Guick Dotto It's wild when you are out of contact and in trouble. I have ridden from my home to Lake Vyrynwy over the mountains. When you get to the Vyrynwy area it is really hard to get a mobile phone service. When you're in the valley there are a lot of people about but once you take to higher ground you could be in a wilderness. I took two ladies down there (riding there and back) on their horses last year and needed to contact a farrier because of a shoe that had come off one of the horses (mine's barefoot...no problem). The mobile phone reception was no better than my first visit there in 1998! I'm definitely not suggesting I'd use a PLB for this sort of event, just illustrating the "near yet so far" of areas like this. We have Clocaenog Forest nearby and the reception in the forest is bad. These are only two places I have sited, but there are thousands more!
Just thought you may like to take a look at this.
http://www.grough.co.uk/content/view/742/28/
Stolly Equine Rambers have the spirit of adventure too. If you go onto our website you'll find the Trail Stories. Most of us would like to just go with our steeds into the sunset.....I can just see it now...the silhouette of me on my horse against the sinking evening sun riding over a grassy mountain...sigh! But unfortunately reality kicks in and we count our financial and personal commitments of leaving everything behind and the cost going away. I still value my skin on more local rides (usually 10-15 miles) which still take us into less populated areas, thus the PLB campaign.
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