Good Days, Bad Days, and Power Rangers

Today I walked home from Mirepoix - my first 30 kms walk this year, although I have done plenty of trots approaching the distance. In the past week I have covered more than 20 kms four times, with one 27 and one 28.

So 30 should not be so different, should it? I should remind you that this is the distance I intend to walk 6 days a week for 10 weeks next year.

So why did I feel so bad today? I was weak and on the verge of staggering more than once before I reached Chalabre at 21 kms. I was drinking plenty. I had a croissant aux amandes for breakfast just before starting the walk. I had a pain aux raisins with me for further sustenance - I scoffed that sitting on one of the stone seats at the bridge in Chalabre, with its magnificent view of the Pyrenees.

I felt an immediate lift after eating the second bun. Maybe my blood sugars were low? Not normally a problem with me, and this is the food which usually fuels this walk (quite successfully). I trudged the further 9 kms to Puivert, which seemed much longer than usual.

Gay must have heard my feet dragging as I entered the courtyard. "Are you very tired?" she said, before she even saw me. Absolutely knackered," says I. "Do you think I am getting past it?" Very sensibly, she said, "Of course not, there are good days and bad days, you know that". Of course I do - it's usually me saying it.

It's always a good day when I see the little feller who is teaching me to be a Power Ranger in the picture above. This is Alessandro, my grandson, who lives in Italy. I have had complaints that some denizens of the blog can not make him out in the smaller picture, so here he is in full living colour and somewhat bigger. I have to say that we have not seen him this year, and it's about time we did. We have been in New Zealand for several months, of course, but normally we would have been for a visit to Italy by now. Nicola and family are in the process of moving house and have hit a technical snag, which is delaying things, so there is nowhere for us to visit. I'll just have to look at the picture.