It seemed a good idea at the time! The Sanguinhal Wine Trail is in its 3rd year and took place on Sunday, April 21st. It runs through three vineyards: Quinta do Sanguinhal, Quinta de S. Francisco and Quinta das Cerejeiras. Owned by one of Portugal’s top wine producers, they are located across rolling hills and open countryside near Bombarral, about an hour north of Lisbon. The weather was sunny and hot. Despite the heat, there were a couple of water stations, which were a welcome sight and lifted the spirits with a quick drink and picking up some wedges of orange. Completing the course in 3 hours 6 minutes and having climbed over 620m/2000ft, I was happy to cross the finish line. I was happy I’d kept a cool pace, at the same time pushing my limits. Doing races like this helps remind us that we’re capable of much more than we realise we can do. While it’s easy to enter these races, turning up on the day and running it is what counts.
Book Review: The Handmade Loaf – Dan Lepard
I’ve been baking sourdough bread for about 5 years now, and if there is one book I’ve gone back and forth to for advice or insight into bread making, it’s this one. “The Handmade Loaf” by Dan Lepard, is a great, instructional read that lifts the lid on this traditional way of combining just 3 ingredients to make wonderful sourdough. Flour, water and salt, is more or less all it takes to make sourdough bread. The book is from the early 2000s, when Lepard goes off on a travelogue with camera to Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Ukraine, Russia, and more, in order to find out about the local artisan ways of making bread in those regions. It’s got some great photography and stories about the people he meets along the way. This book helps light a passion for baking in me, and is ideal for beginners to experienced bakers.
The book is structured into chapters that focus on different aspects of bread-making, such as ingredients, equipment, and techniques, which are presented logically and easily. Lepard’s clear explanations and step-by-step instructions make even the most intricate recipes accessible to bakers of all skill levels.
“The Handmade Loaf” by Dan Lepard is a great addition to your library of baking books. The Mill-House loaf is one of the recipes that I bake weekly, and there’s plenty of tips and ideas to keep you inspired.
See the book, The Handmade Loaf” by Dan Lepard, on Amazon.
Hoka Challenger 7 vs. On Cloudstratus
Hoka Challenger 7 vs. On Cloudstratus
The salesman (a fellow runner) in the specialist running shop told me that the On Cloudstratus were a great pair of shoes, popular, and that they were selling a lot. The sole is distinctive, with a cutaway down the center of the sole to help save weight and give extra comfort on long runs. The On Cloudstratus review on the Runners World website was equally complementary.
But, I was surprised that on the first outing, running on pavement, the shoe picked up a loose stone and got properly wedged into the cutaway groove. It was the first of many stops I’d make over the next few months to dig out pebbles and stones. Each unscheduled stop, I vowed not to buy shoes with this kind of sole again, especially as they were about £130. So, when it came to replacing them early, I didn’t even consider a replacement shoe from On. Instead, I plumped for a new brand of shoe—from Hoka.
I’d read about the Hoka’s in Runners World magazine, and the reviews were good. During the Black Friday sales last November, I bought a pair online. They arrived a few days later, and though the size was just slightly too small, I reordered a larger pair. Initially, I was impressed with the shoe’s build quality and construction. The Challenger 7 is made for trails; its cousin, the Speedgoat 5, which I was also considering is for more technical routes. In the end though, I settled for the Challenger 7, thinking they should be ok for the farm trails on my doorstep, where I live in Portugal.
The sole of the Hoka Challenger 7 is deep, oversized, and tough enough for demanding trails. I’ve run about 500kms in these shoes now, and over dry and wet terrain. The rocks that I sometimes come across on the trails are no problem for the Hokas. They’ve been comfortable since day one, no rubbing or blisters. These are the running shoes that I’m planning to run the 25kms Sanguinhal Wine Trail race a week Sunday (April 21st).
I once had a pair of New Balance 1080s that I wrecked when I ran over loose ground on the edge of a football pitch, with a couple of large stones breaking through the sole membrane. For the next 6-months, I ran with stones jiggling about in the base of my shoe. And, despite trying, I could never manage to dig them out. So, my preferred shoe style is trail-based and likely to give me a decent 12-month running, or 1000km, whichever comes first. The Hoka Challenger 7 seems to fit this bill perfectly, providing me with a durable and reliable running experience.
Yesterday, I washed the shoes with the hosepipe. I’d been out running, and they’d got muddy on one of the trails after a couple of days of rain. Once they were soaked through, they cleaned up easily with a stiff brush. I decided to do the same with the On Cloudstratus, which is now reserved for walking the dog. They also needed a wash to brighten them up. Having the two side-by-side got me thinking about writing a review on both. Especially as i’d run a similar distance on both, and seeing them together meant I could see obvious differences in build-quality, with the Hoka looking as though it hadn’t seen much use. Whereas the On Cloudstratus looked knackered, like me after a long run! The Hokas were looking good, and I felt confident in their performance and durability.
While the On Cloudstratus didn’t work out for me, it might for you, especially if you’re running only on pavement. I gave feedback when I went back to the store that I bought the shoes, and shared my experience. But having bought the Hokas, I have to say that I am a convert.
The Sanguinhal Wine Trail: A 25km Journey Through Vineyards
9am, 3 weeks tomorrow, on April 21st, the 3rd edition of the Sanguinhal Wine Trail run takes part. I’ve not competed in this before, as I am new to the area, nor raced more than 10k, so I am looking forward to the event, and hoping for cool weather!
Sanguinhal is a district of Bombarral, a small town about 1 hour’s drive north of Lisbon, Portugal. The area is agricultural and the land is either vineyards or fruit groves. I believe that the route will take us through the rolling hills and through these vineyards, and so promises to be a scenic tour.
Visit the Sanguinhal Winery for more details about the vineyard and area, and for information on the race tickets.
Making the Effort to go for a Run
You’re at the back door. You can hear the wind and rain hitting outside, as you start lacing up your running shoes all the time thinking if this is really what you want to do. But it is of course. You’ve done this enough times to know that within a couple of minutes of your run, all those feelings of anxiety and whether you want to run or not have been left, literally at the back door.
Running = freedom, and being able to go out running, and not worry about whether the gym will be open or not, or trying to stick to class schedules is something I just don’t have to think about.
Going for a run for me is about blowing off stress, keeping fit, wanting to keep healthy and keep a healthy weight. There’s as many motivations and reasons as there are people out running, but for me, those are mine. Over time you can make running more pleasurable by investing in good quality clothing and especially running shoes. But, also technology helps keep me motivated, and there’s a part of me that likes to track as many metrics as possible as I run or cycle along. I run with a Garmin 955 watch that I can use to navigate me around, and has a large clear screen so I can see the speed I’m running and how long I’ve run. As soon as my shoes are on, and I’ve clipped on my running sensor to the back of my running shorts, and put on my heart rate meter, I am good to go. These connect up automatically to my Garmin and once I start either the ‘Trail Run’ or ‘Run’, depending on where I am running, everything connects and starts to synch. Later, I can look through the results, including the map of where I’ve just run, on the Garmin app, Connect on my phone or on the desktop.
So, where do I run? Well, I live in Portugal, just an hour north of Lisbon, the capital, in a village in the country called Bombarral. While it is close to the A8 motorway that connects Porto in the north, with Lisbon in the south, it is an area of country that is full of rolling hills and vineyards and fruit trees. If you’ve ever visited Italy’s Tuscany, then the area is very similar, with beautiful views around of the countryside. When we arrived, I went out for runs along the roads, but with very narrow pavement in places, and in others just the road, I wanted to find routes that were safer and more enjoyable to run. All around me are vineyards and fruit trees, and interconnecting all these are farm tracks. Looking on Google Maps at the satellite images of here, it’s easy to pick out routes and I’ve managed to put together long routes that take me all around the surrounding areas of Bombarral and Sanguinhal. Some of these farms produce fine wines, known outside of Portugal, and include Sanguinhal. This particular wine estate, puts on a 25 kms trail run every April, and this year I am taking part, in the 3rd edition.
Running through this countryside is different every time. I run at different times of the day, so it could be a night or early morning run. I’ll use a head torch, and on one run I was buzzed by an owl that flew over me and I could pick it out in the torch light. If you run now in the evening, you can hear the frog chorus, which can get quite loud. There’s lots of small birds, you can hear them singing as you run along, all types of finches and sparrows, sitting in the hedgerows and fruit trees. One tip I have, if you are interested in finding out what birdlife is around you, is the Merlin Bird ID app. Record the birds around you and the app identifies each. How cool is that. I’ve taken to stopping now and recording the birds as I run along, and have over 25 birds on my list so far. I love to be out in the nature. Running with headphones on just doesn’t work for me. I much prefer to hear the sounds of wildlife, than loud music. Though I’d say that when I run in a gym, when travelling, I like to listen to music then, just to make it more interesting, as there’s noting interesting running on a treadmill.
So, as I come to the end of my run, I’m thankful that I started it. That I didn’t let all those voices in my head talk me out of it, as they so often try to do. I am thankful that I have beautiful countryside to run through, and appreciate the nature all around me. In the end it isn’t an effort at all, just gratitude that I am able to go running in the first place, whatever the weather.