He's not still on about that holiday last month? Well yes, but even I am now growing tired of photos of blue skies and butterflies. (Haha! As if!) However I have to post these, the last of the holiday, so I can move on and post some dreary grey Scottish December/January outings. Yeah, I can't wait either.
skink
large hopper / locust
Berthelot's pipit
feeding the lizards at the track
skinks on video
Another day and Mary had some online work and sent me out the hotel room. A few hours to kill, I said I was off on a Hoopoe hunt and went West along the coast, to where there are old terraced fields above the Rambla de Castro stretch. It is a sort of scrubland, neither official park nor strictly off limits, and is only visited by occasional dogwalkers. Presumably it was once crop fields but now just left to crumble into dusty disrepair. There are a few old walls baking in the heat but nothing more. A few trips ago I remembered finding painted ladies, small coppers and whites here and since Mary refused to explore the area, thought it was a good starting point for a solo trip.
First thing I noticed, it was far more arid than I remembered. Perhaps not so good for wildlife, as it was more like a desert scene than the stacked terraces of green scrubland I recalled. There was the occasional pipit but the place looked baked and barren. I saw a smallish bit of corrugated iron laying on the dirt and thought I should explore underneath as it is the traditional hiding place of reptiles and bugs.
There are no snakes in the Canaries, except Gran Canaria where some fool let his California kingsnakes out and they have made themselves at home there, bringing grief to the local wildlife. On the upside they are nonvenomous. (And look pretty.) Having just googled all that, I stand corrected. Tenerife possibly has Brahminy blind snakes, more like a large legless millipede or dark coloured worm than a snake and again, not dangerous to humans. I suspect I got a photo of one in an egret's bill. (More later.)
There are no snakes in the Canaries, except Gran Canaria where some fool let his California kingsnakes out and they have made themselves at home there, bringing grief to the local wildlife. On the upside they are nonvenomous. (And look pretty.) Having just googled all that, I stand corrected. Tenerife possibly has Brahminy blind snakes, more like a large legless millipede or dark coloured worm than a snake and again, not dangerous to humans. I suspect I got a photo of one in an egret's bill. (More later.)
Meanwhile I was squinting to see what I revealed under the wrinkly tin when something shot out the dark towards me. I probably jumped and screamed like a girl, then was delighted to notice a gecko, likely a Tenerife gecko. It sat on the rocky dirt and made no movement. I took a few photos and then very gently poked it with a stick. (Seeing how beautiful it was I'm a bit disappointed I didn't get the macro lens out and take a million close-ups.) It shot off at supersonic pace to a vertical wall where I couldn't follow. It seemed to operate on a 2 speed gearbox. Absolutely motionless and supersonic. (That might be a one speed gearbox!) Only one I have ever seen in all my trips to Tenerife. Lovely!
Berthelot's pipit
superb small copper
Then, a long way off, I saw a bird fly. A lot like a woodpecker (black and white, flying in short scoops) and I hoped it might be a hoopoe. It was very bold announcing to Mary that I was off to hunt hoopoes as we hadn't seen any here in maybe 3 years after getting photos of them first 2 trips. Had they left this part of the island? Were numbers really down? Again, precious little on the internet that I could find. It was all very frustrating. They are such a fantastic bird. (We saw them most days in Majorca back in March but they kept their distance.) I wandered over to where the perhaps hoopoe had disappeared below the next terrace.
There were some trees and undergrowth and after scanning it using the long lens like a telescope, I saw the bird hiding among trees at the boundary wall. It was one terrace down and maybe 80 yards away. I got a record shot in case it disappeared and then got ready for a long wait, hoping it would return to the higher terrace where it had just been. I was thoroughly bored 5 minutes later and decided to try and approach it, which seemed doomed to failure as they are kinda flighty and don't enjoy human company. Since it was such a find I was initially very cautious. It was East of me but I had to go West to descend to the next terrace 12 feet below and then make my way along that terrace behind the cover of more shrubs. To my great surprise it sat still: maybe it hadn't seen my unhurried, crouched approach. 😜
I would take a photo every 10 yards as each one was closer and showed more detail than the last. I will spare you the intermediaries. About 35 yards from the bird there was no more cover. I took what I reckoned would be the last photo and reluctantly stepped out into the open. There is no way it didn't clock me, but hallelujah it did not fly off! I was now taking a photo every 2 steps expecting it to shoot off any second. Could not believe my luck! I got to about 20 yards away and it nearly filled the frame. I shot some video and stills and just enjoyed the moment, all the time projecting a friendly and admiring vibe telepathically.
The video is rubbish as I was shaking so much from the experience. It looked at me and, after allowing lots of photos, eventually flew up to the nearest wall, where it had another look at me before flying off above the wall - I couldn't see where. I was absolutely delighted with the encounter. The photos would have worked better if more light had been on the bird (it was mostly in shade) but it was a hundred times better than the crappy record shot I had been so chuffed with, just 20 mins before. Totally stoked! It was the only time I saw so much as a distant glimpse of a hoopoe in 3 weeks.
The video is rubbish as I was shaking so much from the experience. It looked at me and, after allowing lots of photos, eventually flew up to the nearest wall, where it had another look at me before flying off above the wall - I couldn't see where. I was absolutely delighted with the encounter. The photos would have worked better if more light had been on the bird (it was mostly in shade) but it was a hundred times better than the crappy record shot I had been so chuffed with, just 20 mins before. Totally stoked! It was the only time I saw so much as a distant glimpse of a hoopoe in 3 weeks.
...getting closer!
cock-a-hoopoe!
Everything else today was just a bonus. I was walking on air from the hoopoe encounter. I went further West on the spectacular Rambla de Castro enjoying the views down to the massive waves but didn't go further than the impressive pump-house ruins. Just as I was getting there, a kestrel flew up from the path wall as I rounded a corner. I cursed myself for not being more stealthy. But it settled on the low boundary wall, maybe 20 yards further on. Back into a ninja crouch and slowly, slowly edge forward. I looked down the path for encroaching tourists but I had the place to myself and there was nobody near to chase the bird off.
Rambla de Castro - glorious scenery
I was very much reminded of a frustrating incident almost exactly a year previous, at very nearly this exact same spot. There is a good chance it was even the same bird! Colin and Joan were with us, doing this amazing walk, when a kestrel landed incredibly close. I had changed from the long lens to short lens for scenery-and-friends shots and hurried to change back to the birding lens. Colin (who has a Sony bridge camera) got the close-up shot of the kestrel in great detail while I was fiddling with the lens change. A couple of tourists walked past us and as they got nearer the bird, it flew off. I was raging to miss such an opportunity as they just don't come along that often.
And yet here we were again. Maybe not quite as close as Colin's shot but it was in decent light and when it eventually flew off hunting for prey, it came to rest on an outcrop just below, still within reach of the long lens. Nice icing on the hoopoe cake.
kestrel video
Well that just left the Barbary Partridges. The other likely candidates that can be found around here. I left the coastal path heading upwards and inland to return by the scrubland terraces where I had seen the hoopoe. Coastal residencies with such a view are, of course, highly desirable. One of them had broken-bottle-topped walls to deter cat-burglars, a rare sign here of aggressive security measures. There is a more relaxed feel to much of the island. (Although quite a few beware-guard-dog signs and visible burglar alarms.) I still wasn't sure what the trespassing status of the unkempt terraces was and was keeping an eye on all the input.
the derelict pumping station
At this far end of things there were some very well worn paths through the grass onto the wasteland (partially fenced but with large come-and-go sections missing) that became the terraced area. It was obviously a dogwalkers haunt and while I was there I saw one guy parking up and getting his dog out the car for just that purpose. Okay, I felt I was allowed to be walking here. There was also an off-leash barky dog at the other end but it was guarding some bird coops, either pigeon or chicken. There were also some beehives with (normal UK-looking) honeybees coming and going.
dogwalkers terraces
Barbary Partridge
Every five minutes a pair of Barbary partridges would fly out of the scrub, making a clatter and an unattractive call. The trouble is that they are very well camouflaged and I wasn't seeing them before they exploded from their colour-coordinated habitat. They would fly 250 yards before landing which almost always put them beyond reach. The couple (in pics above and below) landed nearer as they were about to run out of available land. They touched down in the next field but I failed to get any decent shots as they were not fooled by my ninja crouch on such open ground. Oh well, two out of three ain't bad. (Mary got a decent close up of one on another occasion, and we have both had better partridge photos on previous trips.)
this charming pipit was only too happy to stand
and pose for a photo maybe 2 metres away!
and pose for a photo maybe 2 metres away!
pair of mating monarchs
There is another good patch of ground (photo below) - ancient terraces now left to age naturally - on the way back into town. Mary and I have seen hoopoes, kestrels, dragonflies and butterflies here. This is the same place we visited on day 1, although it had been too windy on that occasion and everything had gone to ground. I had seen a clouded yellow there on the way through but had not taken the time to chase it. Mainly due to prior CY successes elsewhere this trip.
Since there was nothing else that I could see as I passed through, I made the effort to approach the yellow and eventually got the photo below, but not without a lot of stop-starting and bad language. The more it refused to play ball the more my hubris insisted on chasing the photo. It reminded me that this species does have a reputation of being fairly tricky to get close to, and that our photos along at Calle Luis Rodriguez Figueroa (there has to be a snappier name for this area) were the exception and not the rule.
at last - chance for a photo!
I returned to hear Mary's online work had also been a great success. I regaled her with (she was fairly indifferent to hear) tales of derring-do and ninja skills. I was pleased to get loads of photos of exotic creatures and then go online to find out that back home in Edinburgh another day of cold December drizzle and low grey skies had rolled by. I have to confess to enjoying a massive amount of smuggery!
Next: another trip to our fave butterfly spot at Calle Luis etc. A roasty hot occasion, which not only brought out the yellows (and blues and coppers and whites) but also several emperor dragonflies. We first became aware of them when one flew around us, checking us out (Mary wearing quite a lot of blue, a potential rival!) and skimming up and down the boundary of trees. Mary isn't as huge a fan of dragonflies as I am, and didn't much bother with them. I was nearly jumping with frustration that they never seemed to rest and let me get close for a photo. Just a tantalising glimpse of metallic blue magic as they swooshed past, too quick for a photo.
raggedy monarch
I can't remember how long it took me work out that if I was seeing one or 2 emperors flying about and then sometimes none, that they probably were taking a breather somewhere nearby. Mary had suggested I invoke the help of various mythical-spiritual assistants to help me with my photographic endeavors. She knows how I rail against most supernatural dynamics. Although I might have half-climbed aboard that bus as it was such a pleasant day. And it doesn't do any harm to ask invisible forces to engage with you, right? (Other than keeping the simple-minded in bonds by creating a wish-fulfilment fantasy that negates pragmatic progress and keeps a whole nation of gullibles on their knees, right?)
Anyway the phone-a-friends came up with the goods in 2 minutes, by steering me over to said trees where 2 large and beautiful emperor dragonflies (both males) hung like the best possible christmas decorations. They (our spectral assistants) were unable to get the main emperor pilot to stop and desist, but they provided a very nice alternative in directing me towards the other 2 which were nearly as impressive as the Alpha male.
number two emperor
number three (with scorched rear right)
looks like he flew too near a christmas candle
looks like he flew too near a christmas candle
I took a million photos, as you can imagine.
African grass blue
painted lady
Now at this point I have the 100~400 lens on. However the emperors were still hanging about - well one was, the other flew off. (In truth: the insect was a little too high and I was pulling the branch it was on, down towards me with one hand and taking the photo with the camera in the other, trying to adjust the camera one-handed, when I lost firm grip of the branch in my left hand and it catapulted the snoozing insect into orbit! Oops!)
Perhaps I should get out the 90mm macro lens and see how that compares? I think the shots below were all taken with the 90mm. It means you can get right up to the subject and take nearly microscopic photos. The long lens has a minimum focal distance, so you have to stand back and zoom in which limits extreme close ups.
turned through 90' to fit landscape format
90mm shot of clouded yellow
While I still had the 90mm lens on I thought I should take some clouded yellow shots and see how they compare as well. The results would be slightly better due to the detail that lens gives (as above) but they are a great deal harder to come by as you have to get closer and as a result risk disturbing the butterfly. It became nearly impossible, or at least so unsuccessful and frustrating that I called it. Time of death, 15.00.
Another day and another walk South up towards La Orotava. There were 2 or 3 days of mixed weather. It was still t-shirt weather - quite steamy warm - but there were impressive storm-like clouds, often hiding the higher hills. This might have been the day when the forecast said "a couple of showers". Since there had been one before we left the hotel we thought it wasn't worth taking rain-jackets for just one more shower. It turned out there were 8 or more showers that day, although the sun did appear between times which made for good photos of rain on car bonnets.
was it Jim H who (same photo, last year) wittily subtitled this
Ceci n'est pas une pipe. (Ref the Treachery of Images)
Ceci n'est pas une pipe. (Ref the Treachery of Images)
In case you want to know who this dude was, he was Romulo Ernesto Betancourt Bello known as the Father of Venezuelan Democracy, and he resides in a small garden in the Plaza de Fernando Fuentes, La Orotava.
this is the gradient from the sea to about 3 miles inland
ie ridiculous!
ie ridiculous!
and the cars are all over the place!
the nuns' garden - closed for a post-storm tidy
who's stolen the baby?!
(Full sized nativity scene in La Orotava.)
who's stolen my trousers?!
photos used without permission
When I saw this mannequin (above) I was reminded of lovely 1970s beefcakes George Lazenby and Gareth Hunt. It is slightly more George around the eyebrows but possibly more Gareth nearer the jawline. If he wet down those gorgeous curls.
full size nativity scene
choco y churros!
While in La Orotava we were forced (no option!) into a couple of cafes to sit out bad weather and downpours. In the second we had Choco y Churros a cultural highlight. I think we came across this borderline toxic delight way back in Malaga, 30 years ago, a Spanish delicacy of deep fried cinammon dough fingers dipped in thick sugary hot chocolate as a breakfast treat. I could happily eat them every breakfast but would be the size of a dilapidated house by the end of a month.
love this sign
we stood under the awning of another cafe
to outwait a 5 minute monsoon-like shower
another nativity scene
Nice, although I would like to debate the placing of the halos. What has Joseph (on the right) done to merit his. Not much more than the donkey or mini-calf. I know Mary is given lots of kudos esp. in a Catholic country but at this point in the myth, Joseph has not contributed any more than to step to one side while his wife was impregnated. Maybe it takes a saint to do that? Discuss. Although I see they forgot a halo on the baby. Maybe Joseph nicked his, and being a baby he can't fight back. Bet he got his revenge as a difficult teen.
(we were intoxicated and I asked her to pose.)
While there were some decorations about Puerto de la Cruz, there didn't seem to be the desperate frenzy of some folk in the UK, who try to use tinsel and lights to ward off the worst of the Winter. There were some official set pieces in prominence here but happily it is kept to a bearable minimum; well for this old grinch anyway.
useful reminder of all the Canaries
another trip up the road to Calle Luis...
We took a gamble on this occasion to return to butterfly corner. It was pretty stormy looking when we arrived but cleared over (as the forecast suggested) into pure blue skies by the end of the afternoon. There were a few kestrels to creep up on while we waited for the yellows to arrive. You might think we'd get tired of returning to the same spot and seeing the same stuff. When you are in a 4 month famine (Nov to Feb, Scotland), this amount of exotic nutrition was fantastic, and although many of the courses were the same, we never got really bored.
And the weather wasn't stable enough to encourage day-long adventures to more remote corners. However it was a good hike, a mile or 2 up a steep hill (returning home always easier) which was reason enough for a moderate workout. I filled the whole of December with at least one such workout per day, recording them on my new Suunto Race S gps watch. My previous Suunto, bought second hand from Ollie, and on my wrist as far back as November 2016, had reached the end of its life. The strap was damaged and the screws that held it in place immovable so I couldn't change the strap. I kept gluing it back together but with a month of daily adventuring coming up I felt it was time to buckle up and buy a new one. This deserves a full review in itself but to cut to the chase, I hurriedly bought what seemed to be the best Suunto (better the devil you know) available under £300 (10% off the rrp if you sign up for newsletters etc.) to have something that wouldn't require regular glue-fixing in Tenerife. (Anyone want a third hand Ambit 2 with broken band for free, it's yours.)
And the weather wasn't stable enough to encourage day-long adventures to more remote corners. However it was a good hike, a mile or 2 up a steep hill (returning home always easier) which was reason enough for a moderate workout. I filled the whole of December with at least one such workout per day, recording them on my new Suunto Race S gps watch. My previous Suunto, bought second hand from Ollie, and on my wrist as far back as November 2016, had reached the end of its life. The strap was damaged and the screws that held it in place immovable so I couldn't change the strap. I kept gluing it back together but with a month of daily adventuring coming up I felt it was time to buckle up and buy a new one. This deserves a full review in itself but to cut to the chase, I hurriedly bought what seemed to be the best Suunto (better the devil you know) available under £300 (10% off the rrp if you sign up for newsletters etc.) to have something that wouldn't require regular glue-fixing in Tenerife. (Anyone want a third hand Ambit 2 with broken band for free, it's yours.)
a thing of great beauty and mostly superb
with just a couple minor glitches and unnecessary quirks
If I have been sitting down for 2hrs at the computer, or in front of the tv it gives me a little nudge and says you have been sitting still for 2hrs. And then if I get up and move about it says You did it! Regular movement can help as part of a healthy lifestyle or some such patronising chit-chat. Sometimes I am in the mood for that and Mary and I will pause Netflix, join hands and walk around the flat like 2 senile oldies obeying a benevolent dictator. It seems that just waving your wrist like you were rubbing something out, is not enough to fool Mr. Suunto's team of coders. Talking of smooth back and forth wrist action being analysed and remarked upon, it doesn't seem to have recognised one of my favourite activities, playing the piano. Probably outside the remit of a sports watch but it would have been fun to have those tunes recognised and applauded.
a whole month of activities covering 244miles
(and just under Everest height from sea level) in 118 hrs
The above shows the Suunto app recordings for December. (We were in Tenerife 3rd to 24th.) Not a marcothon, but a concerted effort to record an activity every day, sometimes 2. (A run in the morning, a nature walk in the afternoon.) 244 miles walked, run and hiked which makes me proud. (Just under 8miles daily average.) Although some days I struggled to bother with anything and there is one day that was just a mile walked to the shops and back, once we got back to coldsville.
Suunto have been guilty of catering to smartphone only and ignoring PC users in the past: a previously dreadful website that was portrait (phone) format only, not landscape! A pet hate.) although they mostly earned back my grudging custom by eventually addressing PC use. Currently they seem to be doing similar (ignoring dinosaurs who mainly do online on a PC) although my research is hugely limited by laziness and taking the shortest route to having a device that mostly works.
I haven't found a way to force a sync (repeatedly aggitating and refreshing the Suunto app on my mobile sometimes works but that can't be the only way, can it?) and sometimes just have to wait till THE WATCH decides it wants to upload data. And (as stated) once it disconnected bluetooth and I lost 2 days data. Those 2 days on strava are blank although they mysteriously appeared eventually on the Suunto app.
I also managed to import a gpx file to the app and ask it to upload to the watch. This is the same process as for my last Suunto watch so no great leap there. But I couldn't get it to sync, to install the route on my watch. It eventually did this overnight while I slept and the map was there the next morning. This isn't quite the relationship I am looking for but no doubt reading the manual may (or may not) cast a light on the quirks. The map kinda worked next day but was also a long way from instinctive and I dared not touch any of the three watch buttons while the map was onscreen for fear of going into an infinite loop of different screens I neither wanted nor cared about that weren't the map screen.
Also if you swipe left (it is touch screen - I am not the biggest fan of touch screen!) from the main screen it gives you a resources screen, a puzzling percentage and a philosophical enigma along the lines of a one word buddist conundrum. I have not the foggiest what this screen means.
Just googled it and it says...
Your resources are a good indication of your body's energy levels, which directly influence your capacity to handle stress and cope with the daily challenges. Stress and physical activity deplete your resources, while rest and recovery restore them.
Yeah, I'd remove that.
There are many other great things about the new watch. Things have moved on aplenty since my previous Suunto was cutting edge and most of them are impressive - like size and battery life and display, although some - like the promise of a heart rate without having to wear a chest band or arm band, are only a partial success and I regularly record a heart rate that is impossible. I'd rather have no heartrate recorded than a fictional one - (210 beats per minute or higher = silly). I'll probably do a full review in due course. Or when I read the manual. Or when hell freezes over. All that said I do love my new watch which is a thing of great beauty.
Happily it wasn't long before our yellow pals arrived.
painted lady
quite fresh - very flighty
quite fresh - very flighty
small copper
Mary spotted this Painted Lady
sunbathing on self-coloured stonework
speckled keeps its distance
same kestrel back for another circuit
why did the egret cross the road?
On the way back to our place we saw this egret crossing the road and holding up traffic. It did a good impression of the ministry of silly walks. I should have taken a wider shot with the cars stopped for it. It shows great confidence of purpose. But what was that purpose? When it got to the other side it picked up and ate something wriggly, perhaps a brahminy blind snake as described above, maybe a large millipede or something in between. We were quite a distance away. It seemed unperturbed by the urban obstacles, although did not hang about for us to get down the street and pat it!
could be my only photo record of a brahminy blind snake!
(about the right size)
this canary needs his toe nails trimmed
blackbird
ring-necked parakeet
didn't get any good close-ups this trip
didn't get any good close-ups this trip
agave
evening clouds from our balcony
another reel of yellows taking off
still photos run together rather than video
still photos run together rather than video
La Orotava
at the pool
the design is by some architect who laid it all out really impressively
the design is by some architect who laid it all out really impressively
I nearly forgot to write up our swims! We went to Lago Martianez twice. It was really good and I'm surprised we didn't go more. 5.5 euros for as long as you want in 4 or 5 large outdoor pools, and in salt water, not chlorine. I prefer fresh water to salt, but possibly salt to chlorine. It was bracing (unheated) to get in to, but not Baltic. Once in, fine for half and hour or more. No rash vests required. Possibly the same temperature as the harbour which we swam in last trip. The water was cleaner and less choppy than the harbour and easier for actually covering distance. The largest (oval) pool seemed to be about 600m round the perimeter and with islands and maybe even a bar in the centre. It was fairly shallow in most places - about neck deep. There didn't seem to be a locker system and although I never took anything of great value I didn't reckon anything would get nicked either. It wasn't busy and there were no roudy elements there.
Only a few of the hundreds of loungers were occupied. Most people there were out the water and sunbathing rather than swimming. It was not height-of-season-busy although the days we went the weather was fantastic. I was kind of dreading the first visit there (cold water, no lockers,) but was really impressed and enjoyed it. If it had been at our end of town and not the opposite end (more than a mile away) we would have got season tickets. The hotel we stayed at has a rooftop pool but it is handkerchief sized.
Only a few of the hundreds of loungers were occupied. Most people there were out the water and sunbathing rather than swimming. It was not height-of-season-busy although the days we went the weather was fantastic. I was kind of dreading the first visit there (cold water, no lockers,) but was really impressed and enjoyed it. If it had been at our end of town and not the opposite end (more than a mile away) we would have got season tickets. The hotel we stayed at has a rooftop pool but it is handkerchief sized.
Teide in the background.
love these sunbleached trees inserted upside down
to make a piece of great poolside art
to make a piece of great poolside art
pie shop!
only went once although they were good
only went once although they were good
with the track in the background
how the maid would sometimes leave our beds!
As I said right at the start of the holiday blogs, I couldn't wait to escape the Scottish Winter to Tenerife. I was so excited I reckoned it might be hard for the holiday to live up to the anticipation and hype. And yet it did. We had a terrific time. Mary says I am a different person (more smiley, less grumpy) on holiday in a warm climate. I can get a bit depressed in Scotland when the weather is grey and cold and there seems no reason to get out of bed. In Tenerife we jumped out of bed early every morning and many days we were outdoors at the track near 8am to get some laps in before the sunlamp went on at 8.55am. I haven't written much about the running. I really enjoyed regaining some fitness and pushing hard, mainly at the track, though I didn't work as efficiently and diligently as last year when I pushed my arrival fitness of just around 20mins for a 5k to sub19 or maybe 19mins exactly.
at the track
This time, we did loads of circuits but also many around-towners as well. A couple of days before we left, Mary had a last online work session and so I was sent out to kill an hour or 2. I hoped all the training would produce a decent 5k time-trial. So after a couple of miles warm up along the beach and back, I set off on 12.5 laps of the track. I started in cloudcover but on lap 5, the second mile, the sun came out and my pace dropped badly. I picked it up slightly in the third mile but the damage was done and when the torture eventually finished, it was somewhere north of 20.20. I had hoped to go under twenty minutes. It cast something of a shadow over my holiday fitness hopes. On a cooler morning I probably could have gone sub20.
But also the bigger picture looms. I run better in warm weather. A failure to go sub20 here means it might be I never go sub20 in my life again. The option is (of course) there to do something about it and it is not set in stone, but the way things go I may never get back there. Am I okay with that? Well yes and no. I like my life and while I'd like to be thinner and faster, I'm not so concerned that I stopped having beer and wine every day of the holiday! (I'd like to be built but seemed to forget to go to the flippin' hotel gym and lift some weights.) I'm putting that in my pipe and will let you know how it smokes. Work in progress. (Or not.)
I'd like to return to the track for a final thought. When I'd failed to run a sub20, I warmed down by walking a circuit of it with a pal I met there, Ingrid. We were both track regulars and went from nodding hello to chatting about the weather. She was quite a bit my senior and although dressed in running gear she pushed a zimmer frame in front of her as she slowly walked circuits. (You can her tramlines on the dirt track in the video below.) She asked how my time trial had gone and I played down my disappointment because well, it seemed wrong to whine, given the circumstances. We had the first and last proper conversation of the holiday.
Ingrid was German and spoke in a flawless English. She had moved from Berlin to a smaller town 50k away and lived next to a field with her daughter living on the other side of the field. The daughter was on holiday with Ingrid and sometimes jogged laps of the track while her mum zimmered. She told me she used to run round this track until she had a stroke a while back. I asked if she had a memory of what having the stroke was like. She winced as if recalling the time and quickly moved on to say how she recovered and got back on with her life. We were laughing and joking but I could tell the stroke was still a dark cloud and no amount of cheery banter would dispell the shadow. But here she was, putting on a cheery face and having a holiday, enjoying the decent weather, dressed in running shorts and a vest top. And doing a bit of bootcamp, much like myself.
As we were parting I said I looked forward to seeing her next year, same place, same time, for more circuits, and for the first time we exchanged names. When I told her mine she said it was her husband's name and she seemed pleased about it. He hadn't come up in the conversation and I got the feeling he wasn't around any more and maybe his departure was the reason for the move from Berlin. I really hope I bump into her again next year. I very much admired her strength, her cheerful spirit and imagined she must have been a determined runner.
But also the bigger picture looms. I run better in warm weather. A failure to go sub20 here means it might be I never go sub20 in my life again. The option is (of course) there to do something about it and it is not set in stone, but the way things go I may never get back there. Am I okay with that? Well yes and no. I like my life and while I'd like to be thinner and faster, I'm not so concerned that I stopped having beer and wine every day of the holiday! (I'd like to be built but seemed to forget to go to the flippin' hotel gym and lift some weights.) I'm putting that in my pipe and will let you know how it smokes. Work in progress. (Or not.)
this tunnel at the East end of Puerto was closed to traffic
due to roadworks, so we used it for reps as there were no cars or people
The imminent return to Scotland was marked by a great meal out in a restaurant on the last night in Tenerife, and then Mary vomiting most of that night before we caught the plane home next day: Mary, somewhat bedraggled but fighting through it like a soldier. (Even had a puke in the plane toilets, poor thing!) No idea what set off her stomach but she doesn't think it was the lovely meal. And we went to bed nearer sober than drunk. Possibly a return of a virus due to tiredness after a busy 3 weeks? Or a newer virus. She returned to normal in 48 hours but in her weakened state on the plane (or tram through Edinburgh) she picked up a cold/cough bug which she gave to me (in lesser form) and so we have mostly been taking it easy at home, coughing and sneezing, while keeping doing low stress walks / gentle runs, so we don't let all our holiday fitness dissipate. A rather downbeat ending to a brilliant holiday full of adventures and spectacular places and wildlife.due to roadworks, so we used it for reps as there were no cars or people
I'd like to return to the track for a final thought. When I'd failed to run a sub20, I warmed down by walking a circuit of it with a pal I met there, Ingrid. We were both track regulars and went from nodding hello to chatting about the weather. She was quite a bit my senior and although dressed in running gear she pushed a zimmer frame in front of her as she slowly walked circuits. (You can her tramlines on the dirt track in the video below.) She asked how my time trial had gone and I played down my disappointment because well, it seemed wrong to whine, given the circumstances. We had the first and last proper conversation of the holiday.
Ingrid was German and spoke in a flawless English. She had moved from Berlin to a smaller town 50k away and lived next to a field with her daughter living on the other side of the field. The daughter was on holiday with Ingrid and sometimes jogged laps of the track while her mum zimmered. She told me she used to run round this track until she had a stroke a while back. I asked if she had a memory of what having the stroke was like. She winced as if recalling the time and quickly moved on to say how she recovered and got back on with her life. We were laughing and joking but I could tell the stroke was still a dark cloud and no amount of cheery banter would dispell the shadow. But here she was, putting on a cheery face and having a holiday, enjoying the decent weather, dressed in running shorts and a vest top. And doing a bit of bootcamp, much like myself.
As we were parting I said I looked forward to seeing her next year, same place, same time, for more circuits, and for the first time we exchanged names. When I told her mine she said it was her husband's name and she seemed pleased about it. He hadn't come up in the conversation and I got the feeling he wasn't around any more and maybe his departure was the reason for the move from Berlin. I really hope I bump into her again next year. I very much admired her strength, her cheerful spirit and imagined she must have been a determined runner.
at the track - good times!
mostly running clips taken with the DJI Pocket
I should have put a soundtrack on it other than the slapping of feet
and the sound of an old git's wheezing lungs
I should have put a soundtrack on it other than the slapping of feet
and the sound of an old git's wheezing lungs
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