Having given up trying to get the old dexcom sensor to work, I inserted a new one. I woke up to a high alarm at 1am, injected 2 units, and then woke up to a low alarm at 4.30am. I wasn’t actually low, but was trending down sharply, so I stayed awake for the next hour testing every 15 minutes until I knew I was stable, before trying and failing to go back to sleep. A night in the life of a type 1 diabetic.

I left Ladispoli with clean clothes (first machine wash since I left the UK) and my social batteries topped up. It does feel like after a few days of solitude my social batteries have depleted and need recharging. Meeting people always gives me something to think about when I get back on the water.

A headwind met me on the water, just a breeze, but enough to make the kilometres drag by. When I look at my watch and see 6, my average speed over the last few days, I think that must be mph, but it’s actually kph. It doesn’t actually feel slow and I don’t actually care. On the last trip I was still harbouring some competitiveness, and at times I pushed it to achieve good numbers. My days of racing feel a long time ago now, and I think that mentality has faded. Now I just tap along and enjoy it.

The scenic highlight of the day was passing this fort.

My dexcom bled and felt like a needle going in to my arm with every contraction. At least it stays on there. But the data it was giving me was completely out – I paddled to shore when it said 3 mmol/l, but I was actually on 9. Really irritating, hopefully it calibrates itself.

Approaching Ostia I saw two dots grow flailing arms, and two paddlers appeared. There’s always a funny couple of minutes as you’re close enough to make eye contact, but not to talk. My GPS tracker is being very useful for paddlers to join me, thanks to Ben from Geotracks. With company, the last 5km to the club were my easiest of the day.

I was welcomed to Ostia like a hero. It’s like each person I stay with is trying to do one better than the last! In actual fact they are just incredibly kind and generous people. Gianni and Betty owned a small cottage a stones throw from the beach where I was to told to make myself at home – “here’s your bed, help yourself to anything from the fridge, the showers over there”. They were going away, but I was given the key and told to stay as long as I liked.

As we sat around a table outside and eating delicious pizza, arancini and a deep-fried mozzarella-stuffed courgette flower (sooo good), I wondered at how amazing this situation was. I started kayaking from just across the English channel, and now here I was, sat around a table in Italy, sharing food with six people I’ve never met before, but who welcomed me with such warmth. I sat listening to the Italian language and let the beauty of the moment fill my heart.

My eyes started drooping and someone must’ve noticed, because the pizza boxes were crumpled, and everyone left to let me sleep in the cottage. My sugar levels went a bit high overnight after the pizza, but I didn’t care, because sometimes you’ve got to live a bit – it was totally worth it. That’s one message of my trip I want to emphasize – yes managing diabetes is hard, but live life a bit and don’t worry about having perfect sugar levels, deal with the highs and lows as they come.

I had planned to kayak up the river Tiber to Rome, but there are serious droughts in Italy, so the river level is too low. A spattering of rain was the first Andrea had felt in two months as we paddled in to Ladispoli yesterday. The fire I saw wasn’t a building but a forest fire. Rivers are drying up, water restrictions have been introduced. This is climate change.

But there’s enough bad news at the moment, and I don’t want to amplify it, so here’s some more positivity. Not wanting to miss Rome, today (25th) I took a short train ride to the city, where incredibly I am being put up for the next three nights in a B&B, free of charge, thanks to Silvio, a friend of Emilio’s. What have I done to deserve such unbelievable generosity? When I asked Silvio this, he replied “Me unbelievable?!? And you?”.

This adventure has come from me following my heart, and although this may sound conceited, I think people like Silvio are inspired to act from the heart too. Although our planet is rife with problems, people with good hearts are everywhere and you have to believe that, because power comes from trusting in it and forcing change together.

I think we’re in a stalemate where no one commits because they think no one else will. For instance, you may think that giving £5 to Action 4 Diabetes will achieve nothing, but if you trusted that the other 500 people who had viewed this blog would also commit £5, that would give £2500. Then you might commit. The generosity of people I’ve met has inspired me to start committing, so please join me in trusting in people’s hearts and start by donating to A4D here.

For the next few days I’ll get a proper rest and explore this wonderful city, and then report back when I start paddling again.