When I arrived in San Giovanni all I wanted was a shower, safe place for my boat and somewhere nice to sleep. Unsuccessful, I ended up sleeping on a thick bed of rotting seaweed in the harbour.

In the morning I woke feeling awful, my mouth parched and vision blurry. No wonder – my sugars were on 32! I think the stress of the crossing on my body must’ve released a load of hormones that made me more insulin resistant. The carb-fest dinner I had probably didn’t help either, but I wanted to get the calories in.

Barely able to walk in a straight line, I was very happy to find the Lega Navale where I could stay for the night. I washed myself and my boat, de-olive oiled my kit, and lay in the shade, feeling completely spaced out.

The bar/bakery in the town centre was something special. A crowd was always thronged around the glass counter, waiting with hungry eyes and jostling for position. Huge square pizzas were brought out of the oven, each with strips of different toppings, and everyone started shouting and waving thier tickets at the poor lady armed with the pizza slice. It took me a while to realise you had to order and pay at another counter, and then hand your receipt to the pizza slicer. Over the next 36 hours I kept returning until I’d sampled everything behind that counter. The winner had to be this kind of savoury doughnut filled with sausage meat and cheese.

I lay about for most of the next day too and left at 4ish. Leaving the harbour I saw a face looking at me from the turquoise water, and a turtle the size of a car tyre surfaced next to my boat!Loggerhead sea turtles lay their eggs on the beaches of the Adriatic, and are apparently migrating further North each year, surely a sign of climate change.

It felt a little surreal to be paddling in Puglia – my crossing transported me such a long way in such a short time. For the first hour I was rather achey, but with the wind on my back I felt good by the time I reached the southern tip of Italy’s heel – Santa Maria di Leuca. Adriatic meets Ionian here, and the second biggest lighthouse in Italy marks the point from the hill above the town.