Saturday 14 June 2008

91 Days to go... Treating my Parents to a Lovely Walk in the Countryside

My parents are over from New Zealand at the moment so I’ve just spent a long weekend with them. Since they lived in London when they were in their 20s, I figured they didn’t really need to do all the typical touristy things, so I planned a day trip out to Henley-on-Thames. I used to live and work out there, so was keen to show them around, plus a lovely walk in the countryside would fit in quite well with my training plan… Shame that they took ‘a lovely walk in the countryside’ to mean about 4 miles less than I meant!

It started out well, with a lovely amble up the River Thames, alongside the world famous Henley Royal Regatta course. After crossing Hambledon Lock, we headed into the fields, visiting briefly the quaint village of Hambledon, where all the locals turned out to greet us – or maybe it was the wedding in the old church they were hanging out for! From Hambledon we headed up into the Great Woods above the village, which were supposed to offer lovely views of the river and surrounding valley, but I suspect the author did the walk in winter when there were a few less leaves on the trees, as we only caught glimpses. Out of the woods we wandered along quiet country lanes admiring the country houses of the Oxfordshire elite and even spotted a polo match going on. Despite having walked 10miles Chris and my parents did agree it was a lovely day, and we were reward with both lovely views and weather. They have just all sworn not to let me lead them on ‘a lovely walk in the countryside again’!

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