The truth in pictures....

This is it, we have finally arrived at the Ridgeway (a little later than planned).

Paddy is looking fine after his travels.
We are all dressed up and ready to go.
(do the nerves show?)


This is just to prove that we were really there.

And did eventually manage to get underway, if not very elegantly.

After a night's rest the boys were raring to go , whatever about us.
This is the yard in Ogbourne St George where we stayed.

So which way now??????

You might think from the pics that we were having a lovely relaxing holiday...
In fact we were deeply traumatised after crossing the M4, and were trying to settle our nerves.

Paddy got bored eventually, so we left (the pub had closed about an hour ago anyway).

Rash managed to stand still and look pretty for a few seconds.

And off up the road in the general direction of Sparsholt Down.
Little did we know what lay ahead......

Next day (no pics of the evening's events, or earlier that morning, it all happened a bit fast).
At this point we were all suffering from post traumatic pig disorder.

Something must have happened during the day between Sparsholt Down and Streatley, but mostly it seemed to be wind and rain. This was our lunchtime pitstop.

And off again into the unknown. Luckily the weather improved.
There may have been some gallops.




A bit of a gap here. Unfortunately I haven't sorted any pics of Streatley. We had had a trying morning including lots of lorries and getting lost. We hadn't had breakfast and greeted the cans of cider (all there was in the lorry) brought to us by our very thoughtful driver with relish. Which is why we look like this!

Failed at first to reach a concensus on which direction to take.

But got there eventually. Headed for Lewknor.

This is where we stayed in Lewknor.

Perhaps we lowered the tone a little?

Another pic of us in the pub.... Another traumatic morning. Got lost in Princes Risborough, then ascended and descended the steepest, narrowest most slippery track ever. Landed (literally) at the back of the pub, with minutes to spare before they stopped serving food.

All's well that ends well, sort of. Got fed and watered and off again.

Paddy is just about to leave a parting gift. Then up a steep narrow wet road and onto the most unlikely looking (and unsigned) bridleway yet. Had to hack a path through it. Ended up in front of Chequers. Smiled for the security cameras. Off to Dunsmore.

It rained and the photographer from the Bucks Herald turned up. He mentioned that his job for the next day was to take pictures of floods. Ooh er....

Then it rained some more, and some more. Thunder and lightning too. Decided that the dresses would be too much of a liability and invisible under the layers anyway. Not that any sane person would be out there to see us!

There is one final pic, but it was so dark by then that you can barely see that it's of the horses tied to the lorry, up to their knees in water, so you will have imagine it.