This page is a series of hyperlinks that connect to galleries that document my family's trip to France in June/July of 2005. We visited several bastides and rode through a lot of small towns on horseback. Each day we rode from 6 to 7 hours on horseback. We'd usually start around 8:30 and get off at 12:30 for lunch. (no breaks) In France lunch lasts about 2 hours. (very civilized) After lunch we'd tack up the horses and complete the day's journey. Every day we were on horseback we did walks, trots and gallops. The terrain went from flat to hilly, open field to forest. Riding required both one-handed reigning combined with two-point.
The photos were taken using either a digital camera (town and vista shots) or using disposables (all riding and some town shots). Some of the riding photos may be blurred because of the difficulty of riding and shooting a photo while trying not to fall of your horse.
This trip was fantastic because of two things:
One, our guide, Patrick Joseph, was excellent. Not only did he know he put together an excellent tour, but his English was excellent and he took the time to make sure we enjoyed ourselves. Despite a long days ride, Patrick came in to town, got us settled in to each night's hotel and then came back in the evening ,after taking care of the horses, to have diner with us. This was first rate service.
Two, we went off the beaten trail and got to really see the countryside around Nerac. Every village or bastide we stopped in was a pleasant surprise. Riding trough towns and farmsteads was a blast. Lunch was made by Patrick's assistants and it was good and there was plenty of it. All our accommodations were great.