So today was the day I received my Secret Santa gift! It actually arrived yesterday, but I'd put my Mum's address because I was in the process of moving out when I signed up and I wasn't 100% sure where I'd be.

So I say I received it today, that's because I only came back to my parents today. I need to preface this with a little context I think, so here we go...

I live in West London now (I found somewhere rather quickly in the end!) and my parents live about 30 miles outside London. Well actually, to be precise it's 35.4 Miles (56.9Km). How do I know this? Well I'm a pretty keen cyclist. Earlier this year I went on a cycle tour from Calais to Amsterdam (Yes it was awesome!) Anyhow, I digress... So over New Years I'm heading to Wales for a mixture of cycling and hiking with a friend. This meant I needed to have my bike back home.

I therefore decided last night that I would cycle home today. All ~35 Miles. With all my baggage for a week at my Mum's and a week in Wales. Now for a cycling tour, yes you have to carry all your gear, but how well dressed you are isn't the most important thing - for mine I had 3 sets of cycling gear, Thermals and then 1 pair of jeans, 1 pair of sociable shorts (read: Not Lycra), 3 T-shirts and a shirt (I was finishing at a work event in Amsterdam).

So cycling home with 2 weeks worth of sociable clothing, complete with outdoors gear and a few family presents is actually much worse. I was meant to be getting back on track wasn't I...

I therefore got home at 6:30pm, slightly cramping in my legs because I hadn't eaten enough, unable to feel my toes and generally aching all over.

I said hello to the family, dumped my bags and decided I needed a steaming hot bath. Desperately. I went into my room to get ready and noticed something...