With a different hat on.

Just to show I am not always wearing smelly trousers and a weird gold helmet, here I am with my judge's hat on at the Welsh National Show a few weeks ago.  The lovely horse is my Part bred Welsh champion Stanleygrange Regal Empire, bred by Jerome Harforth.

A Missionary in Belgium

I had a lovely unexpected surprise on Wednesday when Kris Annaerts and Sabrina Proost from Belgium turned up on my doorstep.  It transpired that about ten years ago Kris had bought Cwrtycadno Cenhadwr, a young colt that I had sold to Holland and subsequently lost track of.  Quite a timely re-discovery as he is a full brother to my 2013 Royal Welsh Champion Cwrtycadno Perlen (see previous post) and the first foal by Cwrtycadno Cymro.  He was called Cenhadwr (the Welsh for missionary) as we had just moved into our present home Ffrwdfal House which had previously been set up as a religious retreat for returning missionaries, and the colt was one of the first ponies I exported to the continent.
 At the time he was born he was a great disappointment as I was eagerly hoping for a filly foal, but had to wait another two years!  However he has landed on his feet, or should I say hooves, leading a fulfilling life as a marathon driving pony.  Kris and Sabrina gave me lots of photos and video clips of him in action.  Here he is in his role as lead pony in a tandem.....

 

.............and in action at Hatrival ...........

 





Cloud Nine

Absolutely thrilled to bits that my Welsh pony mare Cwrtycadno Perlen trotted her way to victory last week when she was awarded the Overall Welsh Pony Championship at the Royal Welsh Show, arguably the highest accolade in the Welsh Pony showing world, and a once in a lifetime achievement for most people.   It was particularly gratifying as it is the only time I have won it as an owner-breeder.  

 

 

Many many thanks to Tom Best and David Blair of the Waxwing stud (where she has been on lease while I have been riding in foreign parts) for producing and showing her so superbly once again - last year she was Reserve Female Champion.  A tremendous effort considering these have been her only two outings as an adult! 

 

 Perlen (and handler Tom Best) receiving the Coed Coch cup from judge Meirion Davies of the Heniarth stud, Perlen apparently fascinated by the cup!  She also won the Queen's cup which is awarded to a different livestock section every year - unfortunately no longer by Lizzie in person!  And of course a coveted gold Welsh Pony and Cob society medal to add to her silver and bronze ones.

...a proud and excited owner who had just scrambled over the fence into the ring, with Tom and Perlen - the pony may look resigned, but she can now afford to rest on her laurels!  Photo taken by visiting Ozzie friend Toni.

Unsurprisingly the bubbly came out in force at home, and not least because our Dutch guests Geert Verbaas and Marit Timmermans won the Junior Mare class with their lovely mare Stougjeshoeve Emilia and also a third place with a two year old filly.
Other successes were a 3rd place in the yearling colt class for Coriolan de L'Aurore out of my mare Cwrtycadno Colomen (on loan with Ingrid Delaitre who took the lovely photo of Tom and Perlen in middle), and 4th place in the two year old colt class for Debbie Thomas's Waxing Glimmer who is out of my mare Cwrtycadno Glain (on loan with Perlen at the Waxwing stud).

And in the unlikely event that there is someone out there who will not only be as transfixed as me but also can understand Welsh, here are links to S4C video clips of her winning the Senior Mare class.......
http://s4c.co.uk/sioe/cgi-bin/2013.pl?rm=vt&vt=181&l=c
and the Overall championship............
http://s4c.co.uk/sioe/cgi-bin/2013.pl?rm=vt&vt=194&l=c

I can't Get No Satisfaction........

....as the Rolling Stones belted out last night on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury.   But plenty of satisfaction for youngest daughter Iona, performing on the same stage earlier in the day in Laura Mvula's band - here is a Iona's eye view .......

 

Link to Laura's set  ..... Laura Mvula Glastonbury 2013

 

..... and they even got to hobnob with the Stones backstage afterwards............

 

Playing the part and mooching round Glastonbury like a rock star with her minders...actually fellow musicians James and Karl ..............

 

 

 

On Wednesday she collected the new electro-acoustic harp especially made for her by Pilgrim Harps

 

 

She is delighted with it but has yet to play it in a performance - she decided Glastonbury two days later might not be the best time for a maiden trial!

 

Iona the little Marble

Video of my little girl playing to an audience of 10,000 at the O2 Arena in Laura Mvula's band.  Look out for her singing and clapping next to her harp on the left.   Paloma Faith was the other artiste at this venue.

This coming Saturday 29th June at 2.00pm they will be performing on the Pyramid Stage (the main stage) at Glastonbury as one of the supporting acts before the Stones in the evening!
Watch out for them - Iona will be playing the new electric harp she has been sponsored by Pilgrim Harps and which she is collecting mid week!   Looking at the TV Guide, Laura is specifically scheduled to be on BBC3 between 7 - 8pm on Saturday evening, although there is also coverage of the festival on BBC2.

Dr Who?.....

......Dr Julia Harper of course!   I am happy and proud to report that no doubt as a direct result of the hours spent poring over her thesis in the lorry during the Ireland ride, not to mention the perceptive and penetrating questions I posed, Julia's viva last Monday June 4th went with a boom bang a bang, and she successfully acquired her doctorate.  But please do not mention post modern hybridity or Habermasian theory (wasn't he in a pit or something?) to me ever again.

The End of the Road

The following morning, Friday 31st May, Zorbee and I made the final push to Dunmore Head, the westernmost point of Europe excluding Iceland and smaller islands.

With over two thousand archaeological sites, the Dingle Peninsula has one of the highest concentrations of ancient monuments in Ireland, and we soon came across this strange feature - an ancient pig sty or hen house? ............

 

....well possibly used as such in more recent times, but originally this would have been built as a dwelling - an example of early Celtic bijou? These clochans or beehive huts litter the area, and although it is unclear when they date from, (estimates seem to range widely from 4000 to 200 years ago!) some experts think they were mainly constructed after the twelfth century.

 

Nearing Dunquin, or Dun Chaoin (Caon's Stronghold) to use its proper Irish name ..

 

Dunquin is probably most well known as being the location for the filming of 'Ryan's Daughter' and more recently ' Far and Away'.  The old schoolhouse which was specially built for Ryan's Daughter is still in existence if falling into ruin, but film set Kirrary town which was also built from scratch was subsequently bulldozed by local request - they must be kicking themselves now for destroying a golden opportunity to milk the present flood of tourists!

Over forty years ago I visited Dunquin with my sister Rhiannon when we holidayed on the southwest coast.  The local bus deposited us on a bleak road at the top of the then tiny village and we walked down to the pub where one of the indoor scenes with John Mills was filmed, and where a desultory couple of locals eyed us curiously.  We also wandered down to the slipway which featured in the storm scene.  Now Dunquin has quadrupled in size and coachloads of tourists pass through regularly. There are pottery shops, a visitors' centre and tea rooms - where were the latter when we were gagging for a cup of tea and a bite to eat forty years ago?  Never a problem finding Guiness though.

 

And here are Zorbee and me at the end of the road - the furthest point we could safely or legally reach on Dunmore Head - beyond lie the Blasket Islands...

 

Julia was waiting patiently with the lorry, and we loaded up almost immediately and set off back to Rosslare.  However not before a bit of excitement as I had not realised that an unofficial one-way system existed on the narrow and precipitous road round Slea Head to the south. Luckily before we had gone too far we came bumper to bumper with a large tourist coach, rapidly followed by another.  I was forced to reverse several hundred yards to a small parking area where I was able to execute a three point turn on the edge of a cliff and then go with the flow! 

 

Because of our tight schedule - one important factor being Julia's imminent viva - we did not have as much time for orthodox sightseeing as we would have liked.   However at midday we were conveniently passing through the little town of Annascaul, and were able to stop for lunch at the South Pole Inn.  This was previously owned by Tom Crean, who not only took part in both Scott's ill-fated expedition to the South Pole, but also Shackleton's failed attempt. Crean was one of the remaining three men to row from Elephant Island with Shackleton and negotiate the mountains of South Georgia to raise the alarm.  As a result not a single life was lost.

So here is Julia outside the South Pole Inn (which is crammed with Tom Crean memorabilia) taking a fleeting moment to glance up from studying her thesis......

 

.....and here am I arm in arm with the hero himself.  Note the darling little husky puppies he is carrying (how sweet!) and the inn in the background.......

Then it was the long haul back to Wexford, where the horses were staying at Ballyhealy House again.
Betty Maher-Caulfield was home from her Uzbek travels, so she and her talented artist daughter Serena were able to join us in a couple of bottles of bubbly to celebrate the successful conclusion of the Ireland leg.

Our last evening sleeping in the lorry, and Julia looks supremely happy at the thought of her last night curled up on the floor........

TO EVERYONE WE STAYED WITH -

MANY MANY THANKS FOR THE IRISH HOSPITALITY!!

We did not pay a penny for horse or human accommodation the whole way across Ireland and that has to be a first for the many countries I have ridden through.

As one of the main aims of the ride is to raise money for charity this has been much appreciated.