The journey
on June 13, 2013 at 11:14 am ×
All hail Chico, keen as mustard! He is truly an impressive creature, and I am just so amazed by his rate of learning. Once upon a time, about two weeks ago, he was scared of manhole covers and the giant white letters that say ARAF SLOW in the road. He’s […]
The blog / The journey
on June 8, 2013 at 9:18 am ×
Things are moving fast out here, in some ways. In other ways, not so much. Fortified by a little wine I finally worked out the miles-to-time ratio this evening and discovered that if I keep on at this rate we’ll be back in Aberystwyth in fifty weeks. Pretty much a […]
The blog / The journey
on June 1, 2013 at 8:42 am ×
I had to stop my mum referring to herself as Chico’s grandmother when she came round with treats from her allotment, and got him all excited by running around the field with him – he is not a child, he is a donkey. I am aiming to be his buddy, […]
Plans / The blog
on May 26, 2013 at 7:29 am ×
It’s a beautiful day in Aberystwyth-sur-la-mer, and little Chico is about to leave his field and head out into the world. I think he suspects, what with all the pack-saddle action of the last few days, me taking the tents down yesterday, the new thank-you-snacks, and my super-excited body language. […]
Plans / The blog
on May 23, 2013 at 10:33 pm ×
It’s a mere three days before departure, and if it wasn’t for thirty years of socialisation I would probably also poo copiously on the ground like Chico does every time I frighten him (which is daily at the moment, and today was quite green, and inside kind field-lender Hazel’s garage, […]
Plans / The blog
on May 18, 2013 at 8:00 am ×
I know that a donkey is good at reading body language. He takes his lead from mine, and for the first few days I was jubilant – we’d picked him up smoothly, he’d come to me on the first morning, I’d not yet begun to worry too much about the […]
Plans / The blog
on May 11, 2013 at 1:29 pm ×
Well, I’m deliberately not planning the route very much. Largely this is because until we get started I don’t really know how far we can go each day, how the wild camping side of things will feel, what sort of roads will suit us, and whether Chico will deign to […]
Plans / The blog
on May 11, 2013 at 9:04 am ×
I have been the owner of an animal for ten days, and he is still alive. But there are nevertheless a fairly regular number of things that could kill him. This week, so far, massive territorial horses, and rain. The massive horses were my own stupid fault. I had seen […]
Plans / The blog
on May 5, 2013 at 9:55 am ×
After being pretty sociable in his field for the first day – heehawing a morning greeting at field-lender Hazel’s friend, and coming to see me when I arrived – I left Chico largely to his own devices for 24 hours. Mum and I both went and sat in his field, […]
Plans / The blog
on May 3, 2013 at 8:18 pm ×
Surely when I get the donkey in his field, life will calm down a bit, I thought? I’ll head over a few times a day to say hi and try out bits of kit on him as they arrive in the post, and we’ll go for practice walks, and in […]