You may notice from the Twitter feed that I have taken the day off work; for the second time this month I have been feeling off colour.  A couple of weeks ago I croaked my way through the first few days of term and now I have picked up a bug which has been ping-ponging between my nose and throat since the end of last week with a rumbling, aching stomach to boot. I woke up this morning and phoned in sick.

What a contrast to how I felt just over a month ago on my arrival in Puglia after the 3,300 kilometres in the saddle. A month of living, eating and drinking like a rebellious teenager have resulted in me feeling bloated, ill and a little depressed. I did consciously want to let things go after the long cycle south but didn’t expect my lack of discipline to last so long, certainly not until the end of September.

Which, thank goodness, is nearly here. October arrives on Friday and I need to get back into pre-summer eating, drinking and exercising habits. I may even rejoin the gym…