I woke up feeling exhausted, but the promise of a bed at the end of the day got me on the water. Sleep hasn’t really improved, I’m getting 6 hours a night if I’m lucky.

Despite my best efforts I couldn’t get my dexcom working, so today I’d be on the water with no idea what level my blood glucose was at. I can’t use a blood glucose monitor whilst kayaking with wet hands. I knew my levels were stable, so wasn’t too concerned by this.

By the time I got paddling the wind had picked up, blowing straight in my face. It was a grey, dull day, just like the coastline I was paddling along.

The smoke that I thought was coming from a power station yesterday turned out to be a burning building, and it was still smouldering this morning. A helicopter circled back and forth, filling up a massive bucket with sea water and emptying it on the fire.

I battled on past the big industrial port of Civitavecchia, all of the container ships anchored motionless. The sun tried to burn through the cloud and the day became sweaty and humid.

Setting off across the bay to Ladispoli I felt really lightheaded so ate a couple of cereal bars in case my sugars were low. If in doubt, run high. In fact, I think I was just low on energy having not eaten anything for the previous 6 hours of paddling. In theory, I shouldn’t have to if my body is burning fat, but in reality I’m probably still adapting to this shift in metabolism, and need to avoid a calorie deficit.

It was a joy to be joined by three other paddlers for the last 5km to Ladispoli.

Emilio had kindly offered to host me, and arriving in Ladispoli we wheeled my boat from the beach to his house, his garden the serving at the local surf ski storage ground. There was a bit of a language barrier, but Emilio’s daughter Flavia and friend Andrea acted as translator and my Italian improved a little. Anyway, without words it was clear Emilio was passionate about surfski and was happy to help in any way.

We had a great evening at a local restaurant where I ate a huge pile of mussels and a delicious bowl of pasta. Thank you to Emilio, Flavia, Andrea and Elisa.