Cheerio!

This was a pub carved out of an old mill next to a lock.

We didn't always stop at pubs for "a pie and a pint". Sometimes we stopped for "a pee and a pint".



This is "The Donkey" in Marlow; the neighborhood pub. Had good grub.

(Liz: This was some kind of Mediteranean roasted vegetable spizale. And it was a nosh-up). 

This was Saturday, near Hurley, so there were lots of people on the trail enjoying the very hot weather.

This was Sunday, yesterday, our last day of walking the trail, and we were treated with mostly shady spots.

Still some history happening. This is Bisham Abbey, just before Marlow, where Queen Elizabeth I spent some of her childhood. It was the magnificent country house where Henry VIII stashed Anne of Cleeves. Now it houses the National Sports Center, an odd concept when you think about it.
(Bobbie: or perfectly appropriate when you think about it).

We'll miss people on the trails being scared by the cows. These people are leaving just after the calf in the foreground headbutted one of the dogs and its person. (Liz: We had already worked it out that if a bull came after us, Bobbie would play the rodeo clown to divert it while I ran). (Bobbie: ...not that I have any experience with this kind of work). Most of the time the cows would just stand there looking at us with curiosity and we passed through, but this group had formed a kind of cluster right on top of the trail and I guess the little cow got nervous or wanted to play with the dog? No harm done.

The little boy on the bicycle is the trainer for his dad who is running.

This is the very crowded lock at Maidenhead where there were at least six boats in the lock and many more at either end waiting to get in. We are clearly approaching Windsor here; the end of our line. Jerome K. Jerome, author of "Three Men in a Boat" said, "Maidenhead is too snobby to be pleasant." We found everyone to be quite friendly, thankyou.

This darling girl was headed to Uganda to "help the animals" if she could raise enough money selling lemonade by the path. The path was busy enough on a Sunday; she'll probably get there.



Windsor Castle; YAY WE MADE IT! You will notice this photo is taken from the water. We celebrated by giving our tired asses a cruise on the river boat. They also served us cider with ice.

So, the official distance count is a whopping 153 miles on foot over a mostly comfortable and sometimes gruelling 15 days.

Bobbie and I have had a cracking good time together, never getting our knickers in a twist with each other. Not many kids would even want to spend this much time with their Mum, let alone be enthusiastic about it.
Thanks, Bobbie (Bobbie: aw now!)

So, off we go to Paris for a week, and then home. We'll post more, if you care to read.

Some Food Experiences

I started this post while Mom went to buy more batteries... because she takes so many pictures!

This is Mom at a great teashop in Goring (or was it Streatly, on the other side of the river?) called "Pierrepont". It was all waxed chintz tablecloths, mismatched china, and cream teas and cakes and stuff. We were pretty much in heaven here. And then we continued on the walk...

Orange almond cake at Pierrepont.

This is fish-n-chips and "mushy peas" I ate in (oh geez, where were we?) some town along the path. Mom says "Near Wallingford."

I now enjoy fish-n-chips.

Indian sweet shops on Brick Lane in London.

We spent a little bit of time here.



Our first ploughman's lunch, which was really a fancy cheese plate, early in the walk in Ewen. It was beautiful, and no, I don't remember what the cheeses were.

This was some vertical roasted vegetable stack thing Mom ordered, that fell over before she had a chance to cut into it. Brilliant!

Picnic by a lock (oh geez, where were we?). It hasn't been all fancy food; mostly it's been lunches from delis that we eat on the trail.





Randomness, As Usual

Today we found ice cream vendors on the trail ! Twice!

It might seem like all we are doing is going from pub to pub, and you'd be almost right.

However, this walking is serious business.

Cool shade; no highwaymen yet.

(Liz: The Brits are nutty about the Queen's Silver Jubilee. This display was in a window in Oxford; I felt like I should curtsy; they were life-sized).

More icecream; this time buying it from a boat.

Rowing and Locks

(Liz: The locks control navigation on the river for the many houseboats, etc. Not to wander off into too much of a history lesson, but the monks, here since 600 A.D. used to control crossings for which they charged extortionate tolls. Not all monks were Godly and virtuous; some were nasty, greedy and sociopathic).

It's been 85 degrees here; hot for walking, but these shady respites are a welcome sight. (Bobbie: I dipped my shirt in the water for a little home made swamp cooling action).

Since Oxford we've seen a lot of rowing. No doubt some practising for the Olympics... A lot more rowing here at Henley too, which has been the scene of the annual Regatta between Oxford and Cambridge since 1829.

More later; on our way to Marlow.

More Catching Up

Sitting on a stile, checking the map.

These fortifications were from World War II, built to guard the Thames River against the Germans. They are located all up and down the river and generally known as pillboxes, because they look like pillbox hats.

The path takes us everywhere. More tomorrow.

Lucky Friday the 13th

(Bobbie: So, today is our thirteenth day of walking the path, and it's also Friday. This made us superstitious because we feel that luck and good times have been following us around throughout the trip.

• It rained for a month before we arrived and pretty much stopped our second day out on the trail and is now nothing but sunshine and very warm weather. 
• We've been sending our bags ahead by taxi each day. Not because we're lazy, but because this is how the cool walkers do it. All the long distance walkers do it, we're told. Anyway! We were sure that at some point our bags wouldn't show up at our hotel one day after a long walk, and today it almost happened. But, because we are blessed, they were only hiding in the cellar for safekeeping until our arrival.
• Last night was the first night we shared a double bed because there were none available at that small town hotel. Upon arrival at our hotel today Mom asked for a cot for our room because she didn't want to sleep in a double bed with me, again. I think I must have kicked her last night. We had a small argument at reception about who would get the cot (I swear I was insisting she take the bed!), and due to our smelliness after a long walk on the trail, and due to our luck, and due to the angel of the hotel manager's taking pity on us, we were given two double rooms for the price of one. Someone's getting a bottle of wine.
• Then, on the way in to Henley, we ran into two spinoni on the path. It's the same breed as my dog, who I miss very much. The luck just keeps coming).

This is Clyde and some other English sounding name.

Still Walking, No Pictures

We're in Reading and just learned that we can't upload photos with this library computer, but we'll try to get connected in Henley tonight.

For those of you just checking in and discovering our little adventure; you can go into the archives at the right side and check past posts. We have been walking the Thames Path in England beginning at the source near Kemble and will end in Windsor, two days from now. After that, Paris for a week and we hope to continue the blog there and catch up on more Thames Path we couldn't share along the way due to inaccessibility of computers in the small towns.

Mileage count: 125 so far (this includes the walking we did in London). Yeah, we're badassed.

William Morris' Kelmscott, etc

We're talking about the artist/designer/poet etc, not the car manufacturer (although we did see some Morris garages in Oxford). The other William Morris is the father of the Arts and Crafts Movement, or at least a big driver of the style.

That's his "Oak Leaf" wallpaper. Dreamy. Here are some photos of his country home in Kelmscott.

The three hole privy; you had to be very good friends to use this.

Manor Farm; our accomodation for the night next to Kelmscott Manor. It was run by a young housewife, Emma.

View from our window.

Sitting in the middle of the road, changing band aids and moleskins on a blister.

On our way again. Today is another long stretch: 13.5 miles to Wallingford, so we must be off. Ta ta!

Nooks and Crannies

We just walked ten miles! (patting selves on back) Today along the path we saw a pheasant, a turtle trapped temporarily in a lock, a rabbit, and the usual ducks and swans. No hedgehog yet; not live anyway. We are now in Abingdon, and are fullfilling a request for "more nooks and crannies please". :)

This is a thatched roof getting repaired in Stanton Harcourt, a short detour we took off the path. The path to see "thatched adorableness", and it didn't disappoint.

Bobbie: This is the sidecar I would put Guido into, to go tooling around the town with. It was "just" big enough for him.

This was our cottage in Eynsham. It was behind a pub (again, the pub). It was freezing that morning.

Here are some grotesques from a building in Oxford. Though it might not be evident, they are priests, some of them drinking and picking their noses.

We passed this from Folly Bridge on the way out of Oxford this morning. (Bobbie: this is what a dock is for: easy chair, little table, junk- the dock of my dreams!)

This is the cluster of buildings that represents the back of the rectory at a Norman church in the hamlet of Iffley. The church was built in 1160 and in excellent preserved shape.

This is the church, and the front of the rectory buildings. We were the only people there so wandered around, and I found the entrance open so we peeked inside.

All views from every window look like this here. The willow tree, the river, the umbrella table, and most importantly, the kettle.

The Trout Inn, where Inspector Morse and Lieutenant Lewis sit and solve mysteries on the BBC series. We had to sup a pint or two in his honor. It was pretty ritzy; maybe the fanciest pub we've seen.

Cheers for now.