Rebecca Townsend of Bere Ferrers, the district commissioner of Spooners and West Dartmoor Pony Club, recently completed the 300 kilometre Sentier Des Contrabandier (smugglers' route) through the Pays Basque on the French -Spanish border.

She started in St Palais and finished over The Rhune Mountains in Biriatou on the Atlantic coast. She was accompanied by her endurance riding friend Jill Etherington, also from Bere Ferrers, who now lives in France near Toulouse.

They rode two of Jill's horses – Rubi an 8 year-old Arab/French Trotter and Sasha a 7 year-old pure bred Arab.

They took eight days to complete the route, riding for up to nine hours a day.  

Rebecca said: 'It was a wonderful experience but extremely challenging with very steep climbs and often we were on foot leading the horses on very narrow stoney paths  alongside sheer drops! The horses were marvellous and coped really well considering neither of them are used to that kind of terrain.

'Where Jill lives in Le Lot it is gently undulating! Also they don't normally meet other livestock and they had to contend with goats, sheep, cows and the local Pottock ponies all wearing bells! Then on one a occassion we came around a corner and no less than 20 vultures took off in front of us.'