Every year, 82-year-old Jane Dotchin travels 600 miles on her horse Diamond, with her beloved dog Dinky next to her in a saddlebag. She covers 15-20 miles a day and then sleeps in a tent at night during her 7-week adventure from her home in Northumberland, England, bound for Inverness, Scotland. Along the way, she lives on porridge, oatcakes and cheese, and carries an old mobile phone that has a battery that lasts for 6 weeks. Unfortunately, there are times when getting a signal is difficult, but Jane doesn’t worry. In fact, one of her only worries is whether the weather will cooperate. “I refuse to go slogging on through pouring wet rain,” she said, explaining that she will stop and take a break if it gets too treacherous. Jane, who has impaired vision and uses an eye patch, said she also has to manage her horse Diamond, who can get spooked by bottles and cans left along the side of the road. The retiree used to run a riding school near her home and lived off the grid and worked the fields to care for her horses. She has made the 600-mile trek every year since 1972 and says that there’s always something interesting happening and there’s never a dull moment.
