My blog will be live on Bike Radar website this week so can't tell you too much about the 30 mile ride I did today, apart from that I wanted to die at the end of it. After it, I went to Sainsburys in Camberley and was very indulgent, having a muffin, a yogurt, a cuppa and a newspaper in Starbucks there and paying a nice man to wash my car, after the disaster last week with the car wash. I did not eat the newspaper, only read it, but it is all about boring ugly men anyway. might as well have eaten them. Then drove home and went to the very quiet gym for a jacuzzi / steam / sauna / 10 slow lengths of the pool combo to help my poor sore muscles. Yesterday we went in the outside pool for the first time this year, yippee! Summer is here, its official. We had Angus with us and he did not think much of going in an outdoor pool in April so we retired to the indoor paddling pool. Yesterday was a happy day as we picked R up from his ski trip to France, he is very brown from neck up and was very tired from being on a coach all night. He had a great time with charming teenagers who were very well behaved throughout.

The girls and I spent a few nights at my parents' in Claygate which meant I had time and babysitters to get some training done, for what it was worth - not much judging by today's bike ride. I went to the swimming training at the Esporta in Kingston which I really enjoyed, the time flew by. I also did one of the best classes I have ever done, Body Balance ( which is NOT anything like yoga, or tai chi, well, not much...) with the best instructor since Sarah at Pilates at Whitley. He was encouraging and praising and I left feeling great. Also did some bike rides on the road and a run across Littleworth Common.

We did another National Trust Easter Egg hunt, at Ham House, which is not made of Ham, but is in Ham. It is a great specimen of a National Trust house and is well set up for children and the girls enjoyed it, as did the two grannies we took with us. We also did Bushy Park with grandparents, for a woodland walk and a cup of tea. And with Angie, Angus, Niall and Pop we did Dinosaurs Unleashed! in Oxford Street. Going on the underground is an exciting enough day out for girls from Hampshire, and the dinosaurs were interesting but a bit overpriced. Security guards kept stopping us eating our picnic, so we had to keep swapping sites and nibbling. We had an ice cream in Hyde Park afterwards (thanks Pop). No security guards there to hound us. Although the deck chairs are £1.50 an hour. We sat on the grass.

Picked some of 'Claygate's finest rhubarb' from dad's allotment. He has officially entirely retired now, as the council have cut jobs for over 65s so he had to go. He only worked 3 days a week ( only! thats the same as me..) so now has 7 days to dedicate to allotment activity instead of 4, so we have high hopes for him sweeping the board at the Claygate flower show this year. Dad took me on a tour of some places nearby that I had never been to, including Hersham, which is the village next door but one to Claygate, that I had never been to before. How funny! it is very pleasant, and includes a Squires garden centre which my dad prefers to Garsons Farm and Whiteley village, an amazing self contained village for old people built in 1912 by a Mr Whiteley, who was shot by his nephew and before that had run a shop in London. In return for this cultural tour I introduced my dad to Aldi, in Walton, which has an underground car park which my dad had never been to before. I bought some running shorts and socks and some trainers for H ( £12, better than Clarks prices I thought).