Three Weekends to Go

That's right, just three full weekends to get out and make sure I'm fit enough for the Alzheimers fund raiser 500km in four days on a bike.  Donations are going well, but there's a challenge now to hit my target before I head off on the 14th for Paris.  See Just Giving for the details if you want to contribute to my cycle.

Yesterday was 65km in the saddle and the first long ride since our trip to Europe.  Nuremberg, Prague, Berlin and Ieper for a very rounded, cultural expedition of castles, medieval street plans and a visit to the very sobering Menin gate where the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has a monument to the 55,000 soliders from the British Commonwealth who lost their lives during World War 1 and were never found.

Along the way was some very good food, good beer in the Czech Republic, good cakes in Dresden and Berlin and great breakfasts at the Guest House Union in Osthausen and the Hotel Ariane in the center of Ieper.  Plenty of walking, our holidays do not generally involve time spent lying on the beach, so that helped keep the fitness levels up.  Which was good; today I cycled to and from work again, another 40km on the bike, so I'm pretty certain that I can manage two days in a row!

Found a tremendous chocolate Artisan in the Grote Markt in Ieper; right next door to Leonidas.  The Leonidas chocolates are reliable, but the ones from next door were exquisite - some of the best I've ever eaten.

Yesterday's trip took me out the A4 past Heathrow and onto the sleepy little village of Eton.  I was quite taken with the sign on the gates by one of the playing fields "Boys must not/Use This Gate".  I can imagine there's a challenge for "the boys" in using the caretakers gate to slip by on the way from a playing field as a "short cut" without getting caught.  The village is quite stunning in character, and right beside the Thames.  The way back took me past Slough, which is one large sprawling mass of office blocks, and back into Heathrow before heading home.

Definitely need some more stretching, I may have to invest in a rack just to loosen up some of my muscles.  Either that or a masseuse with a meat tenderiser for a hand.

I received the room allocations for the trip - luckily I get to share with some complete random stranger for the 4 nights of the journey.

The last night is spent in Paris.  I'm quite looking forward to a croissant in a Parisian cafe.