Back to the grindstone

Well, a full week of no training sucks, but at least the pennies will come in useful! Yesterday I tried something different for my four hour stint. Edna, a friend of mine, is a runner and she offered me a lift to the university where she (amongst hundreds of other athletes) does her training. She very kindly gave up her run to walk with me and show me round. The grounds are very large, full of shady trees and a variety of circuits up to 10km long. Best of all, there is a hill, a fairly long steady climb which is just what I need for my training. I feel I´ve slipped back a few notches as I was quite tired and my feet ached when I eventually got home.

I can get there fairly easily by train, so I think that´s where I´ll be going for the longer walks from now on, especially when they go up to six and eight hours at a time. The only thing you have to watch out for are the packs of helmeted cyclist whizzing past all the time, mere walkers beware!

I´ve been checking my equipment list (again), and virtually all that´s missing now are batteries for my camera. I usually use rechargeable ones but that would involve taking two sets of batteries, charger and plug adapter - more weight and bulk. Alkaline AA batteries, which I have used before now in an emergency, don´t last very long at all in my camera, but I have heard lithium batteries are excellent. Unfortunately they don´t appear to be available here so I will have to wait until I get to Spain, where I´m told you may buy them. I only hope the information is correct, otherwise I shall be stuck.