on the WII Fit Phil and I set out this morning to walk a ride. As a day ride should be at least 16 miles long, we decided to break ourselves in gently and just do half. In fact, the bit we did this morning was supposed to be about seven miles, so a nice gentle stroll.
We parked cars at each end of the walk (Phil's at the Blue Dog in Sewstern and mine at the Nag's Head in Saltby), and off we set. The route was comprimised from the start, as the idea was that lunch would be at the Nag's Head.....which had a sign on the door saying it didn't open on Saturdays. Not much use for Ride Welland then. So the Blue Dog would be lunch stop instead.
The walk itself was absolutely gorgeous - a bit of quiet lane with wide verges followed by firm track. Some of the track was rutted by 4WDs, but all passable by a horse. An off-road motorcyclist passed us with a cheery wave, the single disturbance in a peace broken only by the songs of skylarks and yellowhammers. We eventually came upon an airfield with lots of gliders; in fact the path crossed the bottom of the runway and we were divebombed by gliders and 'planes coming in to land as they skimmed a few feet above out heads. Not sure how a horse would respond to that.
Past the airfield the track started to deteriorate. The 4WDs had made a tremendous mess, and we eventually had to concede that we could not suggest that riders come this way. As we turned back we heard a cry from farther down the track "I'm stuck". And sure enough, there was the motorcyclist sitting forlornly next to his entrenched bike. Keen to help, I volunteered to hold Annie while Phil joined him in the mud. After 10 minutes of heaving and pulling using Annie's lead and brute strength, they managed to free the bike and the mysterious motorcycist went on his way (I offered to email him a link to the blog but he said he wanted to stay anonymous).
We parked cars at each end of the walk (Phil's at the Blue Dog in Sewstern and mine at the Nag's Head in Saltby), and off we set. The route was comprimised from the start, as the idea was that lunch would be at the Nag's Head.....which had a sign on the door saying it didn't open on Saturdays. Not much use for Ride Welland then. So the Blue Dog would be lunch stop instead.
The walk itself was absolutely gorgeous - a bit of quiet lane with wide verges followed by firm track. Some of the track was rutted by 4WDs, but all passable by a horse. An off-road motorcyclist passed us with a cheery wave, the single disturbance in a peace broken only by the songs of skylarks and yellowhammers. We eventually came upon an airfield with lots of gliders; in fact the path crossed the bottom of the runway and we were divebombed by gliders and 'planes coming in to land as they skimmed a few feet above out heads. Not sure how a horse would respond to that.
Past the airfield the track started to deteriorate. The 4WDs had made a tremendous mess, and we eventually had to concede that we could not suggest that riders come this way. As we turned back we heard a cry from farther down the track "I'm stuck". And sure enough, there was the motorcyclist sitting forlornly next to his entrenched bike. Keen to help, I volunteered to hold Annie while Phil joined him in the mud. After 10 minutes of heaving and pulling using Annie's lead and brute strength, they managed to free the bike and the mysterious motorcycist went on his way (I offered to email him a link to the blog but he said he wanted to stay anonymous).
We turned back and traced our steps, back past the airfield, back along the track to another bridleway I had decided to use instead. And what a joy it was! Two huge, grassy fields just crying out to be galloped across, followed by a track through a beautiful beech copse, then another fabulous canterable track with amazing views all the way to the edge of Saltby.
By the time we got back to my car we reckoned we had done about 10 miles because of having to double back and use a different route. 10 miles really isn't all that far on flat ground at a medium walk, but boy did it feel like we'd run a marathon. After a feeble attempt to pretend I'd left my keys in Phil's car we popped Annie in the back and returned to the Blue Dog for a yummy Stilton burger with chips.
Tomorrow we have part two of the ride - another 10 miles.....
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