To the Rescue

I woke up at Petra's on Thursday April 30th to this scene..

....to match up with the rainy and sunny options I have put on the blog before. 

My main concern was whether I would make it back over the Sierras to Pollock Pines, but in fact I had no trouble and had an interesting drive via Reno and the site of Sutter's Mill in Coloma where gold was first discovered in 1848, sparking off the Californian gold rush. Back at Jim and Ginger's I walked down to the barn to be confronted with a very portly Lady who had obviously not been stinting on food intake over the winter. 

Friday April 31st was action day. After returning my hire car to Sacramento airport and getting a lift back to Pollock Pines from Lucy, later in the day Lady waddled the short distance from the point beyond Camino where I finished riding in October down the road and a short stretch of trail to Placerville.  No photos as I had forgotten my camera, but we were on the move at last!

Lady and I set off in earnest from Placerville on Saturday April 1st hoping we would not become April fools.  Placerville was once called Hangtown due to the numbers of criminals strung up on a public hang tree in Main St during the gold rush days. 

First stop was to get some dosh. And no I am not intending to become another victim of the hang tree by carrying out a mounted robbery of the Bank of America....

 ...but parking Lady under the wary eye of a bemused security guard before using the ATM.  
The Pony Express station is no more, but in a fate decreed to many a station at this end of the trail, it was destined to become part of yet another car park, this time belonging to Mel's Diner, where is the usual monument and plaque on the corner.

Lady at the Diamond Springs Pony Express monument a few miles further on...

 ...not to be confused with the Diamond Springs Pony Express stations in Nebraska and Nevada.

Diamond Springs was so called not because of diamond discoveries (though a 25lb gold nugget was found here) but its crystal clear waters. I had an opportunity to refresh myself not with crystal clear water but with a coffee in the café across the road which was equipped with a convenient hitching rail...

...the Korean owner was keen to record the event for posterity on his mobile phone. Notice Lady is decked out in natty fluorescent gear with reflective strips in preparation for the busy roads ahead. 

I suspect this is not a practical joke....

I was very fortunate to have a place to stay that night with good friends of Jim and Ginger's near Rescue....  

...fellow Brit Gloria and husband Pat. A chance to indulge in a nice cuppa before I went to bed. 

Lady was tethered at the bottom of the garden ...

 ....at least until she became unsettled by a passing gaggle of wild turkeys, when we moved her to the kitchen garden.