It was an early start for me for this ride as the girls were off on a scuba diving weekend, I was on animal duty. Once the animals had been taken care of, that's the goldfish, guinea pig, cats, dog and horse it was time to drive the hour and half to get to Harwood Dale venue.  I know that this is not unusual to most of you, and it is a testament to all your dedication, riders, organisers and helpers that you make the effort to get to these events. 

Please enjoy the short slide show below, and don't forget to check out all the photos from the ride in the equestrian ride gallery on this website.  There are also extra photos to be viewed on my Facebook page album at the following link. 

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1143135325745119.1073741931.100001459869526&type=1&l=5abbbb68e8

  I was in position in plenty of time when I arrived at CP2 to be greeted with flies eager to introduce themselves to me.  I had a walk down to Whispering Dales, looking for alternative shooting locations as it is an area I am not familiar with, you never know what is around the corner.  I was surprised to find a post box on a tree in the middle of the woods, I wonder what the postal address is for this.  The track led down hill but was fenced in and I didn't want to get too far away from my original location if there was nothing any better as was the case here, so made my way back.

  There were quite a few distances being covered and all passed through this section just after CP2.  As people passed me and headed for the marker "E" there were a few looks and questions as to which direction they needed to go.  I gave myself a little challenge to try and vary my position and swap sides of the track so that when the riders came passed a second time the shots I was taking would be different to previous images.

  There were some large gaps in time between some riders, but I had a wonderful view overlooking the sea and Scarborough castle which I shared with an abundance of flies.  They were all over the place.  I'm thinking of getting a mesh mask that I saw some of the horses were wearing.

   There were a few incidents on this ride, the first three riders I saw all came through with issues from sore hooves, missing shoes, rides cut short and riders going missing. This is the great thing about these events and endurance as a sport.  The thing to remember is that Endurance is a discipline covering a wide range of skills from map reading, riding different terrains and horsemanship, but it is also a fun way to stay in shape, spend time with family and friends as well as meet like minded people.

  If you do run into difficulties, being part of a well organised ride means that there are plenty of knowledgeable people on hand to offer their help and advise to ensure everyone gets around and back safely.

Well done to you all, and I look forward to seeing some of you at the Raby ride on Sunday 21st August.