A weekly update direct from the Spanish training camp where Rich is one of 24 Hornets preparing for the fast-approaching season.
We arrived in Spain late on Tuesday night and began our training here on Wednesday morning.
The weather has been in the low to mid 30s so the hardest thing initially was to get used to the heat, but despite that we did double sessions on Wednesday and Thursday before playing a game Friday evening against a Spanish third-tier team.
The game itself was competitive, the referee did his best to spoil the game but on the whole, once again, plenty of positives to take, our fitness levels being a major one. The game finished 1-1.
We trained Saturday morning and were given the afternoon to ourselves in Barcelona. Although I’ve been to Barcelona before I’ve never really had a real chance to experience the city itself and it really is a breathtaking city.
It really does have a lovely feel, some of the architecture is incredible; we visited the cathedral as well as the Camp Nou. Both equally impressive and, as you can imagine there were plenty of pictures to be taken by the lads (I’ll be uploading some to my facebook page soon).
We then had dinner in Barcelona before heading back to Lleida, which is where we are staying, about 90 miles outside of Barcelona.
We are due to head back on Tuesday but have one more friendly here on Monday night before the challenge of Parma next week. So far pre-season has been very well structured and it's all leading up nicely to the Doncaster game which is creeping closer and closer.
The feeling here is a good one, one of excitement and anticipation. Anyway I must go as my siesta awaits.
I’ll be back next week with more.