BRIDLEWAY BUDDIES DATABASE - FIND A FRIEND TO RIDE WITH
The Prince Llewelyn Ride by Camilla Mascall
For Several years, Sarah Mayhill who is well known for her activities, team chasing, hunting & point to point riding, and also a doctor treating illnesses such as M.E, has lead a group of riders across Wales to the coast. This started out as a pony club ride, but in the current climate of strict Health & Safety has evolved into a ride for friends as well as pony club and hunting folk.
This ride (possibly with a few less hazardous parts) has recently been adopted as a BHS long distance routed called The Prince Llywelyn Ride (leaflets for the ride inc one for B+B can be obtained from the BHS from their National Bridleways Network Series). The route is not way-marked as yet, but there is a map to follow and it is mostly bridlepaths. Rumour has it that when the County Council heard that the ride was planned by Sarah they decided it must be to dangerous!
I was lucky enough to join this years ride via Nickatie Tucker, a former endurance rider. On Tuesday 26th August we set off from Sarah's house at Llangunllo. The First day was a short one, leaving at midday and with packed lunch in our saddlebags to be eaten whilst riding. The route starts officially from where the Jack Mytton Way ends and i have ridden this route twice, starting from home in Worcestershire. We joined the official route on Breacon Hill, near Llanfair Waterdine. Some people may remember this from the Old Radnor Hills ride. Here we met Prew Wakeman, who i had stayed with when i have ridden in the area in the past, and she rode with us for the first day.
We were a large group of between 25 and 30 riders. Ages ranged from 12yrs old to considerably older! Horses ranged from an 11hh pony to some at over 17hh, Many of the riders do this every year, some including the hunt master to get fit (horse & rider) for hunting. Sundance was very excited at first, thinking he should be off at endurance pace and it took him a long time to settle to a walk and accept the fact that we were going to be out of time today! We rode the whole distance at a fast walk, because of the number of us riding and because of the many hazards on route. We did a slight detour to ride through a lake, on top of the aptly named Pool Hill, to get the horses used to deep water. This was up to just under Sundance's belly, he had quite a large one starting out and he coped alright with this.
I didn't sleep much as the horse next to me kept banging her haynet on the wall above my head, and all too soon it was time to break camp and saddle up for day two. I was warned that this was "bog" day. Maybe the fact that the previous weekend, just over the hill at Llanwrtyd Wells, the world bog snorkelling championships had been held should have given me a clue as to what we would experience! The weather was quite drizzly so most of us wore a full set of waterproofs which would be best for the bogs as well as the rain. The views for the first part of the day were amazing, better than i could have imagined. Sundance was settling down as well, which gave me an easier ride. Indeed all of the horses were much clamer.
We went through a few deep bogs, and then came to one where we had to get off and lead individually. It came up to Sun's belly, the smaller ponies were lighter and able to leap across quickly without sinking to much, and we were able to cross on foot in the same manner. It was a real test of how much our horses trusted us to follow through. I was proud of Sun who came straight across. I couldn't have imagined we would be going through such deep bogs!
Then we met our first bogs, these were up to his knees but he plunged through and followed the others. In the late afternoon we dropped down to our first overnight stop, just south of Llanbister. The lorry was waiting for us with all our gear and food. The horses were fed and turned out in two fields, one for the mares and one for the geldings they had got to know each other on the ride and settled well together. I found a place for my roll mat on the stable floor with a horse next to me. I was told that this was 5* accomodation compared with the following nights!! (i would think the B+B suggested in the BHS leaflet rather conventional!)
A portaloo had been delivered, but placed on a slope so nearly fell over when the first person went in. She emerged looking shell shocked, to say "even the toilet tries to buck me off" afterwards everyone who went in was encouraged with shouts of "ride it forward" hang on keep its head up!. Some kind soul levelled it up later and we were suprised to find that after a few glasses of red wine it stopped wobbling. We then had a lovely BBQ and got to know each other.
Our beds were put up on the floor of a very dirty sheep barn, with deep mud outside, but by this time i wasn't worried about small furry animals, slugs on the butter, or anything other than getting me and my horse to the coast intact. The horses were fed and turned out and the lorry backed up to the open end of the barn, lowered the ramp, and we all climbed aboard, like a crowd of illegal immigrants. This took us to the pub where they had set aside a room for us, probably because of the washing facilities had been non existant, and there we had our meal. I slept well that night, not caring about being down on the floor with the sheep poo. My priorities about housework will take a steep dive from now on!
We were able to get cleaned off at a river crossing shortly afterwards. The water came up over Sun's knees, but i followed some of the others around a bend in the river to some deeper water, as i hadn't swum Sun before and i wanted to prepare him for day four. All of my other horses have swum from time to time, but he has avoided it so far. So we followed Sarah on her 17hh horse and he got out of his depth and had to swim a couple of strides. He just seemed very surprised with it! The lorry met us in a clearing near the road and we tied the horses up to a long rope and had a lovely lunch. At least we weren't going to be breathalysed out here.. Over a few more hills and then onto our overnight stop by about 5.30 ish Here we met up with Nickatie, she then joined us for the rest of the ride.
Sundance managed to lose a shoe in the field overnight, but i had a spare and this was quickly tacked on. Day three was "Hill Day" climbing up onto the first hill we encountered another deep bog to lead us across. This one wasn't as deep as the previous days bogs but it was very sticky, which was worse. But by now we were old hands at this game. Halfway through the morning the mist came down and we could hardly see the horse in front. We quickly became lost. It was good to be with hunting folk, as out came the hip flasks and Sloe Gin tasted so much better than my endurance rider's water! with the help of a compass we found the entrance to Halfren Forest, which was very pretty, and in here we forded the River Severn.
Another lunch stop we continued through to Plynlimon. The hills i had been warned about were just incredibly steep "that hill" on the Red Dragon ride was nothing compared to these. The only way up was to launch the horses at them at a canter and let them leap from ledge to ledge. Sun think's he's called Sun because the sun shines out of his backside, but unfortunatly it didn't shine bright enough today to clear away the mist.
The views would have been spectacular from here but it was to misty to see much. So i will just have to go back next year for the views
Well another night another sheep barn, but this one was dry and had straw on the floor (3* ???) and the farming couple had us all in for a lovely meal. We weren't completely finished with the bogs and had a whole day of bogs to still catch us out., also some steep hills, but thankfully not as steep as yesterday. This was a long day and we weren't going to stop for lunch, so saddle bags were stuffed with fruit, chocolate and nuts. One of the hazards was a very narrow path, just room for a horse to put one foot in front of the other, on one side of a mountain with a sheer drop of a couple of hundred feet below. I felt that we must resemble something out of the "Lord of the Rings" and just prayed that it didn't start to snow.! Then came the ravine! This was a near vertical drop to a narrow V and then a sheer climb up the other side. The track was just wide enough for one horse. We dismounted, took the reins off, handed our horses to Sarah and somehow scrambled across and we caught them at the other side. After this there was a similar drop to a narrow stream, but we managed to stay mounted for this. Eventually we dropped down the mountains and back to civilisation.
We hit Borth High Street in the early afternoon and the traffic stopped and everyone came out of the shops to watch the horses and lunatic riders trot down the street. Then we were on the beach! what a feeling of exhilaration and acheivement. We walked in a long line abreast for a couple of miles along the beach, joined at one point by a man training a trotting horse.
The lorry was waiting for us with all the trailers to take us home at the car park across the estuary from Aberdovey. We had a BBQ and relaxed at last, but there was one more hazard to come - the sea! Saddles were taken off, we took off our boots and riding bareback followed Sarah out through the sea to a sandbank. The horses had just got used to the waves and the deep water when she turned for home (we weren't going to Ireland) and we stepped off the sandbank and had to swim. Initially the horses were terrified and all clung together, and there was a confussing mass of horses legs thrashing around, but in no time they were swimming properly. The water was warm and Sun absolutely loved it, coming back to the beach calmly and happily. I used to swim horses in the sea often as a child, but had forgotten how exhiliarating it was.
The whole experience was amazing. I have taken my relationship with my horse to a whole new level and have already booked my place for next year!! The total distance that we covered was 85 miles, and apart from a few places where i lost the signal, i was able to keep a record of the track on my GPS unit. We have uploaded this onto the OS maps software we have and this will give you an idea of the route we followed.
Camilla Mascall & Sundance
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