Decontra

Backblipping like crazy as wifi allows. It was a glorious day. Everyone else headed off early on a very long and tough mountain walk. Marisa got out a walking map and showed me a short and easy loop from the front door. She said it would take one and a half hours. It took me three, but that was fine. The good thing about being on my own was walking as slowly as I liked, with a 15-minute rest every half hour. Plus half an hour to eat my packed lunch. Despite the lack of climbing, there were glorious views throughout. Sadly the prehistory museum halfway round was closed, so no coffee. But when I got back, Marisa was just taking some biscuits out of the oven. I could smell them from 50 metres away. She complained that she'd burnt them, but they were caramelised and delicious.

I spent most of the rest of the day reading. A small cat had already adopted me, so it sat on my lap a lot of the time, purring happily. The people who did the "short" version of the walk got back at a quarter to six; the others at gone seven p.m., suitably exhausted.

Dinner was as always convivial and excellent. Todays pasta was a la chitarra with tomato sauce.