Thursday 10 July: The Final Leg

This morning it occurred to us, as we were driving back to Darkwood Farm, that we’d left the girls with complete strangers last night. But we needn’t have worried. They were safe and well, having enjoyed a good night and good grass. The sun was shining, our kit was dry and this was our final day. Spirits were high.

We waved goodbye to Ian and Josie and their wonderful Suffolk Punches. We’ll be back next year to take part in Ian’s Pint to Pint – if you’d like to join us for a tour round local pubs, from the comfort of a horse drawn wagon, to help us raise more money for The Brooke, then get in touch!

To get back to the Swan’s Way, we rode through Ewelme Park. Wide grassy tracks alongside fields of ripening corn. Sunshine and fluffy clouds. We passed Watlington to our left – it was strange to see places we know, that we usually only see from the road. Today we were seeing them from a completely different angle, as the Swan’s Way and the Ridgeway merge together. A lovely long, steady canter as we head towards the tunnel under the motorway. If you drive out of London along the M40, you’ll come to a huge cutting blasted through the hills. As you come out of the cutting, look down to the left and you’ll see a grass track between two hedges. That’s the Ridegeway! We rode on until we couldn’t hear the thundering traffic anymore and then stopped for lunch. Grass for the girls and squashed sandwiches for us.

I’m not sure why the Ridgeway carries on here, as most of the time we weren’t anywhere near a ridge. We were actually riding along the bottom of a line of hills for most of the afternoon, until we got close to Bledlow. A canter through the beech woods and suddenly we came out into the sunshine, looking down on fields of purple! I still don’t know what this plant is or why it’s being grown commercially – if you know, please tell me!

On the edge of the village there’s a pub with a nice green in front of it. If you’d happened to have been passing at about 3pm on Thursday 10 July 2008 you’ll have spotted two horses, two large piles of tack and kit and two weary riders enjoying a quick drink. The sun was shining and it was great to reach our final destination, in once piece.

We didn’t have to wait long before our wonderful ‘team’ arrived – Karen’s parents towing my trailer. They also brought with them certificates, gorgeous rosettes and a bottle of bubbly! They’d already done so much to help us during the week and still pulled out the stops to help us celebrate our achievements. What a great way to finish!

Home for a long hot bath and some time off for the girls!