Sharon, our latest Verdes Adventurer, was initially going for a good old yomp up Sca Fell Pike with her mates...
But the best laid plans... I'll let Shazza explain...
When I approached the group (myself, Iain, Jo and Colin) about going up Scafell Pike the first time, they were keen. However, when I told them that it could be an all day affair lasting about 6 to 7 hours, then the doubts crept in. They decided, well no, Jo decided that it will be much more fun to go horse riding in Millom instead for a couple of hours.
Having never been on a horse before, I was open minded thinking how hard could it be?! Well I have to say that my derriere will tell me exactly how hard as it certainly suffered afterwards.
The morning started off excitedly, although Col was rather nervous as he too had never been on a horse before. We saw our horses and from the ground, they seemed harmless enough. I was armed with a packet of polos so I was determined to get the horse to like me.
Completely different ball game when you're actually on the horse - it felt so high and then I felt like a woos so with my dogged determination set about learning how to walk and trot. What they failed to tell me was that I was on the only horse who didn't like being in the school which you can see in the picture with the fence around it. It didn't buck but it was pulling and jerking its head and to say that the nerves kicked in was an understatement. That was just walking - trotting on the other hand was a disaster. You've no doubt seen those sheep races that they have when they stick a doll on its back and they run - well that is how I felt on top of the horse when trotting!
No grace whatsoever!
That isn't how the main leader saw it though and thought that we were all fit to go out onto the road and head down to the beach. That was the fun part, just gently walking through a small village on the road, no stress whatsoever. Local gardeners were having a field day with the amount of manure that was being produced and I was impressed as horses can still do it whilst walking along!
Lovely!
So we head down onto the beach which was deserted fortunately and I was still enjoying myself until the leader said that we were going to do a short trot. Both hands are on the reins, feet in stirrups and I'm ready to go but the horse went for it and I very nearly fell off. Finding the rhythm to stand up in the stirrups at the right time is so much harder than I thought.
What the horse was thinking of me, I don't know. However, by about the 6th or 7th time we did a short trot, I had almost got it but then my knees started hurting, my feet had gone numb from the saddle slamming into my sciatic nerve each time and then we had the walk back to the school!!
Getting off the horse was comical as well. You have to lift your leg over the back of it and slide off. Well with numb legs and painful knees, lifting my leg to go anywhere was just not going to happen. In the end Col had to come over and push my leg over and catch me on the other side!! If he hadn't done that, I would most probably have stayed on the horse and gone out for another painful session!
Now us girls can't really complain all that much about riding horses like men can. If you were to see the look on Col's face when he got off the horse, well you can only imagine why he was walking like John Wayne afterwards. I always thought that you walked like John Wayne because of the legs being around the horse but after sitting and riding on that horse, I now realise that it's purely to give much needed air and room to a certain part of the anatomy that has been crushed with each jolt!
Oh what an image!
Anyway my derriere has now finally gotten over the pain and I have now vowed never to do that again and am gutted that I didn't get to climb a mountain instead.
So if any of you guys are thinking about going up a mountain then please let me know.
Thanks
Shazza
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