Cattle - and even geese - were driven on the old drovers' roads

Four friends, their horses and a dog are re-creating a journey from history following an old drovers' route through mid-Wales.

Marcia Wilding and her friends Rhona Barnett, Frances Morris and her daughter Mair Stephens - plus her border collie Kim - are taking in a 60-mile section of the old Harlech to London route.

The group, who started on Tuesday and finish on Saturday, are enjoying the sights of bridleways in Pontscethin, Bontddu, Dolgellau to Machynlleth and across to Felindre.

They are already considering returning to the route next year, but this time to raise money for charity.

"I think what they are doing is brilliant," said Marcia's friend Helen Johns.

"Next year they could do it for charity and I would certainly like to be involved with back-up help because I haven't got a horse myself."

Staff at the British Horse Society have helped with the route and the group will report back to them after they finish.

Horse boxes and supplies are being driven by their families to the group's next stops.

The group's route follows one of many of the old tracks in Wales.

Historical route

Before rail and modern transportation, the drovers' routes were trodden by tens of thousands of cattle, sheep and geese.

Animals were driven at around two miles per hour through villages, towns and markets, some ending up the markets of London.

Processions could included hundreds of cattle and some animals would be specially shod to protect them on their long journeys.

Mrs Wilding, a retired school teacher and farmer's wife, said: "We are trying to imagine what it was like.

"We can see the stopping places for the drovers, it has been magnificent - out of this world," she said.

Gwenan Owen, of Caegronwy Farm in Bontddu, is one of the people putting up the group of four, plus their horses, on their trip.

"I'm doing bed and breakfast for them and putting the horses up in a field," she said.

"We have people asking about the old drovers' routes all the time. It is a bit of a tourist attraction," she added.