Topping up my Tanners

Ah, summer time rocks - even before end of term. Jim usually calls my job teaching Maths at a sixth form college 'money for jam', so when I get to spend four weekdays camping and wandering through the beautiful Surrey countryside over the North Downs in the name of a Duke of Edinburgh trip, he's lost for words and more than a little envious.

I then returned to the area today for the last ever Tanners Hatch marathon (slightly misnamed as it's actually a 30 miler). I did this last year and it involved going over Box Hill twice, but the course changes each time and this year it only went over Leith Hill and some other smaller hills. Fantastic views, but not so challenging a route. Shiny. I moseyed round with Heather - top company as always. Under six hours in some pretty warm sunshine and yet again we spent the day grinning.There were loads of familiar faces there and it was great to see everyone. I had a good chat with James, who continues to tempt me with tales of the Spartathlon. He's off to do Badwater next weekend - some folk are nutters!

And of course the Tour de France started yesterday, so that's a minimum of one hour's entertainment (the highlights show) every day for the next three weeks. July was a great invention.