Bunde to Borgholzhausen – 26km
20C
Terrain: hilly country roads and some cycle paths

I started off a lot more upbeat today. The sun was back out, about 20C, perfect conditions.

Clouds lifting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The aim was to cover a slightly shorter distance. However, what wasn’t in the plan was that I hardly did any running. My calf muscle just wasn’t happy so to avoid aggravating it, I ended up walking most of way (boo!).

I find it frustrating and still struggle with the old tortoise and the hare principle, guess I always will! In my head, I just want to cover the distance and get going but I have to remind myself to continue listening to my body, or trying to anyway otherwise I’ll reap the consequences…

So after about 10 minutes of feeling a little sorry for myself, I snapped out of it and just decided to listen to my podcasts and enjoy the scenery which is gradually changing to a more hilly landscape.

I learnt about an amazing orchestra on a bbc podcast today, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, who apparently played at the Proms this year. According to Wikipedia: “The aim of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra is to promote understanding between Israelis and Palestinians and pave the way for a peaceful and fair solution of the Arab-Israeli conflict.” How cool is that, I love it. People breaking down barriers.

I’ve often thought about and am really interested in the role sport can play in reconciling different cultures and communities (particularly post-conflict). I believe it can play an important role in breaking down and altering the concept of the ‘other’ and humanizing ‘the opposition’. This just proves that music can do the same thing.

Found this, it’s worth a watch.

A few more pics from today.

A few more hills.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roadside beauty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Countryside in horizontal lines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I arrived…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…and then of course… 🙂