LONG RIDE HALTED BY MUD

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31030, 9 April 1966, Page 1

LONG RIDE HALTED BY MUD

Riding a horse from Napier, 17-year-old Ross Alloway, of Leithfield, almost finished the journey up to his ears in mud at Brooklands beach, only a few miles from home, on Thursday.

“It was the only bad luck on the trip,” he said yesterday. “After we got off the ferry at Lyttelton in the morning, and had got over the Port Hills safely to Sumner, 1 headed along the beach round the coast When J got to Brooklands. 1 decided to cut back inland to the road That's when the trouble started. “Just over the sandhills, t.

we ran into mudflats. At one stage my horse sank right up to the chest in soft mud. It took a good 10 minutes for her to struggle out. 1 stepped straight off on to the ground. After that we doubled back to Spencer Park beach, and struck inland there.

In January this year, Ross went to work on Rissington station, 20 miles from Napier. He rode a horse called Eleanor, a seven-year-old chestnut mare, which had recently been broken in. He bought the horse and decided to ride home.

The ride from Napier to I Wellington took eight days. “Eleanor was as good as gold all the way,” Ross said. “She just kept on plodding. The traffic didn’t worry her at all. Even in Wellington city, she stood as calmly as you

like at all the traffic lights.” Ross himself cut a colourful figure, dressed in Australian cowboy clothing. His highheeled riding boots, colourful leather waistcoat, Stetson, and taped spurs attracted a good deal of attention on the ride. Accommodation presented no problems. When darkness fell, there waj always a bed of some kind. Some nights friendly people offered shelter, and a paddock for Eleanor. At other times, bed was anywhere warm and dry. At Takatau, Ross slept in a deserted house, at Dannevirke in a tractor shed, and at Levin, a launch pulled into a shed provided a bed. “The hospitality of the people up there was great,” Ross said. “Everybody was very friendly and helpful.”

As horse riding is banned in the road tunnel, Ross had to take the long way over the hills. “I had hoped to make the whole journey home to Leithfield,” Ross said. “But after getting bogged down at Brooklands beach, and having to do all that doubling back, we had only got as far as Woodend by nightfall. “My parents came and met me, and I did the last bit the easy way, in a horse float Elanor was pretty tired, anyway.” For a while at least Ross plans to settle down at home. He will work for a saddler. “I still have the wanderlust though,” he said. “I would like to do a trip round the South Island with Eleanor but we both need a good rest first”