And so we begin

We’ve finally set off on the c&o canal with just a few days delay due to transportation but ringo made it here finally. Firstly I should thank Cathleen and Richard for letting me stay with them in Maryland and all the support they’ve given me.

Ringo’s got a new set of shoes and an embroidered saddle cloth so we’re ready. First day on the canal we only did 5 or 6 miles as we started late afternoon and I was more concerned with finding a good camp site, best place we found was right next to the no camping sign. We had a few bucks but settled down after a mile or so.

Second day was a long hot day. Ringo was going really well but put his foot through the good water container so I was on the back up which needs held open otherwise collapses so that was fun. We had planned to camp in harpers ferry but turns out there’s a winding metal stairs to get up to the bridge and that was a no go so ended up going and extra 10 miles to find a place to camp. We found an amazing bit of grass by one of the locks which was full of firefly’s as soon as it got dark. I think even ringo enjoyed it. Total approximately 23 miles today.

Todays been wet, I started as soon as I’d taken everything out of the tent and didn’t stop. We detoured into shepherdstown to find some hot food and ran into some of the nicest folk around. They called around and found a stable and grazing for ringo and a bed for me. I learnt that light weight doesn’t equal waterproof. Ringo completely lost his cool over a rabbit on the trail but completely ignored a turtle so I don’t know what’s going on in his head. We still probably managed 14 miles today even though we stopped early.