PSP Algarve Ride 2001

Inroduction, Disclaimers, Background etc!

Introduction:-
From 7th - 13th October of 2001, a group of horses and riders travelled the length of the Algarve, from Alcoutim to Cape St Vincent. Why? To raise funds for two very different, but equally deserving, causes. See the Charities page for information.

Background:-
We had failed to renew our Passports for many years due to poverty brought on by more than a surfeit of Morgans. So it became necessary to resort to subterfuge to get new ones for the primary purpose of a trip to Florida to visit a number of Morgan Farms, particularly to meet Treble's Willy Wild - Herrick's Grandsire.

In passing Alex mentioned that there was to be a repeat of the 2000 PSP ride of which I had heard so much and felt so "why wasn't I there!!!" so I rapidly volunteered as I thought there could be little or no objection to such a good cause. Idiot! In the past we had been involved in raising funds for Equine Charities to the extent that we had had to fight of the little old ladies in the House of Commons Tea-rooms in order to secure at least one strawberry tart, and had seen the benefits of RDA first-hand. PSP seemed such a tragic disease, so we had little hesitation in leaping to the fore, me to ride and Shirley to assist.

A few practice rides should see me through - and be ready for the show season. Foot and Mouth saw the end of that idea and October (at the end of the show season) became the target. REALLY BIG thanks to Go, who waived the fees for the flight changes - saving all of us quite a sum! A few more practices and we were ready - so read on!

Note: A few more practices is about 3 to 4 rides per week on a fairly bouncy Morgan or two!

Disclaimer:-
This is not any form of official reportage of the PSP Algarve Ride 2001 - it is one man's (and sometimes woman's) view of what went on.

It should be noted that we had such a great time that we hope that no-one should feel annoyed or insulted by anything contained herein. (But you know who you are!) I probably niggled or annoyed others just as much!

By dint of a little application (and some alcohol) some words were scrawled nearly every evening reflecting the days events AS I SAW THEM!

Any inaccuracies should be forgiven - as most of the time I wasn't very sure where I was or where we were going (until after we got there, and sometimes not even then!). This is not due to lack of preparation or communication on the part of the organisers - its entirely due to some degree of tiredness on my part! Photographs (big thanks to John Courtney for allowing me to use his photographs!) may well be incorrectly labelled as to location, direction, riders and/or horses.
I did try to get as many bits and bobs corrected as soon as possible - so if there are any errors - blame me! And the pages may also be a little slow to download as it is impossible to resist putting far too many pictures in - and I have another 200+ I didn't use!