8 days total, 6 days with horses, 110 miles, 20 hours in-saddle.
Here is a general idea of what we covered. General being the optimal word. “It’s all relative!”
During our point-to-point ride, we saw every type of terrain (and other things) you could think of! Villages, the countryside, beaches, mountains, orchards, vineyards, fields, the wilderness! Wild poppies, running cattle, dogs on roofs, dead pigs, tortoises, cuckoo birds!
At the beginning of the ride the terrain was more urban…walking through narrow alleyways, past old cathedrals, and we even waited at red lights!
It rained for most of our first day of riding, which was a bit of a damper, but led to an amazing rainbow before dinner!
Apparently 4+ hours wasn’t tiring enough for the horses, because they proceeded to act a fool in the pasture.
Those specs in the picture are flying dirt clumps!
The second day we galloped along the beach. You would think that six horses coming at you at a decent clip would encourage you to move out of the way. It was surprising how many people didn’t even move an inch!
We were told not to look down because it would make us dizzy. Whoops!
We rode through vineyards and hay fields, orchards of olive trees, and other fruits I didn’t recognize, rice fields and cork forests.
The last day was definitely the most picturesque as we rode high into the mountains along terraced mountain trails.
Patti with the snow-capped Pyrenees in the back ground.
Mom & Patti
However, what goes up must come down! There were several times where we had to dismount and walk the horses down the paths on-foot.
I can’t say that Picasso’s skills as a “follower” were all that great. If I stopped for too long to take a picture, he just head-butted me right in the back. I don’t even know what would have happened if I needed to tie my shoe!
We eventually made it all the way back to sea level and our beach picnic.
Outside of the first day, the weather really held out for us. Perfect temps + sunshine = quite a week!
