HITTING THE WALL

Three days exploring Beijing, wandering around bustling hutongs, the Temple of Heaven, seeing the ancient drum and bell towers (the drums being the traditional method of telling time for the city), Beihai Park, eating in the number one Peking duck restaurant in the city, seeing the famous acrobats in Chaoyang theatre, people-watching and kite flying.

I told myself before leaving that I would have a restful week, rent bicycles or taxi from place to place, do some strength exercises and save my running legs.

This did not happen. The allure of exploring whilst on holiday was too great and we managed to clock up about 30,000 steps per day (about 21km) of walking while sightseeing.

Bikes proved difficult to rent and taxis where impossible to find. However, if I had to do it all over again, I would probably do the same. How