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I landed back in London this morning at just after 6am. We landed to the east, and so I got a great view of the east side of Reading just minutes before landing. My friends who live in the area might recognise it. We don’t always fly right over here, in fact I don’t think I’ve ever seen this area from the air before landing - I think we turned east much earlier than normal.

The picture shows the Thames as it leaves Reading and flows towards Sonning. Thames Valley Park, the premier business park, home to so many large corporations, especially tech companies, is on the left of the picture. You can just see the marina in the middle and the Caversham Lakes below that. I’ve walked along this stretch of river so many times and I don’t think I’ve ever appreciated how much water is there north of the Thames. Besides the Reading Rowing Club on Thames by the business park, there is also the Redgrave-Pinsent Rowing Lake, used by the GB Rowing Team as well as Oxford University. The series of lakes are the remains of old gravel pits at Sonning.