Casares...Night Riding
Trip Start
Jun 02, 2008
1
15
48
Trip End
May 01, 2010
Casares,
Spain
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Thankfully Violetta is sure footed...unswerved by the darkness. She carries me safely and i eventually manage to slow her. Its 3am and me and my two Spanish companions are riding back from sabinillas beach where we'd swum and then eaten fish and chicken in a small beach Bocadillo. The ride back along the beach had been amazing, the horses prancing excitedly and then breaking into a fast gallop kicking up a spray of sand beneath their feet. Id been wearing a head torch up the this point but Rubio had told me to turn it off for the horses. I now turn it back on to give me the confidence to press on. Rubio takes the lead and Antonio tucks himself behind me in a protective stance. We jog down the valley, cross streams and climb back up until we are close to the village. We say goodbye to Rubio and head back with the horses for a cold beer. The dogs greet Antonio affectionately he is exhausted and has to work in three hours. I make a mental note to take my cycling shorts to Argentina...I will be bruised and marked for several days but I don't care, it was worth it.
I've returned for 8 days to Casares with my three nephews ...the heat is stifling climbing up around the 40 degree mark as England soaks in the rain... but I'm beginning to acclimatise to this heat. Last week fires raged around Casares, flying elephants...helicopters and fixed wing aircraft flew over the village dumping their loads of water scooped up from the ocean. Casares hangs vertically from the rock face ...the fires raged below threatening the village. The flying elephants heroically fly directly at the rock face, avoiding overhead power cables, and only at the last moment bank steeply up dumping their loads with pinpoint accuracy..its a spectacular display...my parents once they had packed their stuff watched on in admiration of the skill and bravery of the pilots...
Somehow each time i return i grow more fond of this place....the lovely village of Casares the rugged hillsides all around. This has been my third visit this summer and leaving now after so short a time is hard...as the plane flies out from Gib a knot grows in my stomach as i begin to wonder why i keep on moving and perhaps I should stay still if only for a bit because maybe I am missing what is right in front of me...
