Back from holiday

We had a great break in Lisbon and did loads of walking - we must have walked several miles each day. Lisbon is very hilly, and the pavements and roads in the city centre are all cobbles, so my legs - and my calves in particular - still ache a bit.

Yesterday I went out for my first ride for a week and a half. Only a short one - a lap of the reservoir - but I did load up my panniers with eight litres of water which, I seem to recall from my schoolboy science lessons, is the equivalent of eight kilos in weight, which should more than reflect the weight of my panniers once I'm in Spain. Today I did a longer, 23 mile circuit.

The BBC weather forecast for the next few days is heavy rain, but they have been very unreliable recently and I hope that they've got it wrong again as I'd like to get over to Paper Mill Lock this weekend to have a few climbs up North Hill, and try another of the cakes in the tea shop.