What a special visit we had last Friday! As I was busy munching away my morning hay and straw, I saw three ladies approaching the farm. It was the Spanish Trek Challenge Ladies - as Romero my donkey friend, who always hears the news before I do, told me later.

These daring ladies (Pam Smiley, Jan Wilmott and Laura Bear) took on the challenge of walking for a week along the Genal Valley, near our Sanctuary in southern Spain. They were doing it for a worthy cause: to help us donkeys and mules. I heard that their friends and family helped sponsor them for this challenge.

The last stage of their trip brought the ladies to El Refugio del Burrito, where they had the chance to get to know us and spend a day in our company. Rafa (that's my typist in the press office!) told them some of the stories about us as they did a tour of the farm.
Estrella, Platero and Daniel were lucky enough to be groomed by these charming ladies who spent some time with them and Fatima, one of our grooms.

Then they went off (complete with packed lunches, take a look at the picture if you don't believe me!) to the nearby lake where they enjoyed a well deserved rest after the days of steep uphill trekking.

Jan stayed behind to give us a demonstration on herbal and aromatherapy remedies for donkeys. It was very informative, and she's kindly left some samples for us on the farm to use.

I hope they enjoyed their visit as much as us donkeys did. A big THANK YOU to them for their wonderful support!