30 June dry day forecasted
Bobby day. In from London to help the Boogs with regatta etiquette.
Laundry day.
Regatta day. Even got to see CA Berkeley compete. Only the start as we were temple island starting point. Did not find out how they did. Tom?
Souvenirs may have been obtained.
29 June rain forecasted
A rainy start on a paved, read no mud, path along the river. Mud developed.
The Thames has a dog leg at Shipley, a tasteful village that looks like Atherton CA. Large properties set very fast back from the road. Large houses with housekeepers living in.
The bypass may be due to property rights, no right of way given.
Regatta week in Henley. Many dressed, as required, for "the season". We are dressed for mud and rain.
Nice managed pub for dinner. Beer served in plastic cups. When I fused they said they ran out of glasses it is regatta week. Guess they were surprised that people drink at regatta. Got glasses, no plastic for us. This is a managed brewery pub, incredible. Decent Oxford Gold bitter.
Tuesday 28 june rain forecasted
Today we encounter the only hill, a steep one, on the Thames path.
Stoked up with a hearty breakfast before the walk.
Second toll bridge, more expensive but still free to wallets.
Nice paths on a long distance day.
Ended day a novotel in Redding, a break from coaching inns and old places. Picnic dinner in the room.
Monday 27 June no rain forecasted. Turned out hot, sunny and humid.
A day started with QB rescuing a wood pigeon from the hotel. The hotel staff had no idea what to do. Throw a towel over it. They were afraid so QB took care of it in seconds.
Two hiking poles mud day. Some days one pole is sufficient. Today, in sections, two barely sufficient. That said a lovely walk to a winner of the best village in South England. Not much there except a fine setting.
Good dinner, surprisingly good.
26 June Sunday no rain forecasted, none arrived.
Short walks on the Thames lock and side canals near Abingdon. Interesting discussion about boat rentals, lock keepers, and the management of locks.
Best to rent anchor-wales brand. Do not rent Le Boat. It is twice the price and too hard to steer.
Wallingford bike races today. Riders, booths, eating and folks having fun.
Qb suggests a new business for Trump. Trump passports, they are the best. Go to website, pay a fee, fill out forms, promise is to facilitate Scottish (I have golf courses there) passports ahead of their departure from the former UK.
I suggest the hughest ladder, the best ladder, the Hadrian's wall ladder, renamed Trump wall ladder.
Nduja with dinner tonight. A famous Italian spicy spread. We have not cooked with this; quite tasty. it was spread on bread, the bread cut up and thrown into some penne with tomatoes, oil, and chili flakes. Whitebait for a starter.
25 June showers forecasted, only one while walking.
Avoided Abington as we have done this muddy section previously.
New song on today's by walk. Mud, grass, weeds and bugs.
Stopped for tea at an entrepreneurial house. The owner was like we found biking in the middle of the USA. Friendly, very, happy to share stories and pictures, and running many small enterprises. None sufficient to live on but the combination acceptable. Here: B&B,glamping,camping area, chickens for egg selling, teaching sewing, some sculptures. Daughter just got a masters at Oxford so we got to understand a bit of the systems and robes.
Good holiday houses on the river as defense against the Trump.
Wallingford another small market town, a little charming, some good coffee and tea shops. Even a decent and very busy barber shop. Waitrose for cheese and fruit dessert.
Local pale ale – bitter quite good reasonably hoppy. Loddon Hoppit classic bitter.
Friday 24 June some rail forecasted. One heavy shower when we were ink the museum.
A day when the UK headed itself towards becoming a small island nation,without Scotland, Ireland, and Gibraltar. Where about a difference of only about 350K votes took 2+trillion dollars off market values. Just a few voters with such a large effect.
Scope creep walk, canal path on western edge of Oxford
Breakfast at vaults and gardens, congregation house of university church on high street.
Canal walk. The Oxford canal walk as a nice paved walk, no mud. Along the banks on peers into the back of many houses. Boats moored all along the banks.
Visit to the Eagle and Bird, the pub favored by the inklings. 1650 era. The rabbit room was their hangout.
Ashmolean, a maze of the old and new building. Some decent impressionist paintings and lots of old stuff,
23 June, brexit vote day
Tourist day in Oxford with Evensong
Bodleian library. Lovely square with rooms on all four sides.
Hotel, a former prison, has converted the cells to rooms. Photo is how the hallways look currently.
Walking tour using our map, historical city sites walk Wonderful and relaxing to see.
Spectacular 150 acre Christ Church meadow. Christ, Merton colleges as well as a walk to Magdalene collage.
Tea at the Grand cafe, dating to 1650 as a location for the oldest coffee house in England, no one was British and staff could not understand our American English. That and terrible lack of service. The teas and food were fine and it is a lovely place to sit.
Evensong at Christ Church cathedral. Crowded service. Started at 18:00, which is 18:05 Oxford time. Church timr is five minutes later than GMT time. Old tradition that does not change.
We have been to three evensong.
– Conques in France,catholic, no music
-Cantubury cathedral. Some singing by the choir but we did have the archbishop there. Bobby went from Bobby the unblessed to Bobby the blessed.
-Christchurch. Best one yet. Mostly singing, organ music and three readings week done.
Wednesday 22 june. Scattered showers forecasted, heavy mizzle all morning instead.
A very wet slog through wet fields leading to soaked shoes. The Ferry Man in at Babcock Hythe let us in for coffee even though they were not yet open.
Slowly it became sunny hot and very humid. Lunch, picnic, at swinford lock.
Swinford bridge has legacy tolls and a lot of traffic. The toll is 5p, 20p for lorries. Naturally the bridge is just wide enough for two cars, just. Naturally buses and big lorries squeeze by.
At the trout inn, very historic, stopped and found Doombar. Of course we had a point of Doom.
Soldiered on to the Oxford canal. Some interesting Belgians we meet said it let out near our hotel in Oxford. As we approached a bus to central Oxford stopped, we got on. 14 miles enough.
Hotel is an old prison. Had to change out room as the first one was too much of a dungeon.
21 June a break in the rain, brought sunny morning.
The old swan, a 16th century coaching inn being changed tonight for the rose revived,a great name.
A fellow hiker has altered us to a particular of today's walk: weeds higher or taller than us. Maybe mud as well in the interstices.
Perfect walk to the tadpole bridge and inn where we waited a bit for them to open. Coffee etc.
Morning mud report: little today so far. A few wet spots, QBs shoes soaked through.
Chimney nature reserve: very hard walking. Three plus miles of head high weeds, bugs, and pointy stuff to poke one. Apparently an unusual untouched and unspoiled type of meadow. Really tiring. See picture of a spot in a clearing.
Picnic lunch of cheese fruit and plums, riverside lock bench.
Newbridge, oldest bridge over the Thames, location of civil war battle in 1644 where Charles prevailed, naturally prior to his loss of his head. A critical battle.
Overall a bug infested walk with them doing too much chomping, us working our way through weeds, but a good 12+ miles. QB has many many bites, very tasty sheer is.
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