A Sunny Day's Ride.

The sun shone again today making it perfect weather for a day out riding. Not only was it lovely and sunny but there was also a pleasant breeze so we didn't feel too hot. 

This is Petra, the horse Iola (the owner of the stables) was riding. (Only  few photos have been posted on FB so far.) After four hours of riding through country lanes and hill tops we had made our way round to Nant Yr Arian for a very welcome lunch break. After such a long ride dismounting would have been tricky in itself but then I had to lift my leg over the bulk of the saddle bags as well as the back of the saddle which resulted in a slow and very inelegant dismount from Cadno who is quite a tall horse. After our break we crossed the main road and followed a new route down to the Rheidol valley. Cadno was his usual lovely self but I felt that he was getting tired by the end. All day we had been at the back of the group with another horse and kept having to trot on to catch up with everyone else and the last few canters were a lot slower than the others. Not to mention that I was feeling pretty tired at that point. Still I really enjoyed the day and recognised more places that I had been to on the Sunday walks. That included the waterfalls at Craig Y Pistyll that we walked by in July. 

We were out for 7 hours with about half an hour's break for lunch and covered 20 miles. But look at the state of my shin even through riding boots. I was pretty horrified until I remembered the blood thinners I'm now taking which would explain why the tissue has bruised so easily.

I left the stables looking forward to a hot shower and a cup of coffee only to meet a large tractor with machinery coming towards me down the narrow lane. Being the good country girl that I am I pulled over to let him pass only to find what I thought was a puddle at the side of the road was in fact a very deep rut. So deep that once the wheel fell into it the whole car dropped down so that the wishbone? (the car's underneath structure) was sitting on the road surface and I was going nowhere. The tractor had gone on obliviously but two young farmers in a truck stopped to help and so did a farmer on a quadbike. The farmer on the quad offered to go and get a wooden wedge to put under the wheel in the water and the other lads said they had to go but would return later to see if I still needed help. The first farmer turned up in an enormous machine, with two prongs on the front for lifting round bales and a chain. It turned out that the tractor I'd pulled over for was from his farm but I think he would have been helpful in any case. Some more of his workers turned up in a van and between them all they pulled my car out of the puddle and got it back on the road assuring me that I hadn't broken my car. Boy was I relieved though in the worst case I did have my phone and we are members of the RAC, in fact we pay a lot every year to have that security of knowing we would be rescued .... eventually.

Last night I was surprised to see so many con trails in the night sky. A fellow blogger in England had mentioned there was an international air force exercise going on from the airbases near her. I had a hunt on-line and found that it was/is Exercise Cobra Warrior though the MOD notice says daytime only. I expect this is all in anticipation of international aircraft being needed for the situation in Europe.