Continuing with the plans ...

I am buying lots of little gifts for people who help me while I'm travelling - am I being over-optimistic? WILL anyone help me while I'm travelling? Well, if they do, they will get a little "thank-you" from me in the form of a little stickpin (I have koalas, kangaroos and boomerangs) or little pair of socks for a child, or a bib for a baby (cute Koalas again!) and - if someone is REALLY generous - I have a few rather nice reproductions of aboriginal artworks to give away.

Is it right to do this? I am not Australian (but would like to be - too old, unfortunately, to become Australian - they don't want non-breeders, a bit like any stock station I suppose) but have spent the past five years here, which is about the longest I've ever spent in one place since I left school. My previous record in one place/one job was also five years, but in Saudi Arabia. Big difference!

I need to start sorting through my belongings soon and dividing into sell, give away, throw away and ship out. Ship out has to be divided into what I will need immediately on arrival in the UK and what can go into storage and be got out when necessary. The saddles are a bit of a problem as they are awkward to pack, but I think that I'll be able to pack household things around them so that little space ends up being wasted. Tea chest suppliers, here I come! Disappointingly, teachests nowadays come as cardboard flatpacks, and the only relationship they have to the teachests of old is the matching size.

Am going to send away to the US for a couple of bridles. No import duties here.

Wonderful site

Well, what a simply wonderful site to waste hours and hours on! www.geograph.org.uk

It's a bit too simplistic to say it consists of a lot of photos - yes it is a site containing a lot of photos - but the thing that makes it so very special, addictive and useful is that each photo is linked to at least a two-letter, four-number grid reference of OS mapping. Many photos are liked to six-number references and have little icons showing exactly where they were taken from and the direction of view. I can actually SEE the bridleways I plan to ride, the hills I need to climb and the roads I must, unfortunately, cross.

A weeks' exploration of Britain by geograph has already seen me change my planned route considerably in a couple of places and make a firm decision between alternatives in a few others.

I hope there are still some grid squares left for me to get a first geograph, this time next year! Even if there aren't, I'll still be adding to their site with photos taken as I ride along. Being on horseback does give one a different viewpoint - it's a bit like travelling around on a ladder, I suppose, as far as that goes!

One thing I have noticed on the site, though, is the number of photos categorised as footpaths when the OS map clearly shows them as bridleways. It just shows how deeply the lack of clarity and the misunderstanding about access pervades society nowadays.

May already

May already - I am now facing the terrifying prospect of returning to the UK in less than five months! Am I ready for it? No. Do I want to do it? No.

It would be much easier and more "comfortable" to stay here in Australia and only ever dream about riding all around Britain and Europe.

Am I going to do it? Yes - I think so.

Why only "I think so"?

If I can get a 457 Visa extension for a few months, and stay until - say - March 2007, that would give me two springs and summers in a row - heaven, especially as I had two WINTERS in a row when I first came over here to upside-down land.

Perfection would be for me to have my boss ask me to return to Sydney for four or five months of Northern hemisphere winter - November, December, January and February - when I could work all Christmas and New Year, to make all my colleagues happy they could have loads of time off, and let me store up some sunshine and warmth while at the same time earning some money. I wonder if he would do this? I suppose I shall have to ask him ...

Re my musings about connectivity on the road in an earlier post. BlackBerries are pretty common in Europe - I wondered why they were so UNcommon here. Reason - Telstra has the monopoly on them, they cost in the region of several THOUSANDS of dollars to purchase and to operate, and are only available to corporate customers. Have you ever heard anything so ridiculous in all your life?

Maps!

Although I'm going to buy the OS maps of Britain and the IGN maps of France at 1:50000 on CD, at the moment I am using the on-line mapping provided at www.getamap.co.uk and www.geoportail.fr

These are really excellent - and free! - but sometimes coverage of a large area at a reasonable scale is needed. SO - on Saturday I spent all of $10 in a discount bookshop and bought a huge road atlas of the UK, another one of France and a third one of the whole of Europe.

So now I can sketch an approximate route on my huge map, and then find the bridleways on my smaller maps which will give me the best route between A and B.

Weight is a concern ...

I bought a "shoulder holster" (to carry money, passport etc) at Ray's Outdoors - with that, an ankle purse and a waist bag I reckon that I should be able to preserve some of my valuables from any marauding thugs. Of course, knowing my luck I will fall into some cold water and everything will get soaked beyond redemption ...

Bedourie Ovens are heavier than I thought they would be - I don't know why I am surprised at their weight, I used one all the time on my camel trek. So I didn't buy one. I'm going to get a set of hanging spring scales first so that I will know exactly what everything weighs. In any case, the Bedourie Oven wasn't in their sale, so there is no particular urgency to buy one.

I need to go again, though, to have a look at their solar chargers. I will probably end up buying one by mail-order, as there is a better selection, but it's always good to actually see and handle things before splashing out on them.

I need to decide what sort of "communication device" to get. Shall I get a laptop computer to download photos and write up my diary? Or a hand-held? If I do this, should I invest in wireless access?Should I merely carry a notebook and pen, and extra memory cards for my camera, and catch up with everything when I get access to the internet? Or would I be better off going for a Blackberry? Or is there a better solution for connectivity "on the move" when one is moving through sometimes-remote areas?

Suggestions welcome!

Food and pack bags

Easter Saturday.

Ray's Outdoor Shop is open til 5pm so I must go along to see if I can find a Bedourie Oven. What on earth's that? I hear you ask. It's a means of baking or roasting over an open fire - a bit like the much heavier and more fragile Dutch Oven beloved of American pioneers. A small open fire, some hot ashes and a Bedourie Oven can lead to fresh bread, scones, a tasty stew - in fact all, or most, of the comforts of home! The Aussies who opened up - or who tried to open up - the outback were, as far as I can see, more innovative in many ways than their American equivalents. Certainly it will be quite easy to travel in comfort with the weight-carrying capacity of a pony available. A hiker can head out to the hills, fully equipped for the changing weather of the Scottish mountains, carrying about 9kg on his back. My packpony will be able to carry 50kg with ease.

After Easter I need to contact a fabric supplier in order to buy a few metres of cordura. I will be making my own packbags - or at least designing them. I may well find a sailmaker or similar craftsman to sew them. Alternatively, I have a "speedy stitcher" awl; it doesn't seem speedy "at awl" (what a frightful pun!) and I've "awl"ready - sorry! - jabbed it into my finger and dripped blood onto my new jeans. Well, at least I know how sharp it is - VERY!

I could buy pack bags/panniers from the US at a very reasonable price, but too many US suppliers won't even consider selling overseas, despite there being a Free Trade Agreement between the US and Australia. It would seem eminently sensible to buy stuff like this from the US while I am here, as it will be classed as used personal possessions when I return to Europe, and thus not subject to taxes or duties but anyone would think I was trying to buy rocket launchers or something! Although given the current news in Sydney, buying a rocket launcher might be rather easier than buying pack bags from a US retailer or manufacturer. What IS wrong with most American retailers? I can quite easily, athough expensively, buy from the UK, France, Germany ... but American retailers don't want to sell their stock, it seems - at least not to anyone in Australia! What do they think I am going to do with a pair of pack panniers?

My planned route seems to change, if not day by day, then week by week. The OS site "getamap" is invaluable but, together with my collection of links detailing non-PROW (public right of way) horse-accessible routes, at times offers me an embarrassing choice of routes to take. Or, of course, the alternative of NO routes at all for miles and miles, except a major trunk road devoid of cycle lane or verges ...

Surprisingly, there are relatively few areas of Britain where the latter problem occurs.

I think my route through Britain will be what I can only describe as an enhanced version of John o'Groats to Land's End. I want to do the "Four Corners". These are the northernmost (Dunnet Head), the westernmost (Point of Ardnamurchan), the easternmost (Lowestoft Ness) and southernmost (Lizard Point) corners of mainland Britain. I would really like to do the Three Peaks - Ben Nevis, Scafell and Snowdon - but I am honestly unsure if I can, or even want, to do them at the same time as the Four Corners.

About me and my journey.

It is just a year until I will set off to spend the rest of my life journeying. I plan to begin by visiting the "four corners" of Britain. More about these in the next post.

I'm an Englishwoman, approaching 60 and single, with - as my late parents would have said, accompanied by a regretful shake of the head, "nothing to fall back on".

That's not strictly true. While I don't have the pension, husband and the cosy house which they, and most of my peers, valued and still value above all else, I do have my wits about me, a wide experience of the world and a still-insatiable curiousity and wanderlust. I also have an abiding love of animals, especially beasts of burden, and a niggling conscience which is a bit green in colour.

I currently live and work in Australia, and last October I went on the most wonderful holiday of my life - a 10-day unsupported camel trek in the Central Australian Desert. This served to solidify the nebulous idea I have had for some time about using my retirement - when I will be due some tiny amount of pension for the few years I have worked in the UK's NHS - to travel around Britain and Europe on horseback. I've ridden horse since I was very, very small; horses were my first love, and due to my ineptitude at relationships, it seems they are to be my last love. Perhaps I am merely going to live every little girls' dream - in my second childhood!

I've done a couple of horse and donkey treks of several days' duration on the Bicentennial National Trail here in Australia, as well as the camel trek, and in the UK I was a keen long-distance rider. I also took a couple of holidays in the UK with my driving pony and little cart, my dog beside me and the tent packed under the seat. It's a wonderful way to travel, but involves too many roads, too much traffic and the attendant risks.

These journeys have confirmed that the only practical way of my travelling on this type of journey is with two native ponies, and I will be selecting two Exmoors (preferably) or two Welsh Section C's when I return to the UK sometime in the next few months.

Why two?

Well, although I enjoy camping and sleeping under the stars, I find that a certain modicum of physical comfort is essential. Two ponies means that one of them will carry me - and the other one will carry a packsaddle and pack bags! A mature, healthy pony has no trouble carrying 20 - 25% of its body weight so carrying a pack saddle and back bags of ~ 50kg will be no problem. In addition, horses are herd animals, and many get stressed when alone. Although a horse or pony will rely strongly on its rider for leadership and develop close friendships with animals of other species, given the travelling and constant changes to which I will be exposing my horses, it is only fair that they should have the security of a herd buddy.

Why natives? The native breeds of Britain have evolved to thrive on sparse food and to survive during the hardest winters that occur on the exposed hills on which they are found. Given that I will be travelling for several hours a day, and will never be able to guarantee the quality of the grazing at lunch breaks or overnight, the proverbial ability of the native pony to stay fat on fresh air is a very valuable one. Of course I will do my best to provide good grazing daily, they will have a daily comprehensive supplement and, when travelling through remote upland areas, I'll carry grass nuts or other suitable high-quality fibre, but there will be occasions when the bulk supply of fibre so necessary for the healthy functioning of a horse's gut must come from cotton grass, reeds and heather rather than from more nourishing species. I expect that many nights the ponies will be overnighting in exposed places; there may well be little available shelter and if we get stuck somewhere remote during a period of poor weather, I need to know that all three of us are able to survive without ill effect. There is nothing better than a native coat and native conformation to protect against wind, rain and cold. In addition, their instincts are not far buried and they are often excellent at detecting bogs and other dangerous ground.

Why ponies? For their size, they are stronger than horses. They are - generally - sounder and healthier than their larger counterparts and are certainly a lot easier for this 5ft tall person to handle, groom, saddle and load. At my height, I don't need a large horse, and a sturdy native such as an Exmoor or a Section C, of around 13 hands, is a convenient size while being plenty large and strong enough. Of course, don't forget that the physically smaller size of ponies enables them to fit where their larger brothers cannot - through narrow gaps, under low branches, and squeezing past all the assorted paraphenalia that blocks the typical British bridleway. A furry, short-legged pony is also less confronting to the non-horsey so I hope that finding places to camp and graze overnight will not be too difficult.