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Week 2 100m Muir of Ord - Aberfeldy
Dalnaspidal Lodge; ok so I know that it
is north of Aberfeldy, up the A9, along the dual carriage
way to the end, then it will be signposted on the left, across
a railway track and then according to Grant, I will see Marv.
All very well but with my map upside down and quite possibly
on the wrong page I was painfully aware I had more chance
of missing the signpost than seeing it. A greater worry was
the sleet rain coming at the car from the South. It was pretty
grim sitting in a warm car and Grant and Marv were both out
in it with not a lot protecting either of them.
By all accounts it had been a pretty grim
and wet week. We had left Grant the previous Sunday heading
to Tomich with a resigned look on his face. For once the forecast
had been spot on. Although there had been the occasional sunny
patch, the majority of the day was spent walking along a stunning
riverside road with the rain a constant companion. Maisie
walked with Grant some of the way and is normally reluctant
to get in the car, however on this occasion she stood whining
at the door and once in, there was no dragging her out. Marv
took it all stoically, grabbing grass at any given opportunity.
Just before I headed back to Edinburgh I met Ann (Grant’s
mum) and Ken and followed them to Struy, where we grabbed
a quick coffee and managed to get the bar maid to fill a screw
top wine bottle with hot water for us. The rational behind
this was to somehow get a hot drink to Grant. We then dropped
a couple of herbal teabags into the bottle and I headed back
to drop it off. Now anyone who knows Grant will be aware that
he has a slight ‘John Wayne’ swagger. Now imagine
driving round a bend and coming across the rear end of a horse
seemingly walking on its own and a bandy legged bloke swigging
from a bottle of Rioja! Needless to say as I drove past for
the final time I had a rather wry smile on my face.
Unfortunately the day was not set to improve. On arriving
at Tomich, Grant was unfortunately misdirected and ended up
heading in the wrong direction on the wrong side of the valley.
Irritatingly he had only been 15 minutes from the barn he
would end up sleeping in when he asked for directions. The
detour cost him an hour and a half and instead of arriving
at 1730 he and Marv finally reached their destination at 1900.
Needless to say Grant was slightly disgruntled and by his
own admission, a little hard on Marv who kept diving for the
grass. Marv responded with characteristic stubbornness and
proceeded to go as slowly as he could. There seems to be a
growing similarity between the pair. They ended up sleeping
in a barn; Marv was prevented from wandering too far with
a bit of para cord. The evening was broken by a visit from
friendly local who was keen to hear how the trip was going.
Tomich to Fort Augustus involved two steep
ascents on tracks following a pylon line. The scenery was
fairly bleak and a strong easterly wind was not making the
going particularly favourable. Matters were not helped when
the saddle cover got caught in a particularly strong gust
and disappeared. Not an obvious problem but it quickly becomes
one when you are walking and have no idea at what point you
lost it. Grant back tracked at a jog approx 3km expecting
to find the cover, no such luck and to make matters worse
Marv, who he thought would stay behind and graze, had followed
him at a similar pace. To compound matters he later realised
that he had also lost small bag which contained a number of
essential items. Marv went on that day to prove himself yet
again; earlier rides prior to departure had seen him turning
puddle dodging into a national sport and yet here he was fording
a river at last two feet deep. Grant’s pride in Marv
is never more obvious than when he is recounting a story to
me. After a long and tiring day Grant and Marv arrived in
Fort Augustus where he found amazing hospitality with Mrs
Findlay and a great field for Marv behind the house. He also
had a big decision to make, Marvs rear shoes were not looking
great and with the Corrieyairack Pass ahead he needed them
to be in good shape. Should he get Marv shod in Fort Augustus
or risk crossing and then get him shod. The first thing to
do was to check the availability of farriers in the locality.
As I was to find out this was to prove nigh on impossible.
After numerous phone calls I finally managed to track down
the helpful Robin Pape who made it pretty clear that risking
the high level crossing with thin shoes was not a good idea.
The only problem was he could not make it till later the following
day which would mean Grant loosing a day. Robin said he would
wait for Grant to call the following morning to confirm whether
he wanted him to come or not.
As the morning dawned the decision was made easier by the
fact that Marv was still lying down, he was obviously tired,
maybe a day of rest would do them both good? The call was
made; Robin would come later that day. After a further breakfast
of bacon and eggs, Grant whose shins had been causing him
a lot of grief due to the amount of walking, also managed
to get his head down for a few hours well deserved sleep.
It is an on going concern of mine that whilst he is constantly
thinking about the horse he is failing to think of himself.
The day passed catching up on admin and reading a book he
found at Mrs Findlays. The book, rather aptly, was a biography
of Thomas Telford, the civil engineer who built the Caledonian
Canal which Grant had ridden over the day before.
Robin arrived, in Grant’s words - a great big friendly
character of a man, proceeded to do a great job on Marv’s
shoes. Mrs Findlay had ended up with Grant for two nights,
looked after him a treat, and as well as providing him dinner,
also sent him off the following morning with a large packed
lunch.
Marv was fed by 0600 the following morning and the two of
them set off at 0715. The 2,500ft ascent along General Wades
track took about 4 hours. The going was good with grassy verges
and plenty of heather a far better alternative for Marv than
the stony track. The views from Scotland’s highest military
pass were outstanding. About an hour after starting the descent
Grant was met by Fred, a family friend who walked with them
both, provided lunch and took some great photos. Marv, who
had been walking along with only his head collar on, had to
be brought back into line as he was diving for the grass a
little to often.
On arriving at Garvamore, west of Laggan, Grant was met by
Duncan and Pete and after putting his basha up and feeding
Marv joined them for dinner. The family insisted on him sleeping
on the sofa, to which he gratefully accepted.
He was woken the following morning at 0550 by Lisa and Pete’s
daughter Jessica, who was determined to see Marv before she
left for school. Marv was sorry to leave as he had befriended
a pretty black mare and did so protesting with a chorus of
neighs and whineys passing between the two of them. It was
decided that Grant would head for Dalwhinnie as scheduled
and if he made good time would head further south. On the
way he met up with Jim the ILPH field officer, who bought
along some sandwiches and coffee (there really is little of
Grant fading away whilst on this ride). Lunch was spent in
Dalwhinnie and the decision was made to carry on to Balsporran
cottages. On reaching them, it became apparent there was no
grazing so there was little other choice than to carry on
to Dalnaspidal Lodge, which would mean that Grant was now
only a few miles form where he had originally planned to be.
On arrival he managed to secure a field for Marv and set up
his basha just in time to secure a roof over his head before
the hailstorm and sleet rain hit. Marv was not so lucky and
when Maisie and I arrived he looked particularly forlorn and
Grant was feeling very guilty that he was dry. We put the
tent up during a break in the rain and after putting a rug
on Marv and giving him some more food abandoned the outdoors
for the relative warmth and dryness of the tent. Maisie was
not so keen to join us as having been reunited with her best
friend and his food was in no rush to leave them.
The following morning was not particularly
great. The night had been cold and I had woken up on numerous
occasions to grab something warm and this was in the comfort
of a tent. Grant had been sleeping under a waterproof poncho
(a plastic sheet) which is open to the elements at both ends
in weather far worse than this. It is no wonder that he often
slept in every item of clothing he had with him. The one major
plus point to waking up that morning was the appearance of
two great big hooves outside the front of the tent, this was
followed by a nose appearing under the entrance of the tent,
Marv had come to say good morning. Maisie thought this was
the best thing she had ever seen and pounced on Marvs nose
which sent Marv snorting down the field much to her amusement.
Grant left that morning with no fixed abode. The plan was
to head towards Aberfeldy and stop when he felt Marv had had
enough. I left him walking down the A9 cycle path and headed
towards Aberfeldy where Grant and Marv were staying for their
first official, well deserved and well needed break. We had
arranged to meet around midday at Trinafour for some lunch
and I spent the morning stocking up on essentials for the
weekend before heading off to find them. The road I was to
follow turned out to be exceptionally hilly with long recurrent
ascents and descents. Travelling in the car was proving to
be slow going, on foot, it was going to be even slower. It
crossed my mind that we were possibly being optimistic about
the distance that would be travelled that day. There were
also large areas that were pretty inhospitable with little,
if any grazing which meant Grant could possibly end up having
to travel further than planned. Grant was chatting to Bob,
the Auchleek’s Estate gamekeeper when I finally found
him. As I arrived he and Bob were discussing lunch and it
quickly became clear that he was not talking about the sandwiches
in the car. Grant had been ‘cutting the corners’
across a farmers land when he had come face to face with the
farmer himself. The result was an invitation, no doubt unbeknown
at the time to the farmers wife, to lunch. They had not bargained
for me as well but the hospitality was outstanding. Alec and
Martha McIntyre invited both Grant and I into their home and
fed us royally. We had a great lunch and some good banter.
Marv also indulged in a spot of lunch with a hard feed and
some hay which he made short change of.
The next stop was Tummel Bridge; Grant managed a canter here,
the first in a long time. Then it was a long haul of ups and
downs with the odd trot wherever the gradient permitted. At
this point he was about 14 miles from Aberfeldy, although
this does not sound very far, it translates to at least another
4 hours on the road, add the gradients and it becomes even
longer. It was decided that I would go ahead and participate
in a bit of field spotting. Luckily for me I came across Murray
and his dog on their rounds, he very kindly pointed me in
the right direction and I set off with the names of two local
farmers who would hopefully be able to provide Marv with a
field for the night. It all worked out, even though I ended
up going to the wrong farm. Marv ended up in a field, on the
main road, 6 miles from Aberfeldy.
Grant and I headed back to where we were staying having left
Marv with a gargantuan feed and the promise we would be back
in the morning. We had been offered the use of a cottage for
the weekend, with the added bonus of grazing literally next
door. On arrival I could see Grants face light up when he
realised that Marv was going to be so close, the two share
a unique bond and Marv shows some remarkable human qualities
at times. They have a very strong relationship, both liking
to know where the other is. The cottage was perfect and within
an hour we had a roaring fire going and a glass of wine in
our hands. Within an hour and a half Grant was fast asleep.
The following morning I drove Grant out
to Marv, after seeing him I think we both let out a quiet
sigh of relief. Grant was not used to Marv being so far away
and an over active imagination is not always a benefit. Marv
was happy to see us, more so the apples and carrots we bought
with us. If he was bemused by the lack of distance covered
that day he was not going to let on, he happily left the field
and headed along the final stretch to a well earned rest.
On arrival he very swiftly made himself at home. The field
had plenty of lush grass, which Marv was rapid to show his
appreciation of. Over the following two days he found his
spot on a piece of higher ground where he was able to keep
watch on the various comings and goings. He and Maisie spent
a lot of time hanging out together, with her constantly stealing
his carrots. She has yet to learn that he is not a big dog
and that he is not going to play with her.
Grant spent much of the weekend sleeping,
sorting out his kit and making alterations to the saddle.
We did manage to catch up with Fiddy and Charles, (friends
of ours) which was great. Hearing Grant recounting his many
tales made me realise how much has already happened in the
two weeks he has been on the road.
I think the two days rest did wonders for the both of them.
Marvs stomach definitely grew and judging by the amount of
time Grant slept, the 15 miles a day he had been walking alongside
Marv and the general concerns he had been carrying on his
shoulders had taken their toll.The emotional impact of reaching
this point was huge. The landscape in the North of Scotland
although beautiful is often inhospitable and with bad weather
thrown in, it was always going to be a challenge. The satisfaction
and sense of achievement in reaching Aberfeldy on time and
in good health can be second to none.
Grant left Aberfeldy on Monday morning for Amulree. The start
of the third week was sunny and warm, rather different to
the previous week. Both horse and rider were in good spirits.
Many thanks to the people below who kindly provided grazing
and shelter for Marv and for some of those nights a bed, food
and good company for Grant. He would also like to thank all
those along the route for their good wishes, encouragement
and sponsorship.
Sunday – Tomich – Rob Short
Monday – Fort Augustus – Mrs Findlay
Tuesday – Fort Augustus – Mrs Findlay
Wednesday – Laggan - Peter and Lisa Ross
Thursday - Dalnaspidal Lodge - Jim
Friday - Keltneyburn – Murray and local farmers
Sat and Sun – Aberfeldy – Mr and Mrs Murray
He would also like to thank Robert McFadzean for providing
us, with a list of farriers when we really needed one, George
West for being our fall guy if we were not able to get a farrier
before Aberfeldy and Robin Pape who came to his rescue.
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