Not a running adventure, but an outdoor moving sort of adventure. From Wednesday to Friday last week Kath and I did the Mosedale Trek with Fell Pony Adventures. On Wednesday (Day 1) we drove up to Naddle Farm at RSPB Haweswater to meet Tom and his ponies and the other 2 trek participants. The tents were already up so there wasn’t anything for us to do other than enjoy the sunshine, meet the ponies and learn a little more about Wild Haweswater from the RSPB Visitor Experience Manager Annabelle. It was really nice to see ponies Fay and Pansy again and meet Prince, Teddy and the affectionately named youngster Trouble – who wasn’t actually any trouble at all.

After a really yummy tea of quorn chilli we moved into the badger hide that is on site and settled in to wait. After about an hour a first badger appeared and a little while later a second one joined and eventually there were three of them. I’d never seen a badger in the wild in the UK and it was very cool to just see them doing their thing, foraging for food. We were all tucked up in our tents at not long after 10pm and I slept quite well. I woke up a few times and noticed that it was raining – which was a little disappointing as we were really hoping for a dry trek (wasn’t to be!) and then there was a noisy dawn chorus about 4.10am. I eventually woke up fully at a little before 7am.

After breakfast of bacon and eggs on a warmed croissant we started packing all the gear and getting it into the pack pony bags with Tom carefully weighing them to make sure we got even pairs for each pony. Then we got the ponies. Tom and Mountain Leader Sue had suggested who takes which pony and it worked really well. So Kath took Pansy and I took Prince. Tom showed us how to put the saddles on the ponies and then how to lift the packs on and then, after a quick ‘this is how you lead a pack pony induction’, we were off.

I really liked walking along with Prince. He was lovely and mostly well behaved but with a clear idea about exactly where he wanted to walk which seemed to mostly involve zig zagging across the path behind me. The first stretch was a gentle path back through the field where the ponies had been turned out and through a little wood and then across to Swindale on a narrow up and then down track. We stopped for a little break and then made our way along Swindale Lane and onto a path which then took us to our lunch spot at Mosedale Beck. It turned wet and windy while we had a lovely lunch of soup and bread with nibbles of olives, hummus and local cheeses. The rain then eased off again and we set off on the afternoon section of our walk in grey but dry weather. We had come about 3 miles at this point and it had all been absolutely fine.

After lunch we headed up. This was a little more challenging and my lungs weren’t playing ball. It felt like I couldn’t really get any air in but Prince was patient with me and we stuck together and made it bit by bit with little stops where I focused on breathing and he focused on eating. I was slightly conscious of people waiting for me but everyone was really patient and the ponies happy to graze. There were one or two bits where Prince had ideas about where he would go that didn’t really match the path and I ran out of rope so left him too it and there was a steepish section where he was too fast for me.

Mostly I managed the up with Prince and once or twice he saved me from a slip. When we reached the top and Mosedale Common, the wind was nippy and it was raining fairly consistently so we just all plodded along lost in our own thoughts avoiding the boggiest bits. In some ways this was my favourite bit of Day 1. Just me with Prince trudging along in the rain and wind with 4 other ponies and 5 other people doing the same. There was no point trying to talk to anyone, with hoods up and wind you couldn’t hear anyway so we were all in our own worlds and it felt perfect. A sort of being alone together which I really quite like.

Eventually Mosedale Cottage and with it our home for the night came into view. We unloaded the ponies and tethered them behind the cottage for a little shelter from the wind. We settled ourselves in and had a cup of tea and a biscuit and chatted a bit. It was nice to be out of the wind. Then Tom made another delicious meal (Flat bread with chick peas and peppers, tomatoes and herbs and spices). Not long after we’d eaten 3 lads appeared absolutely soaking wet through and rather clueless. I think they were happy to have a bit of advice and help and be able to come in out of the dry and warm as we had brought some firewood and lit a fire. They had some camping gear but the wrong sort of gas canister for their stove so Tom gave them one of his – that didn’t stop an attempt to warm tinned curry on the fire though. They were probably also a little embarrassed but they gave us a good giggle and deserve some credit for being out there and giving it a go. I don’t want to be preachy but please take the the Lake District fells seriously, things can and do go wrong quickly, get a proper map and learn how to use it, don’t rely on your phone and think about clothes, waterproofs and suitable footwear. Go with someone who knows what they are doing if you don’t.

I went to bed tired and happy. Yes, I had to go slow coming up onto Mosedale Common but I had made it without any drama, the terrain under foot hadn’t actually been an issue – I think leading Prince and chatting to him and focusing on that meant I hadn’t really thought about the ground partly being uneven, partly being slippery and partly being wet. I was just getting on with it – so yay to not overthinking. As I slowly dozed off snuggled into the sleeping bag I thought about how calming overall just being around horses is, how being out and moving puts everything into perspective, makes stresses melt away and how doing it with a fell pony out on the fells acts as a reminder of the importance of just being. Thursday had been 6 miles of moving at fell pony pace and a day of just being. I fell asleep happy.