Riding and Striding the Saint Aelred's Pilgrim Trail

Guest Blog by Mary Thew and Mojo

A lovely start to the day - blue skies and sunshine while I had my morning coffee. Unfortunately when I go to the yard the hunt had been past early in the morning so Mojo was on bit of an adrenaline high and doing laps of the box while I tried to brush him. It took me about two minutes to give up on that idea so I posted him into the trailer and arrived at our start point at the Vicarage early.

After a few exploratory laps of the Vicarage garden (Mojo, not me - I was standing in the sun drinking coffee courtesy of the vicar) I enlisted some help to shuffle the pannier bags over the saddle so we could set off. Still thinking we might be going hunting we marched out of Helmsley and up the bridleway to Riccaldale, with brief but regular stops to discuss things like speed, teamwork, and not flattening the human portion of the party.

By the time we were about five miles in our speed had moderated slightly and I was enjoying being out in the woods on such a lovely sunny day. However I also began to realise that my boot was rubbing; with hindsight I probably shouldn’t have chosen a five year old pair of socks. Fortunately we coincided with Mel and George at the first church of the route; St Mary Magdalene, East Moors. This one is a bit of a hidden gem; from a distance you can see the schoolhouse next door, but the church itself is hidden in the woods. I managed to squeeze Mojo and the pannier bags through the little wooden gate and Mel supplied bandages from the church first aid kit to sort out my foot. I also said a sad goodbye to my favourite socks, which honestly probably should’ve been binned a year or so previously!

With the first stamp in my Pilgrim Passport it was on up onto the moor itself. The sun was out and the views of Bilsdale were gorgeous. Easy walking too, with well maintained sandy shooting tracks taking us all the way up and over the moor to our destination for the night - Bonfield Ghyll farm, where we arrived around 4.30, with Janet and Scout arriving an hour later. With the horses fed and grazing a paddock behind the house, we’ve got the fire in the annexe going and are thinking about dinner.