Practice Day

We are in Spa Francorchamps for the F1 Grand Prix.

My goodness, it is hot here! 
During yesterday's drive here, the airconditioning in the car protected us from the 37C heat.  Today it is still well up in the 30s and we were walking around the race track, a lot of the time in direct sunlight.  We have chosen our spot to watch the qualifying and race - a good view, but it will also be in direct sunshine from mid morning on: not ideal if the temperature remains this high.

My goodness it's hilly here. 
Although I've seen the races here on TV and I knew, for instance, that Eau Rouge is a climb up to a blind bend, it was still a shock seeing that hill on first entering the track and realising just how steep it is.  The elevation changes around the complete circuit are very significant, and all in a beautiful forest setting.  We walked all around the 7km track today at least once and returned to certain areas a couple of times so our total walking distance (including the walk from the campsite in the  morning and back in the evening) was at least twice the length of the actual track.  All this on some very steep footpaths in the searing heat. Quite exhausted by the end of the day.

I think we deserved another visit to the village bar this evening (and a lot more people have arrived now, so it was a lot busier).

The TV cameraman in my blip was taking a break between practice sessions. At least he was in a fairly shady spot. Other cameramen and many of the marshals spent the whole day in full sun.