Cycling couchsurfers

Last night we had a visit from Delia and Alan, cycling from Birmingham to Italy, by way of Holland, Germany and I guess Switzerland. Apparently the passes over the Alps will still be closed when they get there (timetable dictated by Alan's time away from work) so that bit will be done by train. I think the point is to combine their love of travelling by bike with wanting to get to Italy rather than be too purist about cycling every mile. Sounds like an amazing adventure to me and rather puts 200 miles in Cuba in it's place. So, how did they end up with us, for their first night? Turns out most of their overnights will be with Warm Showers hosts but there weren't any willing to host them around here so they found us on Couchsurfing instead. Lucky for us, and now I'm going to check out Warm Showers for myself

This morning they loaded up their bags, the sight of which made me very happy that we aren't actually carrying our luggage on the bikes in Cuba and set off, our drive providing their first challenge of the day. I hope they got to their destination before they met the  thunderstorm we had in the afternoon.

I am planning to follow Delia's blog to check on their progress (where you can currently see a picture of our living room with John up in the office) 

All this activity, and the threat of rain later, decided me to go and do a bit of 'interval training' which Julie (my 2 hour personal trainer) told me about. In a secluded field where no-one can see my efforts, I managed 4 repeats of 2 minutes running and 2 minutes walking. That's the very basic level but it's all I'm up to as yet. Afterwards I walked back around a ploughed field alongside the canal and picked up yet more old china and glass. 

I have long had a plan to mosaic the porch walls with my finds from around the farm, now spurred on by a visit from Emma I might just get on with it.