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Horse
Riding Holidays
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you and your horse
with
Your
Horse Adventures
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Ride Across Wales
(or Two Ponies Go Back to their Roots)
by Sue Eeley |
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In early October 2010, the Ryder
Cup was held in Wales and sponsored, apparently, by the Wales
Tourist Board. A spectacular own goal, you’d think,
demonstrating that Wales has monsoon conditions two days out of
three. This was the weekend we travelled to Knighton to begin
our ride across Wales. Our companions, who were going to do all
the work, were two Welsh Cob x TBs (Welbreds perhaps?).
Visibility as we travelled was almost non-existent – potentially
a problem far worse than rain, as to miss the views would be
galling in the extreme and might compromise our navigational
skills.
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 We arrived at Brandy House to a
wonderful welcome. The horses were turned out and spent the
next few hours anxiously looking for dragons (or perhaps it was
the just the unfamiliar white, woolly creatures that unsettled
them). We, meanwhile, were consuming tea and homemade cake in a
very comfortable farmhouse. After a delicious supper, we talked
through the route with Medina, our hostess and co-owner of Your
Horse Adventures. Our sleep was only slightly disturbed by
dreams of bogs, locked gates, being washed away whilst fording a
river or getting lost!
The next morning confounded the
long range weather forecast by dawning without a cloud in the
sky. The valley was wreathed in mist below us as we set out.
The scenery was both stunning and varied, giving us a taster of
what was to come ranging from gentle lanes, via forestry, to
open hill. Fording the river proved to be easy, the horses
taking the opportunity of a well earned drink. We arrived at
our overnight stay by mid afternoon and were met by our hosts
who couldn’t have done more to ensure both our and the horses’
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The second day was the longest, but
again varied and well planned, so didn’t seem in any way
arduous. Old drovers’ roads took us to some forestry, then a
steep descent through farmland was rewarded by a paddle and
drink in a stream for the horses. A short stretch of B road had
no traffic on – a novelty if you live in Oxfordshire! We had to
cross a busy A road, but a pre-arranged permissive path meant we
didn’t have to ride along it. The pretty Marshes Pool provided
a scenic backdrop for our lunch stop. We then had the boggy bit
to contend with. I must admit this had worried me a little, as
I hate bogs. Medina had explained their preferred route,
avoiding the way-marked path which was apparently extremely
deep. Despite the very wet conditions, we got to the other side
with only one pony looking rather muddy! (The other found a way
across with only his ankles getting wet). The final stretch
included a pretty ride alongside a stream before entering the
Hafren Forest for the last hour’s ride to our overnight stay.
The horses could hardly believe their luck – a large field, with
plentiful lush grass, but they had certainly earned every
blade. We were equally fortunate. Award winning eco-friendly
accommodation, based on a pretty, traditional farm, with two
superbly equipped lodges was our home for the night. If you
want to learn about solar heating or photo-voltaics, this is the
place for you. I had an unexpected offer the next morning –
“Would you like to see my boiler?” I did and it was, I
have to admit, fascinating!
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 One spectacular sight early on the
third day was a large flock of sheep coming down an open hill
moving as one, guided solely by dogs instructed by their owner
who was riding a pretty Welsh cob mare and whistling
occasionally. This didn’t bear any resemblance to us moving
stock on our farm, which is altogether much noisier and
considerably less efficient! Having closed the field gate
behind them, he waited to talk us. We mutually admired each
other’s cobs (he knew the breeding of mine in more detail than I
did), and I explained that the following week I was going to the
Builth cob sales to look for a younger model as a future
replacement. “Well now, I just happen to have a dun colt foal
that would really suit you”. We could have been in Ireland!
(Sadly I couldn’t go to the sales on the day he was selling – it
could have been the ultimate holiday souvenir.)
That day it did rain, but only for
ten minutes. Ironically it did so as we got to the viewpoint
dedicated to Wynford Vaughn Thomas, with far-reaching views and
where you could allegedly see Cadr Idris and Snowdon. We saw a
rainbow!
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Riding through superb scenery of
rolling hills and valleys, with mountains in the distance
brought us to the farm where we were to stay for the night. A
small navigational error took us through a field of Welsh black
cattle – the bull was luckily docile, as he was probably rather
more familiar with the steeply sloping local terrirory than we
were. Again the horses’ field met with their approval, while we
given a choice of various bedrooms in the large, comfortable
farmhouse. We couldn’t really concentrate, as we had just
spotted, and were totally focussed on, a bath! Showers are just
not quite the same after a long day in the saddle. Our hostess
was a lovely lady who kept us highly entertained throughout our
stay.
On the fourth day we left
Glyndwr’s Way – a long distance footpath named after the early
fifteenth century Welsh hero Owain Glyndwr who won significant
battles close to the route, fighting for Welsh independence and
who held the first Welsh Parliament in Machynlleth.
Since Knighton we had been roughly
following this, but as it is mainly a footpath we could only use
it at intervals, so kept leaving and rejoining it.
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 The fourth day
was my favourite. It provided some of the most
picturesque countryside of the whole journey.
In the morning, riding along a ridge above a valley with a
waterfall on the far side, we had clear views looking back to
where we had been on the previous day. After climbing initially
through farmland, then open moorland, we entered a forest. The
first glimpse through the trees of the sea brought back memories
of childhood holidays, where the first person to see it was
given sixpence (yes, 2 1/2 p!). Within the forest we
descended on pretty tracks, crossing streams, into the well
named Artists’ Valley (a reference, I believe, to the quality of
the light, as well as the setting). We then started a steep
ascent - seriously steep. Having climbed directly upwards, we
finally reached the pass through the mountains. Wow! We were
looking down on mid Wales, with an unimpaired view of most of
Cardigan Bay, with the northern coast of Pembrokeshire in the
distance. There were also spectacular views behind us to the
mountains of north Wales. We then descended almost to sea
level, to our final night’s stay in Talybont.
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On the last day we took a gentle
rural route to the seaside at Borth. The horses caught their
first glimpse of monkeys in the zoo, but by now were totally
unfazed by anything unusual. We then rode along the miles of
beach, alternating paddling in the sea with cantering along
jumping the groynes (another childhood dream!) and, of course,
we had a gallop. The sun shone, the sea was blue and the pretty
town of Aberdovey could be seen across the estuary. What a
fitting end to our expedition. We were met by Karen, Medina’s
business partner, with a very welcome bottle of champagne to
celebrate our achievement. We then drove back to Brandy House –
a journey, I was relieved to discover, that took quite a while.
It would have been quite upsetting had it only taken twenty
minutes!
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 The directions provided were both
written (almost idiot proof, which we put to the test), and
backed up by large scale OS maps. We supplemented these with
the Landranger maps, as I like to see the wider picture, but
these weren’t really necessary. Our route had been well thought
out: permissive paths and local knowledge made life easier than
a ‘DIY’ version religiously following rights of way. The
scenery was absolutely spectacular, taking in
the
rolling farmland, open moorland, woodlands and
forests of Mid Wales. Along with
the expected buzzards and red kites, we saw ravens on the open
hill and dippers in the valleys. The terrain and the route
were varied and sufficiently challenging to be very satisfying
in retrospect!
It is not an inexpensive holiday.
We took advantage of the luggage courier, as being October we
needed rugs and hard feed for the horses. As it turned out to
be dry, we could have carried the clothing we actually wore, but
we did have kit to cover all every possible weather eventuality
in the luggage ferry, as well as spares of saddle cloths etc if
everything got soaked. Obviously in a larger party the cost of
this and the horse transport back to base would be split between
everyone, so would be cheaper per person. It compared well with
going abroad on a riding holiday and, of course, you have the
advantage of your own horse. You certainly get to know them
well, and appreciate them, on outings such as these.
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To return to the weather. Perhaps
the Wales Tourist Board should sponsor Your Horse Adventures, as
we have proved conclusively that it only rains for ten minutes
in a whole week in Wales. |
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Please
contact us for any further
details and to make a booking or call on 01547 510282 or 01547 528577. |
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[ Ride Across Wales ] [ Radnorshire Hills Network ] |
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