Day 39, 13th June

It started quite early and also finished quite early despite leaving a little late – not until 11 – with the ponies.

I got up at 6.30 at my brother's house to have a shower and set off clean after our three days' break. There was more packing to do than expected, which took a while, but luckily I had done the repair jobs the day before. Dazzy, who has a habit of not lifting his hind hooves up properly had worn off a lot of the clip to tighten them and they had to be replaced. I got out of putting all new wires on and instead just clipped off the existing ones and made them a little shorter, which would be better for Dazzy's small hooves anyway.

We got to the stable at 9.30 and I had the ponies ready and packed at eleven when we said our goodbyes and thank yous and went on our way. We started off on quite main roads, first through Dalston, then on to Carlisle and through the centre as there is really only one way to get across the river and that is through the centre.

Amazingly, when we stopped off just quickly on the lawn at the castle to take some photos, a lady, who worked there, came out asking whether we had permission from the MOD to be there. It was hard to believe, I waid I was just going and that was alright, but why on earth would we need permission from the MOD to stand on a public lawn by a monument? Gosh, they must be worried about security.

Having cleared the centre, and the MOD, we went out onto smaller roads again, though found ourselves on a lorry highway that went past the rubbish dump and a big wood yard and it was far from quiet for a couple of miles at least. Afterwards, we went along quiet roads and then along a small road that ran parallel to the M6 northwards, where we met a farmer after just a short way who offered us the use of his field for the night without even being asked. It was a bit early and we had only done 23km, but we decided to stop anyway and start off early in the morning.

We all shared the field with some cows and calves and all looked happy as also the weather got better and better.

P.S. As always, please forgive the errors - written in haste and on limited battery :o)