The Canal

Woke up to rain.

Great (as usual) takeaway from Yummy Thai last night to celebrate Jane's birthday, so I really felt that I needed to run off a few calories.

Decided to have a bit of explore so nosied through Dropshort Farm and then dropped down into West Challow and ran along the canal to East Challow. There is another footpath (I think) that goes from near Mission Hall up to the main track to Childrey but I couldn't find it; so instead I back-tracked along the canal and then took the path alongside the school playing field.

Nice (forty minute) run but a bit soggy by the time I got back. I'm wondering if I should make the canal and footpath part of the 10k to avoid running up Silver Lane. Its a bit narrow in parts and the path up to the playing field is deeply rutted in sections but it would avoid the road. The real challange though is avoiding Middleway Bottom and Holloway. I need to get the map out again but I had the same problem last year and couldn't crach it without getting badly nettled or wading through six inches of mud.

Champions League tonight. As a proud Englishman I find situations like this really testing - I'm going to have to cheer for the over-paid, prancing, show-ponies of Manchester United. Even Chelsea would have been better than that!

"Today I have been mainly..." failing to dodge the rain.

Summer is here

(written on Tuesday morning on the train but not posted until Friday 'cos my BlackBerry is broken!)

Not out of bed too early due to one too many beers last night but soon forgot about that when I saw what a beautiful morning it was. Loaded up my little Deuter rucksack and headed out into the sunshine.

Left the village via Holloway and then up Middleway Bottom to Sparsholt Firs. That is a long climb on the bike but it seems to go on for ever when you are running. From there headed along the Ridgeway to the White Horse and then came back via Kingston Lisle, Westcot and Sparsholt. I reminded myself, yet again, how lucky we are to have all this on our doorstep.

Out for about an hour and a half and feeling really good (and rather pleased with myself) when I got back. Managed to get myself on the wrong line coming from Kingston Lisle again and had to wade through some thistles and nettles to recover but other than that it was just about a perfect run.

Jane was off in to London to see Nichola and the twins so the boys and I headed in to Oxford to buy Jane's birthday presents.

Booked dinner at the Trout near Oxford for Jane's birthday treat. It wasn't the Trout that I meant to book! The food was just about acceptable but the service was absolutely rubbish. We won't be going there again which is a shame because the setting was lovely.

"Today I have been mainly..." appreciating what great company the boys are.

Snelsmore Common again

Started out with Huw and James at a swift but not excessive pace. Dropped back with Neil after a couple of miles as I wanted to make sure that he got the value out of the miles he has been putting in and I knew he would "plod" on his own! I think it was the fastest he's managed for quite a while!

I felt good and could have gone much further and faster. I actually did about 3k more than the usual route as I parked at The Castle and ran into Shaw as a warm-up.

Very leisurely lunch with Neil afterwards to make up for having missed him on Wednesday when I went up to see Mum in hospital.

Snelsmore Common

A lovely run around Snelsmore Common with Neil. I started out from The Castle and met him outside the old gym entrance so by the time I'd done the usual route and then run back to the car I'd clocked-up 12.4km. Snelsmore is always a nice run and keeping to a slow-ish pace meant that Neil and I could catch up on the gossip.

Had lunch at The Castle afterwards (Jo and Rhys joined us). The guys had bought me some gear for the OMM as a belated leaving gift; I was really touched.

First outing on the hybrid

Had to take my baby in to get it repaired this morning following a broken chain which took out two spokes and mangled the rear mech on Sunday morning. So to get over the depression of being without my roadbike for at least a week and to cheer Jane up, as she has been having a tough time at work, we met up for lunch at The Plough at Eastbury.

This meant that I could give the hybrid its first real airing. It's about 12.5k over to Eastbury and I mean over, as there is a pretty steep climb over the Ridgeway before you drop down into Lambourn. The return journey with a couple of pints and an excellent beefburger inside me and a strong headwind wasn't made any easier by the fact that I decided to go the "pretty way" via Sheepdrove Farm. That involved an even greater number of hills and a fair section of off-road; nice way to spend the afternoon though!