The High Street in the Lake District
Horse Trails & Horse Tails
By Sharnina mostly!
Hello you two! I am glad to see you. Just let me come in the field and have a roll and I'll catch up with you where I've been. Oh that's much better. I was dying for a good back rub!
Well then, once I got in the trailer the other day, I thought we would only be going a short way and I'd be back that evening in the field with you. The surprise was that we travelled on some very big busy roads with huge lorries, loads and loads of cars. It was very noisy and I'd no idea where we were when we got to our destination!
Jenni let me out the trailer backwards as usual. I never can get out quick enough and she's given up front unloading with me. We were in a small yard next to a field with a stream running 
through it. I was a bit peckish and went to graze as soon as I got in the field.
You know I don't like wet feet so I stayed on that side of the stream and ate out what grass was there. Home grass tastes much better! This is good! Jenni went away letting me settle to noshing. Later she came back and got me from the field to scrub my feet (some bug has got hold in the front ones) and she gave me some feed. She took me back in the field and persuaded me to cross the water over a flat bridge. I took some 
persuading but I eventually capitulated. There was more grass there and I could get closer to this gorgeous Stallion next door! That was it for the night.
In the morning Jenni brushed me down and put my saddle and tack on, got on my back and off we went. No idea where we were off to but I thought we might meet some other equines. I was a bit jumpy and kept in trot for quite a way. When it was apparent were on a trek alone I slowed my pace to conserve my energy.
We went up a track eventually which climbed gently going through quite a lot of gates. We met two walkers going in the same direction and I tried to stay with them as there were lots of places where water flowed across. Watching them pass over those bits gave me the confidence to go myself. Jenni wasn't too pleased after a bit. She kept whopping me with the lead rope. We lost them further on and started climbing. There were quite a few gates. Jen got off for the ones that the walkers didn't open when they went a different way. The last 
one she opened she stayed off my back, unclipped one end of the rope rein and walked in front. I was able to eat a bit as she walked on, then I'd trot and catch her up. The path was really, really steep and very long.She had to stop no end of times to get her breath back so I took advantage for a nibble!
I was a bit concerned about these black and white blobs on legs. I've never seen them before. Jenni kept telling me they were sheep and nothing to worry about! At one point one came out of the bracken and startled me so I turned to go back sharpish! Jenni made me turn round and carry on! Anyway they were a fair way up the mountain.
Goodness it was steep! It took us ages to get to the top! Stopping at one point I looked back where we'd come. You 
should have seen it! The valley floor was way below us and I saw right over the top of a mountain, that had towered over us in the valley, to a lake we'd seen earlier. People were walking down in the other direction.
We reached near the top. I think she was unsure which way to go. We went left at a junction in the paths to this weird pile of stones like a big square post. Then we came back down and took the right fork. She was still off my back leading me and I kept taking mouthfuls of 
grass, as you do if you can!
The track narrowed and there was a very steep drop to the right. Then it went round some bends and I felt insecure as the path was in danger of caving away from my hooves on the right. I refused to move then. Being fair, I couldn't have turned so the only way was forward. Jenni pressured me and I gave in. The path went down to a gully and up again, twisting and turning. It opened and flattened out. A track joined from the left and I persuaded her for us to follow it.
I could see that funny pile of stones again in the distance and some people straight ahead. Jenni talked to them when we got near enough, then found a spot to get on my back again. We went in the same direction along a track.
There was a group of people ahead and to the right, one was a small boy. We met them where the paths came together near a wall. They stopped to rest. Following the path through the fallen bit of wall we carried on passing a turning to the right. There were less of those funny 
sheep. I've never been so high before! Jewel, the cob I told you about, was bred in the mountains in Snowdonia, but I suspect she had never been this high!
Anyhow, Jenni turned me round after a bit and we went back to the track we'd passed. The people we'd left behind by the wall were walking up that track. We followed them. It climbed to this rock then dropped to the left. By this time Jenni was off my back again and I was walking behind taking bites of grass as we went.
A noise started from that box thing Jenni has and she spoke to it. The sun when we could see it had shifted a long way round. Late afternoon, I reckoned. We'd started quite early. She checked something on another box thing she had and talked to the first one again. Those people we'd been following had got a fair way ahead and kept disappearing.
We carried on. The track had narrowed. Some bits of it had been repaired where it was boggy. It got steeper and more treacherous near some 
crags. I kept refusing but Jen kept putting pressure on me to continue, so I had little choice till I just couldn't see how to get through one bit. It was so steep and narrow I kept evading and going on the grass on the side. She turned me back and we went through a wide open gully. The grass was long there and she let me graze there a while. We found a way round. Those people were nowhere to be seen.
Just after that Jenni slipped, landing on her bottom which warned me to be careful. I'd got 
my hoof boots on. They were protecting my heals on the rocks, but made grip more difficult. The ground was damp. It was very steep downhill and hard going. I could see a long stretch of water way down below. I presumed that was where we were going. Eventually we got down closer to the water and the path divided. There was a waterfall to the left going under a bridge. Jenni took me that way and had a look at the path. Then we went back and started following another path laid with rocks. All around was very wet and boggy. I didn't fancy 
walking on the rocks so took to the side but it got boggier, so I refused! She turned me round again and tried another route, but that was worse! Coming back she encouraged me on the rocky path and it wasn't all that bad after all, better than bog anyway! Next was a wooden bridge which was a doddle to cross! Aren't I clever? By this time we'd dropped down quite close to the water but we were still above it. We got into a glade of trees with a nice grassy floor. I was really feeling exhausted with coming down the mountain, so flatly refused to go any 
further when Jenni put pressure on. It was getting late, here was some grass with water near, so a perfect place to spend the night! NO I wasn't going another step and I stepped backwards dragging her towards me till she fell over and I did it more than once! In the end I had to give in as she clipped one end of the rope reins to each of the halters I was wearing and pulled. That was too much and I gave in!
The path evened out a bit and Jenni got on my back again for a short while till we came to a very 
rocky track. The rocks weren't easy for either of us to walk on. We were just above the water and I could see Broomers on the other side. She got me to cross another wooden bridge. Then we got to a wooden gate. I thought we might not get through, but she got it open and soon we were getting near the Broomers. Another gate and we were on the hard road with them.
Jenni rested on a low wall while I cropped some juicy long grass. We'd been lucky with the weather. After a bit she got on my back and we 
went on down the road. It was a relief to be on firm level ground again. It was late, but the light wasn't going yet. We could see a person walking ahead of us that we eventually caught up with and passed. She was trying to get me to go faster but I was tired and couldn't manage much, so the man caught us up and we walked together!
We came to a building on the right with the water on our left and Jenni got off me. The man disappeared in to it. What a surprise when David came from it! I'd been having a nibble of grass. After a short while David went off in the Broomer and Jenni got back on me. We continued on along the road. The light was starting to fade and it was dark under the trees. Suddenly I heard something up the bank on the right. I couldn't see very well and then it barked. That got me going! It barked several more times so I put a spurt 
on just in case...! I played on the safe side.
A white Broomer like Jenni's came along and stopped. Quite a few people in it and one got out and spoke to her. She let me eat the grass on the verge while she did so, so it didn't bother me. They went away again and we went on our way too.
After a long distance we lost the water on our left. It was a scary noise at the end with a big shadow that I was keen to get past. It was getting dark now in earnest. The bats were out and I enjoyed their noiseless, shadowy presence, flitting about. We carried on past some houses and then I could hear some Broomers coming towards us. The lights blinded me a bit. Jenni told me to turn round and go into the entrance behind. It was a single track road. One Broomer 
had a trailer on it. They both stopped. It was David and another man. It became apparent that I was expected to go in this strange smelling trailer! Jenni had got off me and had taken the saddle off. I put up a little resistance but was too tired for much.
A short time later we arrived at this place that smelt of other horses. It was dark. They took me to a stable with shavings in it and gave me some delicious smelling haylage. Lovely! In the other stable was a rather attractive Appaloosa boy. They are not usually my type but I quite fancied him! That was where I spent my night! At least I laid down to take the weight off my aching legs, but I did feel stiff next morning.
Jenni usually puts me in a field after a long walk. I don't get so stiff. In the morning that's what she did. I had a chance to meet one of the local equines briefly but didn't have long as she got me to go in our trailer again and we went back to the field with the stream in it.
I actually walked through the stream myself and later came over the bridge by myself when Jenni showed me the yellow bucket! I chilled out the rest of the day. They brought me home today and I'm glad to be somewhere I know.
Jenni's footnote
I studied the map well and researched as best I could by going on the Geograph website. I also emailed a National Park Ranger for information. I took a Mio GPS, mobile phone and paper print outs of OS mapping of the route, food and water.
There is no signage on the fell. Because it is popular there are paths not marked on the map and places where the marked paths disappear on the ground due to being well trodden. I ended up veering off the High Street three times, the third coming down a footpath to Hawswater. David had phoned, then I checked our position and I rang him back to let him know where we were (off route on a footpath) and that I would continue on down to the lake hoping we'd have access off the footpath. It was 5.30pm when David spoke to me on my mobile. I considered it the safest option.
David got anxious. He looked for us coming down off the mountain. Having gone to the Hotel by the lake they advised him to alert the Mountain Rescue whom we met later on the access road to Hawswater. I never have mastered reading a compass and have relied on landmarks, but will get some instruction now. The GPS I have is not best suited for fell trail riding. We caught sight of a red deer after the Hotel and that is what we heard barking.
All's well that ends well. Sharnina was a true star with her trust in me, so much so that my throat chokes a bit! It was hard for us both. The distance we covered, without going wrong twice before we came down on the footpath, was about 22 miles. I'm hoping to return next year and ride from the Askham end - with a local - to the bit where we last went wrong and also to ride the area we stayed at Crook near Bowness on Windermere. We shall conquer!
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