Thursday the 13th of May 2010

In the morning we put our luggage in the mini-vans, it was time to move on. It was cloudy and rainy but we were in a good spirit! We drove back to Cantallope where the horses were. We rode through some beautiful olive groves, and wine farms.  Passed through Capmany and Peralada, and stopped for lunch in a stone-pine area. We just managed to finish eating, when the rain started...and it didn't stop. Just a few minutes later we met Mick, with another group, I guess they were heading for lunch - poor bastards...

Anyhow, we went through flat country, with bamboo along the paths, we had a lot of canter since it was raining and raining and raining and I believe we all just wanted to get wherever - fast.  I enjoyed the ride though, and I believe all of us did. Houdini was very cooperative, even though she sometimes felt that she was smarter than me.... (and she was). "Why should I canter faster, when I know we will go on for hours and hours?" she asked...and what should I reply - letting my jockey-Charlotte pop out for some minutes.  At home we used to let our horses race on the beach, but that was just maximum 10 km during a maximum 2 hours ride...so I believe I should listen to Houdini. '

Anyhow, we humans had a lot of fun, and some of us had mud all over our faces (not me).

This is the day my compact camera passed away...I had it in my pocket. When I opened the pocket, it was water inside. The zipper had let water in, but the material is water proof, so the water could not get out...= camera and mobile-phone....gone, dead, borta, döda.

All pictures that I could get out of the camera are blurry and one can see the moist already has started to affect the pictures, but I publish them anyway just giving an idea of how the day was. 

I admire the horses, they master walking on pure rock. We arrived in Port dela Selva earlier than planned... got off, and walked with the horses towards the meadow where they should spend the night. After that we walked in to the city center (old part) and to the hotel. We were soaked. They asked us to remove our riding-boots outside. Haha. Dirty boots was NOT a problem, not in this kind of weather. The problem was the soaking wet socks that appeared when removing the boots.

Also... I was riding in my walking-boots - I had NO other shoes to wear! Thank good I at least brought the short-chaps my sister bought me (even though it meant admitting that "such" did work ). The hotel was really nice, but the heating in the rooms was not as modern as in the La Central, which meant that we very soon realised that not everything would be dry in the morning. The hairdryer was busy, not on hair, but on shoes, jackets, gloves and everything else. UUU what a smell we had in the loo.

Don bought us drinks in the bar - thanks Don!!! And then I tried to find some shoes for every day use, but failed..so I had to wear the "horsier-ones". I managed to buy a pair of jeans instead... which I actually thought was positive, since the last past years I have just spent money on functional clothes for dog-walks, skiing etc. so it was really time for some girlie stuff.

Supper was lovely!!! Food, wine and the COMPANY! I've had so many laughs this week, I just can not believe it!

Friday 14th of May 2010

I had no camera during the riding, but hope to steal some later on from the others...

Surprisingly the horses were almost dry in the morning. We had better weather, and we passed a small village, which I have forgot the name of, but the Street was called something Andalusia . Then we started to climb upwards. At lunch we came to a set table with table-cloth and a whole Serrano-ham placed on the table. Wine, bread and cheese, let's see it was the Manchego if remember correctly but a "beginners-one" a bit milder, mixed with cows-milk (but then it's not a proper Manchego, is it?) Maybe I am totally wrong maybe it was a local kind of cheese.

I have had the Manchego at home. We have this wonderful cheese-shop at the square called Möllevångstorget, where the owner travels around the world to get good cheese, ham, and butter. We sat there, looking down at the small lake way down there (where we earlier had let the horses drink), and looking up across the lake at the hills we were about to climb. Luis had a lot of interesting things to tell about the area, about why it looked like it did (no trees) and what was on-going.  Once at the ridge of the hill/small mountain we had a lovely view of the whole peninsula. The bay where Port de la Selva was sitting (where we were heading today) and we could also see what way we had been riding, as well as our final destination.

Down-hills we passed olive-trees, vines and small farms. Finally we came to a place that looked like an allotment-garden area to me. We jumped off the horses, and walked in between high bamboo canes for some hundred meters. Then there was a yard (an old farm), with a door, and outside the door....was the sea! This was a lovely yard, giving nice grass and good shelter for the horses. We took care of them, fed them and gave them water, and then we had a short walk along the beach towards our hotel.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz