Monday, October 01, 2007
Aching...
Yorkshire Scenery
Boltby
Mum, Nicki and our B & B
Nico- My Mount For The DayI have had a really busy but nice weekend! It didn't take long to get to North Yorkshire, in fact it probably took us longer to find the B & B and I had to admit defeat and ring them in the end. It was in the lovely village of Boltby, nestling in the shadow of the vast sheer cliffs of Sutton Bank. Boltby is only about 5 miles away from Thirsk, right in the heart of the National Park and James Herriot country.
The B & B was lovely, really comfy. We had a family room, with ensuite facilities. My sis, Nicki, arrived and we had a walk through the village before heading out for dinner. It was a lovely evening, and the view over the moors was spectacular as we drove to nearby Hawnby. The roads are a bit hairy though- very narrow and twisty, and quite hair raising if you meet somebody coming the other way, especially as the locals tend to be very complacent!
We dined at the Inn at Hawnby- lovely food and we all ate far too much. The area is full of tiny villages and hamlets, without many facilities such as pubs. There were no streetlights in the village and I had to keep locking and unlocking the car with the remote function so that we could find it in the dark!
We made friends with the other occupants of the B & B- a mother and daughter, plus their labrador, who had holidayed in Scotland and were breaking up their journey home to Suffolk. We swapped horsy stories with the owner of the B & B, who was a keen rider, before gathering our stuff and driving the few hundred yards down the road to the trekking centre.
Mum has only been riding since Christmas, so elected to go a different route with the owner of the centre, whilst us more 'experienced' types (ha ha!) went a different way. There were about 8 of us, including me and Nicki, plus 2 helpers. The riding was stunning. The scenery was so varied; we rode over the vast purple plateaus of the moors, through forests, and through rich arable land. There were endless green bridleway tracks over the moors, and we had quite a few fast canters; it was terrific! We were so lucky with the weather, it was a perfect day.
By a quirk of fate, we ended up back at the Inn at Hawnby for lunch, and turned the ponies put into a nearby field. My mount was a bay pony called Nico. Mum met up with us for lunch; she had been chatting with Sheila the owner, who had pointed out features of interest.
The afternoon brought even moor riding, and canters/ gallops over the moors. We must have looked quite impressive! Nico stayed at the back, which suited me fine! Some of the paths were steep ascents and descents, the best method was to let your pony pick his way up or down, but they blew pretty alarmingly on the steep ascents (guess I would too if I had a person on my back... oh hang on, I puff and pant alarmingly anyway!!)
We were in the saddle for about 5 hours in all, which was quite a long time when you are not really used to it- it's amazing how much it can hurt; the last couple of miles through the forest seemed a bit endless as my thighs were killing me! Mum was even worser for wear, and we must have looked a sight trying to walk into the Little Chef! Funnily enough, there were lots of folk in their who had done the Great North Run, so we were congratulating them but we must have looked a lot worse than they did!
My back and leg muscles are aching, it seems to affect completely different muscles than those used for running/ walking, although I can't even think about training today. But it was a fantastic day and great weekend! The centre does 2 day trail rides, which would be fun, but I will have to build up to- the thought of doing it all again today is very painful, and mum reckons she doesn't even want to see a horse for a couple of weeks!
Labels: North York Moors, Pony Trekking
