Plans

Triple-bill speaking tour next weekend! Plus, Hay Festival. Eep!
After the walk / Further adventures / Plans / The book

Triple-bill speaking tour next weekend! Plus, Hay Festival. Eep!

I have talking dates coming up! I’m beside myself with excitement at having been invited to Hay Festival, which is at the end of May, and I am going to escape the monkey on my back (see the pretty monkey below!) and walk across Wales to Hay with my co-speakee, […]

We’re outta here!
Plans / The blog

We’re outta here!

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. […]

The donkey COULD DIE, week three: killer tulips
Plans / The blog

The donkey COULD DIE, week three: killer tulips

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, […]

Quiet mind, quiet donkey
Plans / The blog

Quiet mind, quiet donkey

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 […]

Where are we going?
Plans / The blog

Where are we going?

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 […]

The donkey COULD DIE, week two: wild stallions
Plans / The blog

The donkey COULD DIE, week two: wild stallions

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 […]

The lessons of Chico #1
Plans / The blog

The lessons of Chico #1

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, […]

And the donkey COULD DIE!
Plans / The blog

And the donkey COULD DIE!

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 […]

I own a donkey!
Plans / The blog

I own a donkey!

Dave & Margaret told us the tale of Gnasher the evil donkey while we had a cup of coffee in their kitchen to celebrate a successful sale (shortly after picking up a borrowed trailer, driving across the middle of Wales, and leading Chico effortlessly into it). While Chico stamped about […]

How wet can it get?
Plans / The blog

How wet can it get?

Wet, is the answer. I am blinkered when it comes to weather – maybe everyone is. If I’m packing for a trip, I only pack stuff that matches the weather as I’m packing. So, although a little grizzly, it was very useful that yesterday it rained all the way through […]