Christmas Cracker 2009 - by Carolyn Edwards
Well weren’t we lucky!!! One day later, we all woke up to a blanket
of snow and there would have been no Christmas ride.
As it was we’d had frost and icy conditions for several days and most of
us hadn’t been able to ride at home. I must admit to waking up on the
morning of the ride thinking – I wouldn’t even consider riding at home
today round our icy roads. I’d spoken to John Josephi the night before &
he’d said the tracks were fine as they marked the route, so we decided
to go along and see how it went.
Oh boy, were we glad we went! It is such a good route for this time of
year, as most of the tracks are level and firm. There were a few places
where it had been muddy, so the ground was a bit rutted, but on the
whole the tracks had the sheen of ice, but weren’t too slippery. I was
surprised to find that we could trot on most of the level and uphill
tracks and just had to walk on the downhill and rutted sections. We
caught up with Debbie and Rachel Williams and Heather Evans on the
section by the river and even all managed a lovely long canter uphill
from the river. My horse Patches was leading the way, but challenged at
the end by the amazingly youthful looking Bilbo.
Out of the 69 riders who entered the ride, 48 managed to come along and
enjoy the ride, which is a pretty impressive turnout considering the
weather. I think all the riders opted for the shorter route, which was
just right given the slower speeds we were doing. Patches and I had a
lovely time, as did all the other riders I’ve spoken to since.
Thank you Belinda and John for organising the ride and also to the
helpers who marked the route and helped on the day. You must all have
been frozen standing around waiting for us out enjoying ourselves! The
mince pie and mulled wine were most welcome at the finish. Belinda’s
foray to Tesco to get a supply of decent red for the mulled wine paid
off – delicious!