80-year-old Jane Dotchin from Hexham, Northumberland is a hiking enthusiast and still goes on a solo annual trip riding on her 13-year-old trusted horse, Diamond. She packs her saddlebags onto Diamond’s back and also takes her disabled dog Dinky along. Dinky, whose front legs are deformed, rides on Diamond’s back secured by Dotchin in a saddlebag. This year, Dotchin started the journey on August 31. She is travelling for a distance of around 600 miles to the hills of Inverness on horseback. Wearing an eyepatch, she covers around 15 to 20 miles a day.
She Travels To The Hills Every Autumn
Dotchin has been embarking on her annual trip since 1972. Her taste for long-distance travel grew when she explored the West Country around 40 years ago. For her trip, she carries the basic necessities including food, a tent and an old mobile phone. As reported by Metro, Dotchin said, “My mother would look after my other ponies but she wasn’t that keen on looking after my Halfinger stallion, so I rode him down to Somerset to see a friend, which is about 300 miles.” After that journey, she developed a love for the open road and since then, she travels every autumn.
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The Journey Takes Around Seven Weeks
It takes around seven weeks for Dotchin to complete the journey, depending on weather conditions. Neither her physical problems nor her age has stopped her from the journey. She wants to go on the annual trip as long as she is able to. Earlier, we had come across a 77-year-old Indian man who had visited 48 pilgrimage sites on his two-wheeler covering 20,000 kilometres.