Summer has stretched out wonderfully. We've just enjoyed a lovely weekend in temperatures more reminiscent on August than late September. On Saturday I took the boys off to play golf at Sandown park, and then in the afternoon I found myself with a couple of hours to kill in Guildford, having dropped one of them off at a party. My initial plan was to visit Les Caves de Pyrene, which is just a couple of miles out of town, but I didn't realize they are now only open Monday-Friday. So I carried on to Shalford, a small village on the Wey. From here I enjoyed a delightful walk along the riverbank up to Guildford and back. Going for walks in the countryside on my own? Am I a hippy? Or some kind of nutter? But it was really enjoyable. It's a very pretty walk, too. (For other would-be hippy wanderers, there's a nice website on the river Wey here.) Then on Sunday we joined three other families for a visit to Thorpe Park (which I believe is Chav heaven). For the benefit of those living outside the UK or who don't have kids, it's a theme park whose appeal is largely based around subjecting patrons' bodies to extreme G forces (which I don't mind), leading to motion sickness in extreme cases (which I do).