I’ve been everywhere, man (August abroad)

It’s been 3 years since I did one of these monster EU trips, hitting FOUR different countries, and it was as awesome and exhausting as I remember from the previous ones.

Some things change and some things stay the same. Even though I’m definitely a different person and this was a different trip than last time I did the weeks-abroad adventure, it was the same result – these trips take some solid recovery after. And I’m just getting there now. But, let’s rewind a month and recap!

Unchanging is my inability to get rest on planes. I literally had the whole economy row to myself and the ability to lay down. Still zero sleep. I just don’t do sleeping in public well. I planned for it this time, at least. After we arrived in London, took the train to Oxford, had lunch, and checked in our hotel, I took a glorious nap. Of course, that’s exactly what travel advice tells you NOT to do, just push through the first day so you can acclimate better. I think I only got 4-5 hours of sleep the first night, but I still maintain the nap was worth it. I was dragging hard. I don’t do well “pushing through”, I honestly think, if possible, it’s better to just let my body do its thing rather than manufacturing a result (with sleep drugs/extra caffeine to stay awake/etc) so it took me a few days of afternoon naps and half-nights of sleep to acclimate.

This was my first time trying something like the Cotswold Way walk. We originally were scoping out the 10–11-day version (so, about 8-10 miles per day) and ended up having to book the 8-day version (more like 10-18 mile per day) since we were signing up last minute. In retrospect, I think I would have liked a little less hiking each day so we could spend a little more time in the towns, but it was a super fun adventure nonetheless.

After our first night/morning in Oxford, we took the train and a bus to Chipping Campden to stay in a for-real medieval pub called the Red Lion Inn. We got there very early, so we spent the morning wandering around the town and then the afternoon hanging out in the tavern with our luggage after it opened people watching and sipping a pint. The room was giant, but it was hot and not well ventilated, and I was still figuring out how to sleep in Europe so it was a 5-hour sleep night. I tried plugging in my white noise maker and it fried, so the phone became the “whoosh machine” the rest of the trip.

Day 1 was Chipping Camden to Broadway. After some beans on toast and coffee, we had about 10k planned, and actually clocked about 7 miles to the Broadway Inn (another very historic old inn). The European heat wave was still kicking hard, but the day was short enough we didn’t have any issues, frankly, we were a little sad the hike was over so quickly after mentally preparing ourselves for it. That’s the last day we’d think the hike was short, heh. That evening was the full eclipse, and we brought glasses for it and joined all the people gawking on the lawn after dinner. It was a party!

Day 2 was Broadway to Winchcombe. Longer day planned for around 19k, but actual was about 14.5 miles… which was kind of our fault for at least 2-3 of them. It was the hottest day of the summer (breaking some records in the UK, topping out at 100F), so we set out early, skipping full breakfast and just snagging sandwiches and pastries. So, we got to the first “town” before the one restaurant/place to fill water was open. No biggie, we were loaded up with food, but we ran out of water a few miles before we were supposed to hit the next place. Then, to make things worse, we got lost and followed the incorrect arrow through an orchard down a huge hill, and then much later realized it was the wrong way.

So, without complaining at all (heh, nah, I was very very whiny and had a full on toddler meltdown at one point before I got a sit and a snack) we walked back up. I ate half a nuun, right on my tongue with no water to make sure I at least had electrolytes, and continued on the path, mentally preparing just to solder onto the next town in case we couldn’t find anything else. Finally, got to the little orchard cafe and it was OPEN OMG. I drank 3 full 24-oz bottles of water before I could handle anything else but then iced coffee and iced tea were glorious. When we got to Winchcombe proper we absolutely stopped for honey ginger ice cream. We got to our room in the late afternoon, which was a B&B ran by your typical English nana, who didn’t quite put together that we were kind of dying/melting and didn’t really want to chat in the heat for 20 minutes when we arrived. The bed here was so small (the next size up from twin, maybe a full?) I ended up sleeping on the floor trying to keep the fan close enough to stay cool but far enough so it didn’t blow directly in my face.

Day 3 was Winchcombe to Cheltenham. After a few nights of terrible sleep, the first 3k just being entirely uphill was rude, but we were repaid with very nice views after. The middle was through a golf course on the top of a hill (Cleeve Hill) overlooking all the towns in the area. It also had a lovely cafe with cheesy chips that made my life good. We scored a VERY nice room (the suite) at the Clarence Hotel with a tub.

Day 4 was Cheltenham to Painswick. This was when I started realizing I needed to figure things out. Even with a king bed, I slept really poorly, which made it about a week of bad sleep. I was having major issues dumping my heat accumulation over the day when none of these rooms had AC and the weather was still warm. I finally tried wetting a towel and laying it on my arms/neck/etc and it helped. I had been aiming the fan directly at my face the last few nights, and my throat was SO sore I thought I might be getting sick.

Otherwise, this was a really nice day of walking for much of it, even though it was the longest. The first 5 miles were lovely, and we stopped to get cherry cola sorbet on top of a hill which I will remember forever, so good. There was a construction diversion, and we didn’t quite realize that it added almost 3 miles to the total that day, which was already planned to be quite long at 21k. We stopped at Birdlip at 330pm, about 10 miles into the day, with 11k left on our tracker, and split two giant meals – fish and chips and lasagna – and pints – and almost called it for the day and got a cab. However, after fortification, we talked ourselves into the rest of the walk even though it was going to be a late finish.

The first 6k was really nice – wooded and shaded trails, and we were happy we kept going. Then the last 5k was through a golf course on a really rocky trail. I whined that the Cotswold way did not care about my feet, which became a refrain on the second half of the journey, sung and said and whined at various points of the hike. After another 18-mile day, we found our… something between a B&B and hotel above a restaurant. We had the disco suite, and the owners walked us to the one convenience store which was still open for 20 mins to get ice cream and snacks, and then we hit the one pub still open for dinner, practically falling asleep during it. I couldn’t even finish my pint. I was toast.

Day 5 was Painswick to Dursley. Finally, I had some decent sleep (YAY) and with that and one of the best breakfasts of the trip, I was refreshed and ready for the longest planned day at 26k. It was Sunday, and the day was more trails than farmland which meant lots of shade and other hikers and DOGGOS to pet. 🙂 Lots of uppies and downies. We stopped at about 8 miles, and the pub literally had Sunday roast to eat and that was it. We split one. I now have a new fueling strategy for hikes – one half Sunday roast, please. Tht was magical. Our second stop was not exactly on the trail, so we passed it and kept on (we had plenty of liquid and snacks). On the way into Dursley, we ate a massive doner and fries for dinner and limped to our B&B which was a converted nursing home at 18 miles for the day once again.

Day 6 was Dursley to Hawkesbury Upton. I had my best night of sleep on the trip so far, the temps finally broke and the window and fan in the room finally kept things cool enough for me to get under a cover to snooze). We also had a very nice breakfast with a comedy show from one of the owners on the way out and got going. We got a little lost trying to find the trail but a local helped us out to find the very, very steep climb the first mile or two. After that, it was just a lovely day of hiking. Our first stop around mile 4 was Tryell, but everything was closed for the day. The family who owned the pub was in the yard, though, and let us in to use the toilet and fed me breakfast samosas they were cooking for the kids. 14 miles total for the day was quite enjoyable. We ended at a pub in Hawkesbury Upton with enough time to have a pint and a half before being picked up by our driver and he dropped us at our Inn for the night (the Crossed Arms). Had another pint, more lasagna because non-fried carbs, and then after using the wet towel trick to cool down (room was a little stuffy) I slept great.

Day 7 was Hawkesbury Upton to Cold Ashton. Our driver picked us up and dropped us back at the trail. It was a gorgeous day (cooler, cloudier) and the elevation wasn’t quite so rough as previous days, but I think we both kind of were done around 10 miles… and our hike that day ended at 15. We took more breaks than normal and ate lots of sugar and made it to our pickup spot in Cold Ashton with 20 minutes to spare… which this time was just a bench by the town hall. No pints. Sadface. At least I had leftover snacks. I sat down and stretched and noted we had no cell service… but thankfully our guy was right on time and didn’t need to contact us for anything. Our accommodations were The Catherine Wheel in Marshfield, a 3-room inn above a small-town pub, where a wake had just concluded when we arrived. While waiting for dinner, I had a pint and was fading REALLY hard, but the bowl of potato leek soup with crusty bread brought me back to life (and then lasagna because that became a thing I could eat that I knew would settle better than something greasy + chips). Another good night of sleep in the lovely 50 degree evening with the window open and fan blowing. That really helped life be good.

Day 8 was Cold Ashton to Bath to complete the trek. The owner of the inn served us a gorgeous, delicious breakfast (second favorite of the trip, I think), all the parts of the full English that we liked with juice and coffee and cereal and fruit and Greek yogurt and then drove us to the trail. It was another really nice day in most aspects, but this was the first time I STARTED the day hurting. Every night at the end of the hike, I’d have a small list of complaints, which shifted every day (day 3 I would have whined about the muscles around my knee, day 4 it was the bottom of my feet, day 5 it was my calves, etc), and then feel fine the next day after sleeping. I ended Day 7 with my right shin hurting and started the day with the same complaint, which persisted. What should have been a shorter, pleasant day was a little rough because of it.

The Cotswold way did not care about my feet or legs, presenting us with basically a pile of rocks on which to descend for miles into the town before Bath. We stopped at a pub about 2 miles away from our hotel for lunch and a pint and then it was super hard to get going. I was definitely limping by that point. I may have almost shed a tear of happiness when we got into Bath, but then started grumbling when we passed our hotel, passed ice cream stops, meandered around the town as per the trail directions, before finally getting to the official end of the walk at the marker by Bath Abbey. We walked just over 11 miles for the day, 114 for the trip. Our exhausted way of celebrating after we cleaned up – a pint, a massive amount of pasta and wine, and crashing in bed early.

We stayed an extra night in Bath to recover before moving on. It was lovely to have a service that brought our luggage to us every night, couldn’t have done the trip without them. However, it was kind of a pain to have to minimally unpack every night to get the stuff we needed and then shove everything back in the suitcase the next morning to move to the next place. It felt luxurious to stay in the same place for a second day. We wandered around town getting morning gelato after breakfast pancakes, seeing the Baths, splitting a steak pasty and chicken mayo sandwich for lunch before a nap, pint and people watching across the street in the afternoon, and a lovely Mediterranean feast for dinner.

The next day was fun with trains. We had a 9am Eurostar train booked to Belgium, and google directions told us to get on the 7am train from Bath to make it happen. Well, we got on the 7am train (which was a little late) and realized that the Eurostar had a full-on security line/check thing and wanted us there an hour before. We were going to get there maybe 10 mins before. I think we actually got there 10 minutes after. So, sighing, we rebooked our 9am ticket for 1pm with an extra charge of about 150 euros. I worked a half day sitting at a little table in a sandwich shop waiting. Since THAT train was a little late too, we missed the connection from Brussels to Ghent, so had to wait an hour but that just meant our first Belgium beer was at the bar outside the train station instead of our final destination. We had planned for an arrival of about 1pm, we got there at about 6pm. Once we arrived though, I was treated to the loveliest chicken waterzooi dinner and yummy lambics to ease the pain, though, so it worked out.

Ghent was a really nice place to recover. The hotel breakfast was amazing. I originally didn’t want to do it because I wanted to stroll around and find a nice coffee shop but I’m so glad I did – it was great, great coffee, fresh made to order waffles, cheese and meat tray, delicious bacon, a full spread of fruits and yogurts and pastries and breads… nothing like your typically American buffet microwaved breakfast. The weather was stellar – highs in the 60s, cool evenings, sunny with a few sprinkles. And… though we didn’t really need it, the room had AC. We toured a castle, walked around the town square area, ate a bunch of chocolate, drank (not too many) Belgium beers, tried Jenever, and took it easy. I ran for the first time on Sunday (after 3 days off the trail and my shin recovered) and enjoyed it so much I ran again Monday (and Tuesday before work got… worky).

Monday, we traveled Ghent -> Cologne, Germany for the convention. We learned our lesson and gave much more buffer time to make our trains and we had fewer issues and arrived as planned. After relaxing in the room a bit, we met our jetlagged coworkers for dinner before we slept (in another hotel with AC! woo!). Surely, you would expect that the most challenging part of the trip was the hike, right? Especially with the heat, lack of sleep, and all the exertion, right? Nope. Conventions kill me. My recovery stats were just fine until this week, where they started to tank, even with very few drinks or late night nonsense, and I didn’t even try to do any workouts after Tuesday morning even though we had an amazing looking hiking trail right outside our hotel. I feel lucky to get the opportunity to do these trips, but 12-16 hour days, constantly ON, in a very loud, very bright building with everyone’s perfume warring against each other and their sweaty BO gave me the worst headaches and exhaustion and some days I just felt nauseous for no reason. Previous conventions we’ve stayed close enough to take some downtime/breaks, and this time the hotel was really far away so we couldn’t. It was nice to see my oversees coworkers and partners, but MAN I was fried by the end of this.

Faced with the choice, we decided to try slowly meandering our way to London for a direct flight home instead of flying out of Cologne for an 18+ hour travel day with 2 connections. We had another fun with trains moment where missing our first train by 3 minutes meant we couldn’t catch our planned (not purchased yet) second train. It was only an hour delay, so no biggie, we were on our way to Brussels quickly. However, in Brussels we hopped on the wrong train so instead of going to Lille, we went to a very small town 10 miles north… but then had to wait another hour there for the train to Lille. All in all, we got in two hours later than expected. We wandered around the town square, ate “chicken and cheese” or poulet Mariolles in the cutest little Estement, and then decided to just buy some french wine/champagne and the makings of a charcuterie board at the grocery store and drink it on our balcony overlooking the opera house instead of a big dinner. And then ordered Uber eats for smashburgers later because… oops.

The next day, we had the brilliant strategy of a late train back to London to spend more time in Lille. That was cool, except Joel was starting to get sick. I went for a solo run in the morning, then we walked to get coffee and a pastry for breakfast, relaxed in the room for a bit until we were required to check out at noon, then wandered around more ducking into cool looking churches, looking for gifts, had lunch at a very touristy Estament – Welsh Rarebit and Carbonnade Flammand were tasty, but I’m guessing both could have been done better. We had a successful day of trains, not missing anything, and ended up at our last stop, London Heathrow Sofitel.

One may think it was silly to spend the most money of the trip on the room in the airport. However, it was so convenient to not have to worry about logistics. We got there, we ate at the restaurant there, no worries. We had a great night of sleep with cold AC, a king bed, after a tub and enjoying ICE WATER from the ice maker OMG. Our flight left at 11:10. We were rolling out of our room around 9:15, not worried about if the London Underground was running on time or not, we just went up a lift, walked down a corridor and BAM, luggage drop. I can also now say that I ran in the London Airport (on a treadmill). The flight home was fine, except the woman in front of me thought it was appropriate to just slam her seat back in full recline for 9.5 hours straight. I mean… yeah, it’s not against the rules, but who does that? So, instead of working, I watched four movies. I guess I can’t complain too much.

Another regret was Monday 12 hour+ travel day -> Tuesday back to work full time with meetings and everything. I was exhausted, jetlag was kicking my ass, and I really could have used one nothing day to relax and shed some of the stress. I will plan for this next time! I still maintain I liked breaking up the travel day with trains over a few days instead of airports all in one day even if the time spent traveling was the same – but even with an easier final travel day I needed a day after to recover.

Work was absolutely insane, I was up in the morning all week between 330am-5am all week and dying by 5pm when I stopped working, and my garmin recovery stats were, uh, I believe the technical term is “totally jacked up”. I was draining my body battery mid-day by doing nothing but walking, maybe a short 1-2 mile easy run, and working from home. My resting heart rate was through the roof, my heart rate variability was unbalanced all week, my sleep has been okay, not great, even in my own bed, and my stress has been sky high. I was afraid my body would take forever to fix, but ONE day off (yesterday) and everything is pretty much back to normal. I started today at 100 body battery after 9.5 hours of sleep, my RHR and HRV are back in range, my stress was very low yesterday… so really if I could have had this day sooner, I think I would have been in better shape. Thankfully I have a full long weekend of it, so I expect by Tuesday I will be a normal human being again.

In all that traveling, I found out that Kerrville Triathlon had been cancelled. After a brief thought of a replacement triathlon, we decided to just call it and do something else, especially with the trip we took. I’d be three weeks out from the race right now, with pressure to do outdoor TT rides and swims to prepare. I’m so not there, mentally or physically. Could I drag myself? Sure, obviously. But I don’t really want to, so, honestly, it worked out. I will still sign up for this race every year as my benchmark (I love the course, and the excuse to camp), but if we do the monster EU trip for the convention, I need to set my expectations accordingly and maybe do the hard work of getting outside on the TT bike and swimming… well, like, at all, before the trip so all I need to do is recover after.

Instead of trying to triathlon somewhere else, I’m going to take my time to recover, and then start two different, complimentary projects. First, let’s see how close I can get to that Garmin 5k prediction that was around 27:30 before I messed everything up. It’s been probably a decade since I did a standalone 5k. This fall/winter, I want to do a series of them and see what my legs can do.

Second, I’ll be training enough to make deficits not painful, but not at any giant volume, so I’m going to resume the quest to lose 1/2 lb per week. I’m still figuring out where I am on the scale after Europe, but the answer is definitely not DOWN. I’m about 3-5 lbs up right now but definitely still recovering/shedding water weight, so we’ll see where it settles in another week or so. Then, we start chipping away at some of the calories to go from completely comfortable to a 250-500 calorie deficit per day. The goal isn’t to be hungry at any point… just smart food choices most of the time to optimize calories/protein, basically 90% of my meals should be normal and boring and after 3 weeks of eating everything, I’m totally ready for this. I’m sure I’ll have more to say on this next post.

So, yeah. Happy to have traveled, had an amazing adventure, and happy to be home. I think 3 weeks might be about my limit right now. When I don’t have to do conventions as part of travels or slam myself right back into stressful workdays after, and intentionally take downtime/buffer days, perhaps I can stretch it further. I look forward to finding out in retirement. It’s not worth wrapping up any of the other goals either. Hobbies? Yeah, I was gone. Adulting? Gone. Travel plans? Yep, was traveling. So, I think we call it here, and next time we’ll talk about settling in for the fall with some level of normalcy. Happy pumpkin spice season, and think cool thoughts for those of us still experiencing summer at full blast.