Now we have the delights of the M53. As usual this turned out to be flat and straight, well for the first wee while and then YES, hills and curves, yippee, proper running. Running on these endless straight roads was summed up perfectly by Heiko one day after finishing a morning run in the dark, “ It was like jumping on a treadmill and then after 70 mins it stops and you jump off.” The last week has been fantastic as the road has deteriated into what resembles a bad forest track, great for running but horrendous for travelling any great distance. The country side here is just amazing, forest stretches for mile upon mile with the occasional break, covered in willow herb (a purple flowering plant of around 2-3 ft) a menace at home but lovely here. A really nice find this week was a small Rhododendron covering acres of ground under the maturing pine trees, hopefully managed to collect some viable seed for home.

Food, does an hour go by in the yellow teams van without some asking when are we going to eat next. Well the answer is no. Re-fuelling is the most important factor on this fantastic challenge, well Heiko and me think this, others may have different ideas, I have heard things such as massages, hair cuts, manicures, hot showers, clean hotels, sorry but these don’t even register on my priority list, perhaps my running may improve if they did? This week we have sampled some great delights in the local cafes that appear along this never ending M53, some of the posher hotels around the world should visit them, to find out what proper food is, ok you still have to order 2 meals but it is real honest food, not the cardboard rubbish served up in most hotels. Just stay well clear of the rabbit food and you will be fine with what ever you eat. Beer wise, well no3 is better than 5 and 7, that was the conclusion made by the team this week on our usual carb loading exercise, after our push ups of cause. (not). For those of you who have not yet had the chance to visit this amazing country, these numbers relate to Baltika the local beer. Ordering times for members of the yellow team on entering a café- Heiko-1 minute, Paul-1 minute, Ruddy-5 minutes and our lovely captain Laurel-15 minutes.

Incident of the week was 2 days ago, I spotted some cows housed in a bus shelter on the side of the road, so thought it would be a good idea to get a photograph. Then 2 cow women appeared and wanted their photo taken with me, so of cause I agreed. But to my horror they had other ideas and within seconds had their hands all over me, trying to put their hands down my shorts, I may be mentally scared for life. I also have 2 lovely scratches down the inside of my thigh as reminders. Between them Heiko counted three teeth, very scary. The dangers of the road.