Muscle memory is a wonderful thing

I'm still on a small high this morning having managed thirty minutes of jogging yesterday

Tiled street art mural in Sagunt 

evening without - touch wood - any ill effects or damaging my leg again. Woo hoo! I found it quite incredible how my body remembered my best pace and things like breathing coordination without any real conscious effort on my part. Quite fortunate really! I was even 'swift' enough to get back to our pitch in time for the evening bat show - dozens of little bats swooping and diving for bugs right above the caravans and motorhomes. There was a fabulous display yesterday because they were silhouetted against an orange-pink sunset. We learnt the German for bat - fliedermaus - and I looked up the Spanish too - murcielago.

Turning right out of Camping Malvarrosa leads to miles of beach, turning left and hopping over a small dry canal reveals the elegant boardwalks and paved promenades of Casa Blanca. Yes, really, although Not This One. Plus Dave's cycle explorations discovered a blocked off road which must have been the old route but is now cyclists and pedestrians only and it runs parallel to the sea but set back. Consequently, I now have a route out along the prom, across a playgound and the new road, then back along the old road. Yesterday's jog was thirty minutes running interspersed with a couple of short walk breaks. Hopefully I can work up to continuously running before we move on, maybe even start lapping.

Before I change subjects, huge congrats to Victoria Hazell for her Abingdon marathon finish. Fantastic time!!

The above mural is discreetly tucked away on a wall in Sagunt. There isn't a lot of street art in the city so I think we were lucky to have spotted it. I love the design and the colour. Finding the image still on my phone reminded me that I overlooked blogging about the Teatro Romano in Sagunt which we visited on the same day as the castle. It has been extensively renovated which has apparently drawn much criticism from those who believe ancient monuments should be left as discovered. However, having walked around inside, I liked the way the space has been brought up to date. Ancient rock seating is still visible to either side of the auditorium and a thin white skim covers the central part which is now used again. I think the skim is concrete or similar so today's audiences still get the authentic uncomfortable Roman experience. The stage reminded me of the one at The Globe in London. There is the same openness to the elements and no obvious concessions to scenery. I guess props and costume would suffice. We thought we might take in a show, albeit in Spanish, but the theatre is only active through the summer months so we are too late. Maybe another year?

A neat(ish) segue into another arts topic because the first instalment of another Kickstarter project, S C Barrus' episodic novel The Gin Thief appeared for download in my emails this morning. I enjoyed his previous, Discovering Aberration, so have been looking forward to the new work. I'm already loving the cover. If you didn't Kick for this, you catch catch up on Amazon at the end of the month.