… I had what I can properly call a “rowing weekend”. Had outings on both Saturday and Sunday, and funnily enough I’m actually getting up earlier on weekends than on weekdays! (well, my lab is only a 10 min bike ride from where I’m living now, so I can afford to take things easy while getting ready for work – eg I can have my breakfast calmly whilst looking outside and admiring the wildlife that seems to be attracted by the lovely garden! (can’t blame them, though, I’m also attracted by it!))

Anyway, I’m drifting from my original topic at an alarming rate (I normally notice that when I have to close two separate sets of brackets… 😉 ), let’s get back into what I had initially planned, OK?

Back to the rowing… on Saturday it was absolutely terrible. I filled in for an absence on a novice men’s crew and we took a 4+ out – we actually spent more time in the bank trying to set ourselves free from the overhanging tree branches, since the wind was continuously blowing us against one of the banks (the Stour runs to the East, and sadly that day the wind was blowing from NW… and quite strongly as well!).

So, yes, we did 3k and called it a day (outch). During the afternoon we had the aforementioned capsize drill at the pool and I came back home feeling a bit tired and all (definitely not due to physical exertion, as I had done absolutely nothing that day! But my sleeping levels were quite low as the day before I had been watching Silent Witness and the episode in question was actually quite thrilling 🙂 ).

This morning I had to get up at 0600 and we arrived at the boathouse with the day just breaking. Much nicer than the day before, not only was the wind noticeably milder but it was also blowing from the west – it was a bit tougher on the way back but much, much better than being stuck in those tree branches!! 🙂 Ended up taking the very same single in which I capsized the day before out for a 10k outing – quite nice, indeed, even though I still miss “my” old Aylings (bah, I know it isn’t mine, but I’ve developed a bit of an affection for it and I tend to be a bit overprotective when someone else is using it… 😛 ).

OK, I think this basically sums up my weekend: plenty of rowing! I think I’m probably compensating in advance for next weekend, given that a pile of reports to mark is looming ahead!…. 😛

It has definitely been a while since I last rowed in the UK… Thankfully, I still trained a bit whilst in Portugal, therefore I reckon it is not going to be too bad tomorrow morning! 🙂

The big problem: I have to (partially) cycle to the boathouse! It wouldn’t be that much of a problem if it wasn’t 10 miles away on hilly terrain with strong winds against me, though. Oh well, one has to endure certain sacrifices in order to get one’s rewards, right? 😉