Trash the dress in the sea on horses

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Riding a horse in a dress and sandals, (obviously no hard hat) into the sea as it's going dark maybe seem a bit foolish - but not if you are with Laura. It was her wedding yesterday and now she was donning her wedding dress again to go horse riding, at sunset of course and that is how our day ended - wet.

The day began for myself and Glyn by driving down to Bubble Beach. We had mocked it when passing the day before yesterday as Paradise and Magic Beaches sound so much more alluring. Banana Beach sounded a bit crap though. Kos is choc full of beaches, many with cheesy names but it turned out that Bubble Beach actually has bubbles, Laura and Paz had explained this yesterday, it's due to volcanic rock being near the surface of the seabed and letting off bubbles. We swam for ages looking for those bubbles but found out later that we were completely in the wrong area.

After an hour or so swimming and hunting for those illusive bubbles we gave up and sat on sunbeds on the beach. I've not really done the beach thing since childhood so was shocked that we were charged 4 euros each for the use of the sunbeds and one sunbrolly. However we could stay all day if we wanted but it didn't take long for me to get bored. I'm not good at sitting still when on holiday and what to go and see or do stuff, but as Glyn pointed out, there's not much to see in Kos apart from beaches.

After a quick early lunch at Paradise Cafe (which was surprisingly good and not crappy English food) we headed back to Kardemena where we'd seen amazing looking slides from the pirate ship yesterday. It was at a place called Aquatika and was not very busy at all. Glyn pointed out that we were the oldest couple there without children by a long chalk. But so what? The slides were awesome and there were no queues. Many of them were for two people and with double our weight, it felt we were going to fly over the top of some! Two of the slides had almost vertical drops and I let out some good screams. Another slide had us spinning inside a giant bowl as it continuously squirted ice cold water in our faces, we weren't much for that one but still did it again.

Time soon passed and we had to be at Laura's hotel for 6.30 pm. I felt a bit foolish turning up to go horse riding in a dress and sandals, but Laura had convinced another guest to also wear a dress, plus the others were in clothes you would never wear for riding in the UK.

There were seven of us who rode - the three beginners, including my hubby, were not to go in the sea. Laura, her sister Emma, myself and one other lady (I think her name is Jenny) all have ridden a lot and were excited about swimming with horses. Laura's sandals were rather unsuitable for horse-riding, so she went barefoot instead, it made sense. None of us wore a riding hat. Oh and before we could leave, we all had to coo over the gorgeous tiny grey kitten at the stables, although we were in a rush as the stables had been running late and the sun was already setting.

The first four of us set off, just walking but as we were on a road, it was for the best. Laura's wedding photographer and his partner (I think she is also his wife?) had also joined us - they are Laura's friends as well as photographers and had come to shoot the entire spectacle. There were a few raised eyebrows as people passed us and one local on his moped looked most disapproving.

Once we arrived at the beach, the photographers had to get a jog on to keep ahead and shoot Laura. They also got the rest of us, but it meant a lot of running up and down for them. As the sun was setting at this point and we were getting in quite deep, they also had to set their ISOs quite high.

We'd gone into the sea in single file as the lady who owns the horses (who also was the only one in a riding hat) knew they way through any rocks that were hidden under the sea. Not all of our horses wanted to go into the sea and took a bit of convincing. It was really warm, like bath water, I was expecting to be cold but not at all. I didn't get as soaked as I thought I would and my horse, Harmony, was wading more than swimming but I did not want to push her into going deeper than she felt comfortable - or maybe she was having me on? Who knows? Jenny's horse only had short legs and didn't get out as deep as the rest of us.

As we were coming out, the rest of the ride caught up with us, including my hubby. It was a pity that they were not able to get there earlier as it was getting a bit dark at this point and could only just see us in the sea.

We all headed back together, although the guide and Laura popped back in one more time, getting Laura's dress soaked a little higher. Jenny's horse decided to have a hissy fit which is slightly concerning when wearing no hat, I was worried mine would join in as horses are apt to do. We arrived back at the stables in the dark and I was a bit concerned about dismounting a horse that wouldn't stay still when having exposed toes - I've heard tales of people losing phalanges to steel shod hooves before and wanted to avoid that!

After saying goodbye to the grey kitten we dropped some of the others back at their hotel and said goodbye - we fly to Athens at stupid o'clock in the morning.

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