A damp day out

A rather changeable day today, with rain in the air. My brother picked me up at 9am and we drove to Henley-on-Thames, the town of our ancestors - or some of them! As usual we drove down to the River and Rowing Museum, on Mill Meadows, for a cuppa and then had a pleasant walk along the riverside, in spite of the spotty rain! We drove around here and there looking at various places and ended up in our favourite garden centre on the Marlow Road. What an amazing selection of plants! I've rarely seen such a range - just as well I couldn't bring any of them home!

We decided to have lunch there, then carried on up the river, well beside it really, until we arrived at Hambleden Mill. This is a beautiful old building, my Blip today, now converted into quality flats, but there has been a mill on this site at least back to 1086 when it was recorded in the Domesday Book. The car park for river visitors was 500 yards away and when we reached it there was a van stuck in the entrance so we couldn't get in. We drove back to the Mill and seeing a light on in one of the houses I knocked on the door and asked the lady if we could park outside her house for a short while and she very kindly agreed.

We walked over the very long footbridge - there's a very extensive weir - and on to the lock, watching some boats going through. A wonderful place - it was just a shame that the sky was dull and rain began to fall. We drove on to Marlow where we found a cafe near the riverside and had yet another cuppa and cake, then drove back to my sister's house. A good day on in spite of the weather!

Quote of the Day: 'A small boat that sails the river is better than a large ship that sinks in the sea.'― Matshona Dhliwayo.