The guidebook says 16 miles, but they almost always err on the count. All I can say is I walked from 5:30 a.m. to 1:15, no hills, little in the way of navigation challenges, not none, just not a lot, and I walked at a clip.
It rained. First it rained not too hard. Then it rained harder. Then just to jazz things up, the wind blew. Then it rained even harder. But in a way it was rather refreshing except that it does not matter how much protective rain gear you wear, and I use it all: backpack cover, rain coat, rain pants, and poncho, you end up wet. For one thing, water trickles up the cuffs of your raincoat if you are using poles. For another, light-weight rain pants and raincoats, despite their promises are not rainproof against eight hours of rain. BUT the whole time I was thinking that doing this long walk on a hot, sunny day would be intolerable since for 99.5% of it there is no tree cover whatsoever at all.
When I got to the hotel, thank God, a decent one—not luxury, but decent—I was told that check-in was at 3:00. I commandeered a table at the rear of the bar area, hung my wet outer garments on the chairs, got the wi-fi password and settled in in my wet inner clothes, ordered a small plate of chicken fajitas, which were chicken nuggets with a fancy name. The room was ready at 2:00!
Meager photo yield due to weather conditions.
Here you see a bridge:
This is the maritime version of Waze's "Attention: Car on shoulder ahead":
But when you have a family, you can't sleep in:
I think swans are going to be the new sheep. You want to take a picture every time you see them.
A lock:
There are lots of locks on the river.
For once I have the advantage of not weighing a whole lot:
But don't think I did not tread carefully for just in case.
A gaggle of geese? No! I just looked it up and geese are only a gaggle when they are waddling on land. But another source says they are a gaggle in the water, as well. When they are flying, they are a flock. When they are flying in formation, they are a skein, a team or a wedge. Who can keep up? The minimum number for any of these groupings is five.
Today I learned something else: that a meadow is grassland cut for hay or silage and then grazed, whereas a pasture is grassland that is only grazed. The route went through a large meadow.
Ugly cement structures seen at intervals....no idea what they are:
Another word about my hotel, which has the strangest name: Rose Revived. It has a radiator in the room that works! Wet garments drying!
A hot shower has rarely felt as wonderful as it did today. AND I am happy that Newbridge has nothing in Newbridge except a new bridge, which dates from the 13th century, reported to the oldest structure crossing the Thames, by the way, a bar and this hotel, which also has a bar and a restaurant, so I can spend the afternoon and evening comfortably inside without missing the sights!
Oh, one more detail. The woman who escorted me up to the room showed me the exit door for people who leave before 7:00 a.m. It is the fire escape. "Be very careful," she said, "The steps are slippery and steep." Isn't that just what you need when fleeing a fire?
And a group of puffins are a circus when they are on land, and a raft when they are on the water. Someone in the avian etymilogy field has a sense of humor.
ReplyDelete