Summer holdiays always good and still plenty more left...

We had a lovely week camping in the New Forest. Unfortunately I didn't feel too well most of the week and was struggling when I ran - but at least my runs involved spotting deer, ponies, donkeys, rabbits and cows, so I was happy enough.

Oh, before that we had a go on the new Boris Bikes in town: which I really liked, as I'd forgotten the simple pleasure of riding a bike. And we saw City of Lost Children at the NFT with a Q & A session with director Marc Caro afterwards. Not nearly as pretentious as we feared it may be, but a great evening out.

We then took a train to Salisbury yesterday and stayed in a stupidly hot (even with the fan on all night) hotel. Salisbury always seems like it should be nicer than it actually is. The Cathedral is alright and there are some good bits of old buildings dotted around, but somehow it's never quite as enjoyable as I think it should be. However, at least the pizza was great.

The 5-4-3-2-1 trail marathon has always been a pretty one though. Slightly misnamed as a lot of it is on road, but there are some good bits: my favourite being where you follow some string tied among the trees through the woods. It feels like being in a fairy tale. This year they added a 50K run to the other distances available (10, 20, 30, 40 and 42K) so I opted for the long one. I was still feeling a bit knackered, but luckily Heather was there to keep me moving cheerily at a reasonable pace, though we still did a fair amount of walking up the hills. A slow one at about 5:17, but another good day out in the countryside.