Forced extended break!

I can't believe we are still here - we should have left on Saturday, it's now Tuesday and there is no sign of us moving anywhere. On Saturday we flew from Izmir to Istanbul to try to get a flight, there were none. We looked at taking the train via Bucharest, Budapest, Vienna, Munich and Paris, it was full for the next three days and anyway we were told it was not safe. So then there was the idea of flying to Rome (via Athens), to take a train or bus..............two minutes later Rome closed. Plan D was a bus to Munich, taking 48 hours, costing £230 and no sure sign of getting out of Munich. We spent a night in Istanbul, in a hotel that was not safe to leave at night. Dinner was a toasted cheese sandwich in our room. Breakfast was served in polystyrene trays on table mats of three-day old newspaper - very classy!

So finally we gave up and decided to fly back to Izmir and take a taxi back to the house in Foca.

At least we can sleep in our own beds and wait until the madness stops.

An easy routine.......

The only downside of having a property in another country, that you only visit occasionally, is that you spend the first couple of days cleaning and repairing and making it feel like home again. In our case it was two days of weed clearing - the garden looked like a meadow, when in reality it should be crazy paving (whoever invented that dreadful phrase and concept was certainly crazy). So, yesterday morning I cycled down to the local garden centre and tried to explain, in my non-existent Turkish, to a very sweet man, with non-existent English, that I needed weed killer. The killer bit was easy, katil. But when it came to weeds ise yaramaz ot, ayrik otu, I was a little stumped! Despite this, after 15 minutes of gesticulating, I had a coke bottle with some dubious looking liquid in it, that we had agreed needed to be topped up with water, 1:5. And after all this debate, he refused to let me pay for it! That is what I love about this place, everybody wants to help and there is no ulterior motive, ever. A couple of hours spent in the internet cafe trying to download lectures I have missed, came free with Turkish apple tea and a bunch of geraniums! Sometimes being female is just the best!

So, a routine is very soon settled into. I am woken by the local military base....my alarm can be anything from the morning drill being called (perfect for getting me out of bed!), a boogle, a round of rifles or a full brass band! The base is only about 500 meters from the house

and if the wind is blowing the wrong way it sounds like we have thirty soldiers in our back garden. A thirty minute run to the headland is followed by a swim in the sea (bit of a shock this time as we are here earlier than normal and it's pretty cold!). After a quick shower, a breakfast of muesli, fresh local strawberries and local natural yoghurt. Unlike the Greek yoghurt we get at home, this Turkish yoghurt is thick and creamy, but also very smooth. It also has a crust on top like that of a home-made rice pudding - almost chewy, and absolutely delicious. If I was cast on a dessert island and only allowed one meal it would be this yoghurt and honey....forever!

After that the day consists of laying on the patio, strolling into town to do odd jobs or buy more food, and walking the two minutes to the sea for another swim - it's hell!

The other thing that has to be mentioned is the cats. They are everywhere. And I mean everywhere - there are hundreds, all colours, and sort of semi wild - they will let you feed them but are unlikely to let you touch them. We have adopted a couple at the house in the short time we have been here and already they feel comfortable enough to sleep on our chairs, but not for us to get too close.

Tonight is our last night so we are going out to dinner. We will go to the same place we ate in on our first night, despite saying we would try different ones.......the problem is they are so nice and constantly give us more than we order or ask for, so it seems rude not to give them out custom. Obviously this is why they do it but what the heck!

Another week, another country.......

Back to my beloved Foca, to the house where my mother lived and has now become a retreat for my sister and I when we need to escape the real world.

We've only been here two days and already I walk slower, sleep more and eat more healthily than ever...........I think I am finally winding down. It's pretty hard not to.

Foca is a beautiful tiny fishing village on the west coast of Turkey, 70km north of Izmir. Totally unspoilt, there are no English people, no buildings above three storeys allowed to be built and best of all, great food to be had.

Our first night was a treat....we wandered along the seafront to one of the restaurants (although very small, Foca has an abundance of great restaurants to choose from). We ate freshly made houmous with dill (I would never have thought this combination would work, but it did), a salad full of local leaves (nettles, thick, strong rocket and lots of leaves I didn't recognise), plus a shrimp casserole - freshly caught prawns cooked with garlic, tomatoes, mushrooms and olive oil and topped with local cheese. It was delicious. We were both too full for dessert but then were told there was a surprise to come! A terracotta dish of halva.......not the way we would normally eat it though.........it was halva, cooked with milk and olive oil, served hot sprinkled with chopped hazelnuts, and was amazing (you do need to have a sweet tooth for this, as with all Turkish dessert and cakes).

After that there was more free wine and finally to top it all, a nearby table of men presented us with some of their red snapper that had been cooked in salt and then set alight as a birthday celebration dish - what an evening!

Tuesday morning is market day - another chance to eat great food as all the traders insist on you trying everything. And of course, we are a complete novelty, not being locals, so they have great fun making us eat things they suspect we won't like. But we return to the house laden with fresh cheese, local honey, herbs, local olives and olive oil and the best bit, thick creamy local yoghurt - I am in heaven.

The pain is finally over!

OK, so it wasn't quite that bad, but it certainly isn't a walk in the park either. By the end of day six we were all feeling pretty knackered and some girls couldn't even lift their forks to their mouths without being in pain from their blistered hands - the things we do for fun. Anybody that tells you that it's just the taking part that counts needs to come on a Mortlake training camp!

Centro Especializado de Alto Rendimiento, La Cartuja did finally feel like home though, once we got into our daily routines of sculling, eating, sleeping, sculling, eating, sunbathing, sleeping, sculling, eating, nightcap (hot chocolate - definitely no alcohol!) and in bed by about 9.30!

Half-way through the week I gave the girls a bit of a talk about nutrition. It's really hard to tell people that they have to eat a rainbow (lots of colourful fruit and vegetables), when that evening all the food was yellow - pasta, sweetcorn, fish in turmeric, yellow tomatoes and pineapple! The lack of vegetables was legendary, with every single one of them out of a can or the freezer, and all cooked to within an inch of their lives. My first job on hitting British soil was a visit to Waitrose for a hundredweight of broccoli, to be LIGHTLY steamed and included

in every meal over the next week!

Now we have to try and put into practice everything learnt, whilst navigating the fast flowing, windy Thames.....it won't feel quite the same.

Day Two at Training Camp

Well it's day two and already I'm feeling the effects of training 3 times a day - hands covered in blisters, legs aching and managing to sleep for far more hours than I would normally (I even had an afternoon nap yesterday - unheard of for me!).

We are training on the Guadalquivir River, which is very big and has the most amazing number of fantastic bridges crossing over it. And the best bit - the sun is shining and it's warm!!

It's so much easier to train in this environment - surrounded by at least thirty female lightweight rowing athletes, plus hundreds of other water-sport athletes. One of the water-sports is a funny kneeling, paddling thing that seems to be done by lots of very fit men! I will try to capture one on film to show later - it looks very precarious yet they move pretty quickly.

The food has certainly improved from what I remember, the problem now is that you have to stop them piling huge portions on your plate. Because it's a training centre they clearly think we need to eat lots, and especially lots of carbs. Breakfast consists of bread or croissants or a cereal that takes enough chewing to take you up to lunch-time!

Lunch and dinner always start with a huge plate of pasta (with varying sauces), some very over-cooked fish, tinned or frozen veg and a salad that includes iceburg lettuce (basically water!). I'm going for as much variety as possible to try to cover every nutrient, and an emergency visit to the supermarket has ensured a more edible muesli for breakfast.

Today's training session was a 12km paddle before breakfast, 3 x 1000 metre sprints before lunch and before dinner I am thinking of going for a run, to save my sore hands!

So for those of you that always think I am on holiday - think again!

THE Boat Race

For all of those 14 million of you out there that watch the Boat Race, could I just point out - you got the wrong day! Why watch just two boats trundling down the Thames, with the only bit of excitement being when they hit their blades (oars to you novices), or even better, sink! When, a week prior to that (today infact), you could watch 400 boats doing the same thing (but obviously with far more chance of them hitting blades or each other!!). I have just cycled down to the river to watch and it's such an amazing thing to see - 400 boats, 3600 people racing, and lots of shouting from every bridge along the way - such a great atmosphere.

So on Monday I am off to Seville for training camp - and this really is what it says on the tin - training camp. No sight-seeing, no late night tapas bars, no bull-fighting (well a couple of the

girls normally fall out at some stage!), and hopefully I will return fitter, stronger and a little lighter - it has to be said that the food in the Sports Centre where we stay is not the best, so losing weight may just happen naturally, let's hope so.

Spring has finally Sprung!

At last - it took it's time, but today, for the first time, it actually felt like winter was behind us - I could walk into Richmond without seven layers of clothes, a scarf and gloves......and not get frost-bite if I stood still longer than 17 seconds!

I feel as if I have come out of hibernation - and I love it - let summer begin! But to clinch it all, to really confirm to me that winter was over, was the magical sound of.............the musical ice-cream van coming down my street! I'm not sure at what time of the year he would normally start but I am very impressed with his optimism - it wasn't THAT hot today.

Typically I was writing summer recipes at the same time, so I thought I would finally get some into the blog. The feature I am writing is about Billingsgate (see my earlier blog for more information about the great London fish market), so lots of healthy fish recipes. but the one I have included is for crab and avocado salad as crab to me brings back such lovely memories of summers at Cromer beach as a child, with Dad insisting we buy the biggest crab we could find for our crab and cucumber sandwiches! Unfortunately I can't whizz up to Cromer each time I want crab, but luckily I live pretty close to Sandy's Fishmonger in Twickenham, so am spoilt for choice when it comes to great fish or game.

Crab and Avocado Salad

Serves 4

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

4 spring onions

juice of 1 lemon

2 little gems, trimmed and leaves separated

2 avocados, stoned, peeled and sliced

the meat of 2 dressed crabs

• Heat the oil very gently and cook the cumin seeds for a few minutes before adding the spring onions.
• When you can smell the aroma of the cumin and onions, turn off the heat and add the lemon juice. Swirl around to help the juice and oil mix together.
• Place the little gem leaves onto four plates then top with sliced avocado and finally the crab.
• Pour over the dressing and serve immediately.