Tuesday 17 May 2011

Days 10, 11 & 12

It seems that it is about time I wrote again. Nothing sooooo special has been happening and the scenery and weather have not been amazingly stunning, so the camera has not had much work lately.

Here is a picture of one of the many friends Maggie has made along the way. She is having so much fun meeting other dogs that she can play with.

It was not so easy to set off from Elizabeth's in the morning. It was so nice and I had to pop into the house for a last cup of tea before the journey continued. Imagine, dear English people, I drink my tea without milk (I am allergic to it) and often enough without sugar. I am just making exceptions now to get more energy. To my way of thinking it does not even taste very good with milk, but that's just me. So, what do you think about what a friend of mine said a while ago? "Isn't it funny that a nation calls a drink its national drink, but has to mix in loads of milk and sugar to make it drinkable." Very interesting thought, I thought.
On day 10 we went up high into the hills again, to Stonewall Hill where they seem to be planning a wind farm and lots of the neighbours are against it. Many have put up signs in protest. As I learnt, the biggest and most obvious yellow one of them at the foot of the hill actually stood somewhere else and seems to have been "moved" by the people who live lower down. They must have liked the look of it and put it in a prime position in their garden.

We were wanting to find a place to stay as we climbed the hill and went for the first place we found having just gone down a little from the peak. There was evidence of horses in the field by the house, so I of course had to go and look. We were immediately allowed to stay, the horses got the meadow and I got to put the tent up in the more wind-protected garden. I even got invited to traditional Sunday dinner with Roast Potatoes and Yorkshire Puddings and the lady was so kind as to do some extra pasta to cater for my veggie needs - so kind!
Day 11 was unspectacular, cool but at least dry all day we ended up going into a town quite late where I had a) wanted to go shopping for some dog food and b) there was a castle that I had wanted to visit. Both of which didn't take place as it was already after opening hours and time to find a place for the night. I thought of staying near the town and doing the above the next morning, but could find nowhere to stay. There were masses of nice land, but seemingly no farm(s) that it belonged to and other fields were clearly almost due to be cut for haylage and co.
Having given up on the idea of staying near the town, we headed up the hill on our planned route and soon found a farm where we were made extremely welcome. The horses got a field that had had sheep in it, but was already growing quite well again, I put my tent up in a sheltered corner and then - hold on - I went and had the BATH that I had been offered on arrival! Wow, how it is to feel like a new person again and also to wash some clothes that were then even perfectly dry by the morning, suspended along the fence on their bungee.

Also, I don't know why I was ever worried about how this ride would go. I had heard so much about fantastic French hospitality on such rides. That part is true, but somebody forgot to mention that the British hospitality is just soooo much better. Imagine, I told the lady we stayed with last night that I had to go to the shops to get some dog food and she offered me their car to go shopping, which I of course didn't want to accept. In the end, she gave me a bag full of their food, she wouldn't let me pay and she gave me enough for a week! So kind!
And something else: yesterday we were walking along a lane when a 4x4 passed us and waved - so far nothing unusual. A moment later the same car came up from behind us and the man said there was a field in the next village where I could let the horses rest. He described where it was and went drove off again. Then, another minute later, he was back with some extra description to really make sure I would find it! And then, as I was sitting on the field eating an apple and a roll, a man came over to me from a company on the other side of the road to offer me a cup of tea. We are really lucky, it seems.

Today has also been nice, we are walking through the countryside of Shropshire and almost at our turning point where we will start heading east over to the Peak District. It is not as hilly as in Wales, but there have been some lovely views. Talking of hills, we are on an extremely hilly field tonight, I have the tent in the neighbour's garden as it has the only flat spot! Photos tomorrow...

4 comments:

  1. Do you have a twitter account? I would love to keep updated with this ride around Britain! Very inspiring, by the way!

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  2. Keep following your journey, tell us about these horse bots

    :-)

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  3. Good luck on your journey. I met you briefly around Great Ness in Shropshire last Thursday. I was on a bicycle and you gave me your card.

    Best wishes.

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  4. Gemma, no Twitter, I'm afraid... maybe I should...
    Breno, will tell more soon, but for all info the best place to look is probably easycareinc.com
    Great Ness, I think I remember :o)

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