DAY 29 Sun 11 July

I got a call from Laura this morning asking if I wanted to head out for a ride through the desert, but with the way I was feeling (seeing as how I didn't get home till 3am), I decided to pass on that. The boys also didn't saddle up the horses for a morning ride through the countryside, so I was able to relax through the morning and early afternoon and catch up on some lost sleep (and get further through the Amelia Peabody series. When Sabine turned up in the afternoon, she had already been for an hours ride through the countryside in the morning, and then an hours jumping lesson with Tatouch, so I jokingly said "Well I guess you don't feel up to a desert ride then?" She suprised me by thinking that that was a great idea. So as the day got cooler, the grooms saddled up Wadi for me and Dooby for Sabine (asking Elvis to go out for another ride through the desert would have been rather cruel). As the horses were being saddled, I got a call from Laura asking what I was up to, so I told her we were going to go for a ride in the desert, and she decided to join us – the more the merrier! We met her on the hill above the gateway into the desert, and headed off towards the Japanese hill. We had no sooner got into the desert than Wadi and Dooby both galloped up the hill towards Laura and her groom – they were full of beans and happy to be out and able to run in the desert, as were Sabine and I – I had been looking forward to a ride in the desert for a very long time!
We went for a bit of a gallop towards the pyramids at Abu Sir, but then realised that Laura and the groom weren't following – she was a bit concerned about her mare, and didn't want to let her run. We went around behind the Japanese hill and then headed on towards the Bone Yard – Sabine had never been riding through there and was fascinated with all the bones lying around. We followed the road around Saqqara for bit before heading back towards Japanese Hill and having a look at the view out over the pyramids. There is a good view of all four major sites in Cairo from up there. Just as we were getting back to the gate, my phone rang. We were actually trying to head to the sun temple, but the horses were telling us we were going the wrong way – home was through the gate. So here I was trying to talk to Pal on the phone and stop Wadi from running towards home. Finally managed to get the phone put away and turn him around and back out into the desert, where we headed up the Sun Temple. Got a few photos up there, but we left as the guard started making his way towards us – he did offer for us to go and have a look at the altar, but no doubt that would have required baksheesh – its not like we take any money with us when we head out riding – lol.
As we were heading back home, we passed one of those three wheel motorbikes – it had a lot of miscellaneous stuff on top of it – cleaning gear, baskets, you name it – it certainly made for a very colourful photo.
After checking that Maryanne had everything she needed and was all settled, I headed over to the guest house to relax and read and get a good nights sleep.

Desert ride 4:
Distance - 10.5km
Time - 1:35:48
Average speed - 6.6kmph
Max speed - 46.7kmph