Sunday, November 25, 2012

The day my heart sang

What a lovely Sunday. Yesterday, Tim and I popped in Belgium. Yes, Belgium. The country. We drove from Oxfordshire to Folkestone where we caught the Channel Tunnel (car train) and drove from Calais via Lille towards Brussels. We didn't have to go all the way to Brussels, but to a small town called Soignies. 

This trip was to do with vintage cars, which is the other passion in our household. We took some Riley car parts to a man in Belgium and in exchange he gave us a 1912 Fiat. Well, the Fiat is not in a proper car shape, but was only a chassis, engine block and front axle. But Tim thinks it's pretty neat, so what can I say.

Anyway, this trip meant that we drove around 550 miles in one day = 16 hours of sitting in the car, only to have a quick dinner in a roadside restaurant somewhere near Lille. Well, it was a road trip of sorts! As a thank you for my 'supportive girlfriend' act, I was rewarded with a breakfast in bed. Nice.

But I had to soon head off to the yard as I had agreed to go on a hack. The last few days have been awful here; really rainy – flooding and sorts – so today's sunny Sunday was a real rest-bite from the horrid weather of late. 

While I had been on my Tour de France and Belgium, I had given Rainbow a couple of days off. She got to spend them in the field, so today I found a happy and chilled horse in the stable. I was running a bit late so quickly tacked R up and headed out with Sharon + Lenny and Alison + Seamus. We had a lovely walk and trot hack around the nearby villages – winding up through the fields of a stud farm. The sun was out and even the wind wasn't as blowy as it had been. 

When we wound up back to the yard, it started to rain, so I would say we were really lucky.

I enjoyed today's hack and looking into the distance, and even though I felt a bit tired after yesterday's long day, I felt so lucky and happy to be sitting there on Rainbow and ambling through the beautiful countryside. Today my heart sang.

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