Woke up feeling more hopeful about the world than I was a week ago – the idea that Trump will be a one-term president sits very well with me.

Went for a long, long walk – seventeen km’s in all, which is an absolute record. I’ve suffered serious injury to my achilles tendons – and yes, on both feet: I did the thing very thoroughly. Have not been able to walk pain-free for the better part of two years, which was a bore. Now that the pain has been over for a few months I mean to build up both confidence and endurance.

We were going to participate in a St Maarten’s walk, going from church to church dedicated to the saint whose name-day it is today. Walk turned out to be cancelled due to C, which left us at the church door at 8 o’clock in the morning, feeling very virtuous for having got up early, but also a bit let-down because we were the only ones. Decided to go walking anyway as it was promising to be a gorgeous day. Was tempted by R to try crossing the Waal bridge (‘not so very noisy on a Sunday’) and, once we’d crossed, to attempt to reach the next church spire visible in the distance (‘no more than 10 km’s, no distance at all, really’). Well, I survived, and better still: my feet survived! Leg muscles very stiff at this moment, but am sure they will stop their protests after a soak and a good nights rest.

I’d almost forgotten what it is to walk long distance. A sense of freedom, of gentle movement, of things appearing very slowly while the earth revolves under one’s feet. Why is it that I like walking so much better than cycling? On a bike I seem to be always up against something (gravity? friction? – wind, most likely) while putting one foot in front of another feels like such a natural thing to do.

The landscape we walked through wasn’t of the picture-postcard kind – it was flat, abstract even, with long lines of sight to a very distant horizon. Inspired me to make a few abstract pics, see the collection below. Found a spot where a perfect circle was laid out next to a perfect square – a very unusual find.