Travel on Trial: Sun, sea and seconds out – what I learnt on a boxing retreat in Crete

I was staring down my opponent under the Grecian sun. All around me on the tennis courts I could hear the thwack of glove-on-glove action from several trainees to the trills of the tight-muscled trainers. I scraped my hair back with my forearm to stop beads of sweat stinging my eyes, banged my boxing gloves together, and lunged towards my partner, who jumped back in alarm.

Resisting a giggle, the words of my old Muay Thai boxing instructor rang in my mind: “Gloves up, strong feet, punch from the waist.” So I threw my right arm into a hook, stepped forward with a twist to the hips and backed my opponent off with a swift jab from the left. It felt good to get into the metaphorical ring again, albeit…