First decent walk of the year in weather that looked like....could it be....Spring? Twelve miles between Fareham and Guildford on the North Downs Way before bailing out and heading for a whiskey and a bath at home, not necessarily in that order.
Lagged behind everyone else because I couldn't stop taking pictures of the delicate sunlight amid the trees. I love it when the warmth tempts out the life from the plants and you can hear the birds chirping away in the woods.
Stopped for a pint in the Puttenham village pub "The Good Intent". I can recommend the steakburger and chips, as well as the Otter Ale.

Beds Walk

To Harpenden for one of our walkabouts, with Ms T choosing the route from a new guide we'd not tried before, the Rough Guide walks around London. This is not quite as good as the Time Out versions in that the walks are circular rather than from one station to another, but it does make buying the train tickets a good deal less complex. The maps in the Rough Guide are much much better than the Time Out equivalent which makes navigation easier, although the directions are less comprehensive. Like the Time Out routes there's a pub in the middle, in this case the Wicked Lady in Weathampstead which looked gentrified to the max and which I thought would be dreadful - but which surprised me with an excellent fish risotto and Ms T raved about her sardines on toast. So there you are.

Harpenden is what it is; a dormitory suburb outcrop of London but a pleasant place with some nice country areas around it. The weather was stunning, Summer's last hurrah.

After being on the wagon for two weeks and holding out with a lime and soda in the pub my will evaporated when I got home and I indulged in a Spitfire Ale. Then it was off to the Regent where I got three sheets to the wind with Ellen and Ms T. Remembered in the morning why not drinking can be a Very Good Thing.

Nicest Day of The Year

It really was. The advantage of spending the Bank Holiday weekend locked up in the newsroom was escaping the following day to a largely deserted Henley. The sun blasted down as we trekked along the Thames then across fields and woods to Marlow. There was wildlife everywhere; a swan with her eggs, kites hunting above the trees and a thousand ducks in riotous assembly.

Walking in Surrey

Time Out Walk: Number 42
Bluebells seen: 300,045
Quaint Victorian Relic of Rural Repression: 1 (see above)

Another lovely walk, this time in Surrey about ten miles east of Gatwick Airport. I'm really starting to like it down there, but perhaps that's because I can go home at the end of the day. Lunch in a bizarre pub with the smallest Ham Ploughmans I've ever paid £7.95 for. At one point one of the staff ran from the pub weeping. Ms T went to the loo and the manager came to quiz me on how I'd enjoyed my lunch. I told him his plate was a tad wee.
"I've sold twenty of those this lunchtime" he said.
No wonder country pubs are closing in droves.
We passed the weeping member of staff sat crouched next to the road, being comforted by the chef.

Lost in West Sussex

These chickens thought we knew where we were going. They were wrong. If you're going to use the Time Out book of Country Walks to navigate the countryside on your day off, use the updates off the net. Or prepare to stand about for ages looking at stiles and saying, this isn't right is it, and asking when the pub shuts.