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Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Finally Pre Ride Hello Kernow Trailblazer followerWhat I (Peta-Jane speaking) am writing now actually relates to about a month before Day 1. As you know, because you have read our website, Andrea, Bev, Lizzie and I are in the midst of preparing for what we referred to as our \\\'Epic Ride\\\' before we called it, quite rightly, The Kernow Trailblazers Ride. Our preparations have not been without trauma and change (we are dealing with horses here!) One rider, Trudi Lowndes, has decided to become a stalwart supporter rather than a rider; Bev is having to keep three of her horses, Archie, Carrie and Tavern, fit so we have back up rides; my little horse, Wizzy, had a nasty bang on her fetlock which caused a certain amount of anguish, but we are keeping our fingers crossed that everyone will be fit on the day! Keeping Cheltenham Cup winners and Grand National runners fit would be doddle in comparison with our precautions! And then there has been the sheer logistics! We cannot thank all our overnight livery hosts(esses) enough and we look forward to meeting as many of them as we can on Friday 14 May when we are receeing the route and dropping off haylage. We would love local riders to come and join us on a daily basis if at all possible, please do get in touch via our emails - and don\\\'t forget we are literally blazing this trail through Cornwall for the first time, a) to raise awareness of the need for \\\'joined-up\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' bridleways and b)to raise funds for our favourite charities! Hello again Kernow Trailblazer followers Sat 15 May Peta-Jane speaking again - just a quick update to say Christopher, my long-suffering husband and stalwart KT supporter, Lizzie and Andrea had a very successful reccee trip on Friday 14 May. They drove the length of the ride, dropping off haylage at our horses\' overnight liveries, and were delighted to meet some of our generous hosts and hostesses - a big thank you to Sue, Jo and Tony, Ian and Lorraine who spent time with Chris, Lizzie and Andrea showing them around and where the horses are to spend their nights. Sorry to miss you, Lorraine, but will catch up with you on Monday June 14th! And Verity and Scott, too, we look forward to seeing you on Thursday 17th! The reccee team managed to check out several of the bridleways\\\' beginnings and ends, ie where they join lanes! And they made notes about where there are hazardous crossings to be made - oh, and they found the odd pub or two which would welcome horses at lunchtime ...! All in all, despite the rain and fog encountered around Bodmin, a good trip. Thank you! So now it is back to the fitness training ... a ride to Mulfra and the Tinners Way is planned for tomorrow! Well, we discovered that we need to learn to read maps in the mist! After a foggy photoshoot by Land\\\'s End airport, (we will work out how to upload photos soon! Promise!) Lizzie, Bev and Andrea set off to reccee the tracks leading down from Mulfra Hill onto the moors - but soon discovered that what you see on a map looks very different from the back of a horse in the fog! Still they managed to find where they needed to go and get back to tell the tale, so something must have gone right! My little horse Wizzy is still being a bit wrapped in cotton wool but she is working well and so I am crossing everything that she will be OK on The Day! Not much more to report than that, really, but our sponsorship money is up, so thank you for donating and if you haven\\\'t done so yet, please visit our charity pages! We will speak to you again soon - but don\\\'t forget, anyone call email us with questions! We are looking forward to meeting lots of people en route ....! It\\\'s now Tuesday 25the May and its pretty amazing to think in three weeks we will be on Day 2 of our ride - leaving Minions heading for St Wenn! I just wanted to say Bev and I caught up with our hostess Vanessa Rescorl on Friday which was great as we have managed to meet all our kind overnight horsey hosts and hostesses! Copy has been sent to press, so look out for it in your local newspapers! And don\\\'t forget you can email any of us if you want maps of where we are going! Speak again soon Peta-Jane Hello, it\\\'s Monday 7 June! Sorry! Things have been a little hectic what with meetings and planning and keeping horses fit! We are delighted to say we are going to be joined for the first two days by Ride UK\\\'s Kate Gason who is a Trails\\\' Project Officer with Cornwall County Council. We met with Kate at Adrian\\\'s house on Saturday and then we had a bit of panic! We discovered we had arranged our route to only take us as far a Minions on the first day and then from there to St Wenn on the second day - this meant we had a ride of 13 miles followed by one of 28 miles! Rapid rethink! And thanks to Haviland Bunt, Master of East Cornwall Hunt and a very kind gentleman, who has agreed to have our horses overnight at his farm, Woodlands Farm, we will now be riding to St Neot on the first day. We will still be seeing Sue Speed as she is still happy to accommodate my extremely patient husband and I for the night! Sue has been really brilliant suggesting a better route over Bodmin and bearing in mind, she is preparing for the Minions Endurance Ride too, we are so grrateful to her. I have a feeling we are going to having to thank an awful lot of very generous and kind people in the next week or so ...! But for the moment, we are back on track and really wanting to just get started. However, we do have a lot of things to do between now and Sunday - not to mention to pray we don\\\'t get too many days like today! I will try to keep the blog going from now on - on a daily basis as well as during the ride itself - jsut one thing before I forget, Adrian and Margaret will be on the BHS stand at the Royal Cornwall Show on Thursday and Friday and I will be there on Saturday afternoon, so do come and say hello! Just back from the Royal Cornwall Show having spent the morning in a mad whirl of frantic bargain hunting - actually, I did rather well! Then I talked all afternoon to everyone about Bridleway stuff on the BHS stand! And yes, Kernow Trailblazers were mentioned once or twice ... ! Yesterday evening we packed the trailer and Christopher\'s 4x4 with feed and buckets and fencing poles and spare headcollars and bits of rope and more feed and water containers - I think we are all wondering what we will discover we have left behind! The horses were all shod during the week and Wasima, my little horse, is wondering why she hasn\'t been ridden for the last three days! And then yesterday with all the kerfufle going on putting stuff in the trailer (which was parked by her field) she knows something is afoot (or a-hoof!) So now it\'s last minute things - like how many waterproofs do we need for Bodmin Moor?! I think we will all be delighted to be riding again! I know I am looking forward to discovering new places and meeting new horsey folk on the way - don\'t forget you can contact us on our mobiles! (see the home page for our contact details) We leave home at 8.15 and are hoping to get away from Horsebridge at about 11.00 - 11.30. See you en route - and do follow our blog which we will try to keep up as we progress through Cornwall! First day has gone well after first travelling to Horsebridge for the start. We reached our destination at St Neots at 7.00pm travelling 20 miles plus a couple of accidental detours. The hores were happy to get some good grazing after their days trip. All the horss are fine. The back-up crew were brilliant providing picnics en route for horses and riders. Looking forwad to the next days trip ending near St Wennn. - Beverly Day 2 Perhaps the most lost and yet the best riding day! Lost in Cardinham Good place for lunch Great bridleway across Mulberry Downs Lovely rivers and woods Lost again between Withielgoose Mills and St Wenn - not sure how! Ended up leading the horses .. amazing reception by half of St Wenn and loads of food! Some people had been waiting for us since 4.00! Arrived 8.30 having covered 29 miles! But ironically despite the getting lost and arriving about 3 hours late at Tregurtha Farm we actually had the loveliest ride through glorious woods, over the brows of hills giving breathtaking views of rolling farmland - we crossed at least six fords (including two in Cardinham woods which we went through twice!) Our unplanned lunch stop was very good too, in the NT car park at the bottom of Cardinham Woods, where there was grass for the horses and a little café and loos - and eventually a very kind man who told us how to get out of the woods - up a path we had passed and discussed but decided was the wrong one! Nevertheless once up there we had a glorious canter across a grassy field leaving ‘Adrian’s’ masts on our left as instructed! I have to add here that Christopher and Trudi did the most valiant crewing ever - they unloaded everything at our pre-planned lunch stop and waited and waited and waited only to be asked to pack everything up and join us in the Cardinham Woods Car Park which they did laden with delicious things for lunch for we riders and all the horses food too! And they didn’t even grumble! Now that is good crewing! Thank you so much! We had an interesting ride through the back streets of Bodmin past the Bodmin Jail Museum before joining the Camel Trail where we rode past very good natured walkers and a lady in a very speedy mobility scooter who was giving her dog a really good work out! Loved riding past the little stations - one of which was still in use - riders were well forewarned by notices asking them to dismount if necessary. We rode blithely on and at Nanstallon Halt (?) we left the trail and found our way to the Mulberry Downs with its long leafy bridleway which led us along a ridgeway and down to another lovely ford - these are brilliant for the horses as they seem to enjoy drinking from them. Back on to the roads and heading onwards on what we thought would be a very straightforward ride to Tregurtha - how wrong could we have been! We managed to stray off the correct road and only thanks to getting directions from a farmer and a householder were we able to find our way back on track. We all dismounted at a very steep hill down to a river and then walked the remaining two miles or so to Tregurtha Farm where we were met by the whole of Vanessa’ s family and it seemed most of her neighbours! What an uplifting reception - crowds of smiling children and their parents and all were so understanding and patient and generous! We really do thank you all very very much, Kernow Trailblazers Day 3 St Wenn to St Newlyn East, 22.7 miles The day of the mare and foal on the footpath and the long high road After that amazing reception how could Day 3 start any other way than well! Christopher and I stayed with Vanessa and so we awoke to the very sweet vision of Tavie, Carrie and the Wiz on the skyline (Kelster was hidden behind a line of trees!) in the early morning light. Peaceful breakfast and then the usual preparations – checking maps and tack and sorting out lunchtime rendezvous – except today Trudi left early to see her horse so Christopher nobly dismantled our paddocks. After saying goodbye to Vanessa, we set off down the road towards Tregonetha Downs where we met our first obstacle! Despite being able to see Castle Farm, one of our map bearings - oh yes, we had all got very very good at reading maps by now – we were not able to cross the Downs to get to it! So after a little explore down the road, we backtracked and miraculously came upon a finger post declaring the existence of a BRIDLEWAY heading in the direction we wanted to go! Never before have four riders got so excited about seeing a bridleway sign! Momentarily we had disaster! A cry of “Kelster’s lame!” from Lizzie made all our blood run cold, but fortunately, he must have stepped on a very sharp stone because once we got him down to the end of the bridleway (which was a very nice one, an old cart track as it was cobbled stone overgrown with grass bordered with high leafy hedges) onto the road he was trotting sound. By the time we got left the bridleway we realized where we were on the map and so were able get back on track. Our brave little horses I have to say at this point how unbelievably amazing the horses have been – we have taken them miles off track, left them in strange places overnight, fed them at odd hours and not once have they complained or been overly spooky - they have bonded into a very tight little herd – Wiz is joined at the hip to Kelster and Carrie is not going to let anything become between her and Tavie! But they have crossed rivers, tramped up stony hills, gone through strange farmyards, walked calmly over the A30 on a high bridge and been calm and sweet all the while. We are so proud of them! The mare and foal incident Anyway, back to Goss Moor! After finding our way back to the route, we hit the long path leading us off the moor. It was very very overgrown (pics to be uploaded soon …!) but we also had our mare and foal encounter! We had to dismount to open a series of metal gates as we ventured further along this path – so imagine our horror when what should we discover standing by one of these gates but a mare and her young ! (There was a field of brood mares running in the field beside the path) She was not too impressed by us, to say the least and turned and threatened us with flattened ears ... but Bev managed to coax her through the gate ahead of us and despite the overgrown appearance of the path we followed her only to be met with another metal gate and seemly nowhere for the mare and foal to go! Bev dismounted again, and managed to persuade the mare and her tired little foal to go through the gate, but much to our dismay she was not able to join her fellow brood mares but disappeared into a huge potato field! Having had much more experience with mares and foals, Bev and Lizzie went in pursuit while Andrea and I held onto Tavie and Carrie and Kelster and the Wiz. Andrea had disappeared down the path which was even more overgrown at this point, while I had found another metal gate which lead to a grassy place where the horses could graze underpath … I called out to Andrea to come and join me, to which she responded she was stuck in a prickly bush and couldn’t move! But by then Bev and Lizzie had rounded up the mare and her even more tired foal and managed to get them back behind the gate where they were safe …. We really blazed a trail the rest of the way through this path which was so overgrown we could neither see where the horses feet were going and how Andrea stayed on Tavie with all the low-hanging branches, I don’tknow! When we eventually reached the end of this path, we thought had left Goss Moor, and so perhaps we could be forgiven for the minor diversion we had sorting out which side of the A30 we were supposed to be … we even looked at the sun and a compass and went through an underpass in the wrong direction before realizing our mistake and heading back westwards along an old road which ran parallel to theA30 before curving away into the wilds of Goss Moor and coming to what was the real path off the moor! So there we were about eight or so miles on … and this was supposed to be our short easy day! Then just as we had settled down to thinking we were only a couple of miles fromour agreed lunch stp, Lizzie noticed a nursery called Blackacre Nursery and on the map, Blackacre was about a three miles away on a different road altogether … Panic set in! But this time, Christopher found us an reassured us we were indeed on the correct road only about a mile from the Screech Owl sanctuary. We stopped for lunch at the Killeoworgie Riding Stables. The owner kindly offered us stables, but we kept to our military precision and lined the horses up for their feed and haylage and rest. The remainder of this day was relatively straightforward as we followed a long minor road to Newlyn East. Although I say this, the views were always absolutely lovely, rolling rollicking hills and trees, very soft and forgiving countryside, so unlike the rough tough moors and cliffs of West Penwith - we could see the sea in the distance and the weather could not have been kinder with bright sunshine with a cooling breeze. The horses were less troubled with flies and really could not have wished for a more gentle afternoon’s hack. Signs for St Newlyn East were a welcome sight and this village was very quiet and easy to ride through compared with some of the fast and furious traffic we had encountered earlier! When heading off to our overnight livery, we blithely managed to go in the wrong direction but thanks to the OS map which shows cemeteries we quickly turned around and very soon Welsh ponies in fields indicated we were in the right place. Trudi and Christopher earned their colours yet again setting up the paddocks and getting everything ready for us. The horses were delighted to be in a field and so we have reached the half-way point of our Trailblazing – and today we did indeed blaze a trail or two! The day we didn’t get lost and arrived on time! Good night in the pub with excellent meal and gregarious pub landlord – went back to check Wiz at about 9.30. She was fine as were the others – it was a glorious night with new moon and Venus high in the sky! Relaxed morning with a huge breakfast – very chatty landlord who wanted to add a link to our website to his Rotary so we promised to stop before we left the village. Back at the livery the horses were still very relaxed at 6.00 when I went to unrug Wiz. After breakfast we made our way up to the livery where everyone was up and about. Usual morning mixing feed and sorting out gear and finding new bits and pieces if need be – I changed my numnah and chaps! During the waiting period between feeding and getting ready for the off, Jo and Tony Lutey showed us their beautiful palomino foals – who we found all grouped together like a picture postcard with their mums – then went up to see the Section Ds who were again like a picture postcard standing at their stations. We then had some of the loveliest riding – on a par with Day 2, long bridleways and breathtaking vistas – We also rode through some very chocolate box villages, like Little Callestock and then Ventongimps which has to have one best names ever … houses had roses and clematis growing around the doors and beautifully groomed gardens and the trees! Really pretty places. Met a very kind horsey lady who came and chatted to us while we were grazing the horses just outside her house. Found the long bridleway leading to Callestock very easily – but we are getting much much better at our map reading and we have learnt to stop and take bearings at places where we have to change directions or are unsure of where the map is leading us. Even managed to surprise Christopher and Trudi as we were on time for lunch at the Cider Farm. Christopher and Trudi had excelled themselves with today’s lunch time stop as we had the whole of the overflow car park which was a huge field complete with an elderly Shire and Shetland! So we had a lovely picnic again with the horses in their allotted places munching haylage and food. Even the Wiz relaxed and ate some lunch! Kate arrived with a friend and Plusha in her lorry – and was astounded to see us there ahead of her. After our usual hour for lunch we saddled up and lined up for a group photo – off we set and had a peaceful ride in the afternoon – except for a very scratchy bridleway where Kate had to dismount and one of Andrea’s arm got scratched to ribbons! After straying a little way off the path where we took a wrong turn, but we all checked it out on our maps and found our way back on track – we seemed to go for miles on an old mineral tramway before we reached Unity Wood and saw Lorraine Barnfield waiting for us! Phew someone who really did know where to go! We had a lovely lovely ride through the old mining area around the Poldice Valley and Chacewater with some good canters on very dusty tracks although in some places there were some very stony tracks. One track lead us past an old engine house and the panoramic vista which spread out before us onto the top of Carn Marth where all the horses had a very welcome and long drink in a deep fresh water pool before Lorraine lead us to her yard along a ridgeway overlooking the whole Kerrier! Christopher was waiting with all the paraphernalia set out as well as ever … so our routine kicked in again – cool down, let out in their paddocks and then feed. So we can hardly believe that we have only two days to go – but let’s not tempt fate! Thursday 17 June, Day 5, Lanner to Rosevidney, 21 miles Firstly please let me apologise for the tardiness of our blogging! We found that our evenings were very hectic as we were not arriving at our destinations until at least 6.30 or even later and by the time we had settled the horses, as I am sure you can understand, we were pretty tired ourselves and in need of hot baths and showers before heading out to find food for ourselves! Then we ran into the usual technie problems of intermittent internet connections ... nevertheless, here we are at the end of another glorious day\'s riding through Cornwall\'s byways (and today we encountered two!) and bridleways as well as quiet country lanes and the odd main road. Today\'s ride took us from Lorraine Barnfield\'s amazing yard at Lanner in the company of Dora, Rose, Jane and Alex, four of her horse sharers/riders and her husband Ian. Kate had joined us again and all the extra company put some sparkle in our horses and we set off across the astounding scarred landscape around the south of Camborne. Although some of the tracks are on the stony side, it is always a great treat to ride on these tracks as nature has so cleverly hidden the desecration caused by the mining industry. As members of the West Penwith Bridleways Association, we had ridden on some of the tracks ourselves and so it was with great cries of glee as we realised we recognised The Great Flat Lode Ride which runs alongside Wheal Buller\'s cross-country course! Lorraine led us into Pendarves Wood where, accompanied by bird song and the sun light which threw dapples on the horses rumps, we rode along what can only be described as a stream! As always for we West Penwith-ers, to ride anywhere where the trees grow higher than our horses is a real treat. We continued to weave our way through a veritable cobweb of tracks until we reached Baripper Cricket Ground where we bid farewell to Lorraine and her gang! By this time we were getting the \'where are you?\' calls from our support crew who had been joined by Mandy Nicholson. But even on what seemed to be a very straightforward ride, we found ourselves in the middle of a tumbled down farm with no name (there are a lot of these in Cornwall!) and managed to create a minor diversion for ourselves by earlier charging off down a very inviting canter track and missing a turning. Howerver, now that we have become so incrediby good at map reading, we were able to get outselves back on track very quickly! Once again we found ourselves in an area we had ridden on another Bridleways ride which thankfully led us over a railway - we had horrofic visions that we might have had to cross it! Adn from there it was essy to navigate our way to Gwinnear where we saw Christopher waving in the distance at us! Had a wonderful lunch picnic/break for the horses tucked into the corner of a field. The horses were delighted to be see grass and they all ate and ate as indeed did we! After lunch we set off for Rosevidney and had a very chatty ride on a mix of bridleways and small roads (oh, yes there was one long main one, but nothing too horrendous - and by now our horses really are behaving like saints!) And for the first time in four days, Christopher and Trudi did not have to set up little paddocks! The horses settled in very quicky and happily and so we all departed for our own beds too ... Tomorrow we aim to arrive at Land\'s End between 6 and 7 in the evening, do come and meet us and tell your friends! See you there!Lands End at Last! Arrived about 5:45pm Full Story to follow. Yes indeed we made it and in grand style too as we cantered up the cycle track towards a stalwart band of supporters - thank you so very much for all your enthusiastic support - the warmth of our welcome overwhelmed me as did the champagne. But it is amazing to think that the crazy idea Lizzie had way back in the deep mid-winter has been achieved without anyone or any of our wonderful saint-like bombproof horses horses getting injured or frightened. I am so proud of my little Wiz as I know Beverley is of her beloved Tavie who at the grand age of 23 was our grande dame and her little Carrie was her usual sturdy dependable self, jiggling and jogging along in her forward going way, Lizzie\'s dear Kelster was a very brave baby horse and took absolutely everything in his stride and never even broke into a sweat! Plusha, Kate\'s very beautiful big grey mare, was quite lovely and seemed so well behaved in the company of four strange horses - indeed they all deserve a round of applause as did our support team Christopher and Trudi - and Adrian for all his brilliant mapping and website-ing! I will give a full update of today\'s ride tomorrow as it is quite late now and I want to check my little horse is fine so once again thank you all for your support. OK now for the full report about our last day! Day 6, Rosevidney to Land\'s End, 24 miles Home territory almost in sight of course as we set off from Rosevidney at about 10.00. The horses were well rested after their night in Verity\'s paddocks and I think they smelt the sea and home as they were very \'heads up\'. The first obstacle to tackle was crossing the A30 at Cannon\'s Town but this we managed fine thanks to a kind van driver holding up the traffic for us. Up we rode to Gorran where we found one of our many lovely long bridleways which led us onto the road skirting Nancledra. Sadly because the tracks on Lady Downs are so washed out, we couldn\'t go galloping homeward across them - and had to follow the road around to Georgia before striking out onto Trenowin Downs and Gulval Downs - we all laughed at dear Andrea\'s pronounciation of our next reference point, \'Little Shyster\' she called Little Chysauter! On we rode along the road and solemnly took a wrong turning - and rode for an extra mile and half up Try Valley towards Treen Common when we should have gone left into New Mill and up past the old Trekking Centre at Mulfra! Back down we trooped, a sea mist was swirling in now and none of us fancied the idea of following paths we didn\'t know (or have on our maps) across moorland! We quickly got up to Ding Dong mine and then it really was homeward for Wizzy as we were on the tracks we used to take when she stayed up at Mulfra with Ros! With the mist really threatening our visibility now, there never was a better sight than dear Mandy (Nicholson) with her dogs waving to us from Men an Tol! The Tinner\'s Way at last! And after saying hello to her, and thanking her for coming to meet us, I fear we rather rudely left her and trotted off to the end of the Tinner\'s Way where Christopher was waiting for us with our last \'horse and people\' picnic all set out! After our break, we set off down the lane leading us under the Chun Downs and onto Woon Gumpus Common \'the Gump\' and now the horses really knew they were heading for home, bless them! Down Tregeseal Valley and up past Bosvargus Farm - Wizzy getting puzzled as we passed all her going home places - the others still heads up as they got closer to theirs! We stopped briefly to say hello to Peter at Dowran and then who should come around a corner in her car, but darling Helen Jay bubbling over with enthusiasm and joy at our achievement and bearing carrots for the horses and chocolate for us! Even as we trotted up towards Chapel Carn Brea where were Tony and Sherry and Anna and Helen again cheering us on - it was just amazing to have this support and good wishes after so many miles of being away from home! Thank you so much! Then came one of the cruelest cuts. After we had ridden around the track on Chapel Carn Brea and onto the A30 leading to Land\'s End, despite Andrea\'s best endeavours to keep her going forward, dear old Tavie said, \'I know where I am and home is this way!\' Bev performed an amazing feat of horsemanship in the middle of the A30 and turned her around! We were all feeling quite triumphant by now and I think the horses sensed this - Tavie recovered her spirit, Carrie trotted onwards as always, Wiz and Kelster seemed very happy and as we rounded the last bend in the cycle track near Land\'s End, Bev led us all in a cavalry charge home and around Land\'s End we rode until we reached the famous signpost! The excellent champagnee - borne by Helen but provided by Sherry and Tony - was very very welcome! We raised over well £1,100 to be shared between Shelter Box and The Brooke - and all our horses are still fit and well! Thank you all so very much - and if anyone out there feels like trackling the Kernow Trail or parts of it, then please, don\'t hesitate to contact us!
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