IN 2006, Vyv Wood-Gee and her daughter Elsa with their two Fell ponies Lancer and Mikado rode 1,335 miles from John O’Groats to Lands End in aid of Cancer Research.

On Sunday (June 27) Vyv will follow in the footsteps of the drovers and will set off to ride from the Isle of Skye to Smithfield Market in London with two of her Fell ponies. Here she speaks to Melanie Scott.

For many hundreds of years, droving cattle south from the Highlands to market in London was an essential part of our culture and central to Scotland’s economy. Droving also underpinned the development of banking and many of the roads and tracks we still use today, and at its peak in the early 1800s, up to 100,000 cattle were driven from Scotland to London. The way in which livestock were transported around the country changed only with the coming of the railways and motor transport.

“The fascinating history behind so many of our paths and tracks and how they’ve been used in the past appeals to me as much as travelling through the countryside to the steady beat of a horse’s hooves” says Vyv.

“Riding along you have time to take in everything around you and to think back to those who have walked this way before. It is the drovers more than anyone who have always inspired me most. I’ve walked and ridden many drove roads in the past in different parts of Britain, but what I’ve always really wanted to do is to follow in the footsteps of the drovers and their cattle from start to finish.”

Vyv’s home is at Hoddom, in Dumfriesshire, but the starting point for her Drovers Footsteps journey is Dunvegan, where the cattle which came across by boat from the Outer Hebrides were offloaded. After walking across Skye, the cattle used to be swum across the Sound of Sleat, but Vyv and her ponies will be catching the ferry across this dangerous piece of water to Glenelg. From there she will follow as closely as possible the main route taken by the drovers down through the Highlands to the site of the former tryst at Falkirk, and then on south over the Pentlands via Peebles, Hawick and Kielder to Stagshaw Bank near Hexham, another major market where many of the cattle changed hands again before continuing on their journey south.

“Working out my route has been a real challenge” Vyv explains.

“The most exciting parts are where the old drove roads are still clearly visible such as Gypsy Glen above Peebles, and the Hambledon Drove which leads over the hills to York. In other places the old routes have long since disappeared under bogs or been adopted as main roads – including long stretches of the Great North Road, but very often the drovers used a variety of routes, so I’ve been able to find alternatives.”

After Sleaford, Vyv will be heading east via Spalding and Swaffham to the Norfolk Fens where the Scottish cattle were traditionally fattened before the final leg of their journey to market in London.

Travelling at the same pace as the drover’s, Vyv will have time to explore how much has changed in Britain since the days of droving. The total journey of around 1000 miles is likely to take approximately eight weeks to complete, depending what happens along the way.

In keeping with the drovers, Vyv will carry everything she needs rather than having an accompanying support vehicle and because of the limitations of a single set of saddlebags, Vyv will be leading Murthwaite Magic Spell, as her pack pony.

You can follow Vyv’s journey on www.ride-for-research.org. Every penny Vyv raises through her ride will be donated to Cancer Research UK, which can be made online at www.justgiving.com/droversfootsteps.