I know, let's go up that vertical hill!!

Stupid me strikes again today while L and I rode through a beautifully scenic forest track. I somehow wandered off course and then had a mammoth and slightly mossy hill ahead of me. My horse, Casper, didn't make a second thought before he braved it and while I was aiming for the more appropriately safe 70% incline, he just charged towards the 90% area. Heavy.

At the point he was literally jumping for grip I bailed. Since I was already quite close to the ground, it was an easy decision and just meant that I had to duck n roll as Casper slid on his bum down the hill. So it seems, again, I had quite good timing. Something about this situation brings back a sense of deja vu - what is it about me and ridiculously steep and slippery hills??!

Other than that - actually quite an entertaining incident - today was pretty good. After staying up until about 4:30am with the boss' wife drinking and talking shit (something we've become quite good at), I gave myself a sleep-in and strolled into breakfast at about 11:30am. Nice. Feeding myself water to stave off the hangover trying desperately to encase my brain, we then headed to the local market that happens every so often in the next village. There were horses, cattle, related farm supplies and a couple of places selling knifes. Yay! I have been keen to get one for a while, not to practise my east London rudeboy skills but just in case something happens out on a ride. So I picked one up, probably a shit one, for £2. Nice. Then I used it to cut my piece of pork at lunch.

Jumped on the back of the boss' friend's scooter for the ride home, was super nice having natural air con especially after a couple of beers. Then we had another dog almost killed by the pack of dogs here that like to be cheeky, as we tried to ride away, and I had to jump off, leave my horse standing in the middle of the road, and use my riding crop to smack away the dogs... I was a very mad girl.

We're about to eat, quite a bit later because E got lost with the guest on a ride - and I am SO thankful I'm not the only one but tomorrow is Sunday, rest day. I can't wait. I think I'll cut E's fringe. Fool be her.

When the scooter hire man says pack warm, LISTEN to him

Woke today by alarm to ready myself for this trip to some wavey beaches around the coast from Lagos, with my new Aussie friend from the hostel and a guy who works at the hostel. Unsurprisingly, the guy never turned up so me and C were forced to take action on Plan B and hire a scooter to travel around the place. We could've taken the bus but this way was funner and not much more expensive!
So we trekked around trying to find a bike hire place that didn't close for siesta and eventually got the goods. I was relegated the back seat seeing as the bike was a little more powerful (usually u need a bike licence but C owns one in Australia and telling the scooter man this seemed to suffice any rules he previously didn't want to break. Before we left, he said 'you want to take something warm, it will get cold later on' to which we both shrugged and said 'we'll b fine'. Big mistake.
Traveling to the beaches we chose the scenic route and saw some beautiful views, including quite a few really nice beaches, some old fortress ruins and a really pretty sunset. C kept laughing as we stopped and he'd turn around to hear me chomping on some of my bread and brie I'd stocked up on before we headed out. Good shit that was. So so tasty.
But, as the day wore on we started getting a liiiiiittle cool as the wind picked up. Some roads we just sat in silence as the wind stripped tears from our eyes through our sunglasses and the gales tickled the tyres from the gravel. This was serious scooter time. C was getting really cold cos he was at the front and so once we got to Sagres (where I drank a Sagres beer, just for the sheer cheesiness of it) he couldn't even entertain the idea of going to the lighthouse, the most westerly point of Europe.
So we headed to Castelejo to see this sunset the scooter man suggested. Wind was still high so we stayed for a couple of mins on the lookout before retreating lower to the restaurant and less wind. A quick bite and lay on the early evening sand, a nice sunset (though not the best I've seen) and we were OUTTA THERE. Hometime. We wrapped ourselves up in our towels, longed to be able to use our sunglasses at night to protect ourselves from getting bug face, and ventured to the cliff-hugging road back to Lagos.
Stopped in to get some petrol, by which time I was in a fit of giggles from how stupid we looked and how cold we were, and it took all my strength to get on and hold tight to C to try and warm him with body heat. Funnily enuf, we got back in 1/3 of a the time it took to get there and it couldn't have been quicker. My toes were frozen from being so exposed to the night air and every muscle ached from holding tight.
Now I'm waiting for C to come knockin' to try this 8 euro set menu from across the rd. If the restaurant is still open by the time we go! yum yum for my tum tum