DAY 27 Fri 9 July

I was so tired when I woke up this morning – I wanted to sleep in, but didn't manage that, so after heading over to check on Maryanne and to give the dogs their medicine, I came back over to the guest house to relax. Sabine came over and asked if I wanted to go for a ride, but I know both her and Tatouch would like a faster ride. I was a little too tired for that, so I declined. Not long after she left, Maryanne rang, and said the grooms were wondering if I wanted to go for a ride – I knew that ride would be a lot slower, so I thought what the heck, and said yes. They had six horses to saddle up. Shaboura (Me), Americano (Mohamed), Sondos (little Mohamed), Nazeer (Essam), Lilly (Hassan) and Dooby (Waleed).
There were a lot of people out to get water again – I'm not sure if it is just that some days we head out riding later than other days or what, but the amount of people around the taps is likely to vary from day to day. There was an interesting coloured donkey not far out of the village – it almost looked like he had appaloosa spots. And then a little further along there was a guy perched atop the grass on his donkey – from the back you could hardly see that there was a donkey underneath there! Further on there was also an old gentleman riding his donkey, with two young kid goats in front of him. And not far past him was a lady pushing a wheelchair, and then there was the guy on his bike with sidecar, and in the sidecar were pails (milk pails possibly – another milk tanker by any chance?)
As we walked past one lovely garden, there were all these cats just outside the fence – they were very nice looking cats, and quite young as well. The ride didn't take as long as usual, which wasn't a bad thing – it was getting warmer, though in most places there was a reasonable breeze blowing. Fortunately the bouganvillea near Maryanne's front gate had been cut back so it was much easier to traverse the last section to home.
After making sure Maryanne had everything she needed I headed over to the guest house to take an afternoon nap (much needed!). Not long after Sabine had got back from Tatouch's, she got a call from Maryanne asking her if she could take Magda in somewhere, so I was left in charge of Maryanne. Not that much is really required. I spent most of the time over in the guest house, knowing if she needed me she would call. After feeding the birds and getting some stuff for the grooms (they had to put Fares on a drip) and getting Maryanne settled for the night, I was able to head across to the guest house and get myself all sorted out and settled for the night.

Countryside ride 15:
Distance - 4.59km
Time - 0:48:55
Average speed - 5.6kmph
Max speed - 12.1kmph