River Thames (Wednesday 27th July 2016)

In the eighties I lived in Metroland. For a lot of the time I was commuting from Chesham into Oxford Circus and so didn't have a car, but after I left the BBC I did have a Renault 5 (called Miles) and got to explore the beautiful Bucks countryside. Since moving to Wiltshire I have had little occasion to revisit the area and so Wednesday was set aside for this purpose.

The drive took me from the M4 up towards High Wycombe, Wendover and Aylesbury where I had a very pleasant wander along an arm of the Grand Union (see first Extra) to the canal basin, where I was pleased to discover a Waitrose and claim a free coffee. A pair of swans accompanied me on the return walk.

The plan had been to meet up with blipper chantler63 at Waddesdon in the afternoon, but I have a history of failed blipmeet attempts in unfamiliar venues and thanks probably to an inaccurate finger on a sat-nav touch screen I managed to turn up at Hughenden Manor instead, having gone in completely the wrong direction! She forgivingly advised that I enjoyed Hughenden Manor and met her at Waddesdon on another day, and so I explored the house and grounds (see second Extra) there for an hour or two instead.

I drove back by a different route, having decided to have a look at the River Thames at Goring in Oxfordshire. I have driven over the bridge there a few times but never stopped. A road called Ferry Lane looked promising and indeed led to the Thames Path, where I found a wonderful panoply of boats and human activity beside the river. A great crested grebe was busy fishing, as was a boater on deck, and Canada geese were being treated to tidbits from another boat. Young kayakers were jubilant at finally reaching Goring Lock beneath the road bridge and dog walkers chatted to people on the boats. I spotted the African Queen, I think the same boat that I had seen coming up the Caen Hill Lock Flight the previous month.

I drove a couple of hundred miles altogether, breaking my journey for the final time at Marlborough, where I had a second Waitrose coffee and a quick stroll around the Waterfront (no sign of water voles again), and got back home after 2000 hr.

I like to have worked on all of the pictures I take before choosing my blip and this takes several days on and off, but I have now completed the task and have inevitably chosen this image because it was picked for Flickr's Explore, where it has already been honoured with over 5,000 views.

L.
1.8.2016 (1840 hr)

Blip #1900 (#2150 including archived blips)
Consecutive Blip #004
Day #2316
LOTD #1135 (#1259 including archived blips)

Taken with Pentax K-1 and Pentax HD P-D FA 28-105mm f/3.5-5.6ED DC WR lens

Aylesbury Canal Basin, 27 July 2016 (Flickr album)
Hughenden Manor NT, 27 July 2016 (Flickr album)
A Visit To Goring-on-Thames, 27 July 2016  (Flickr album)

River series
River Thames series
Oxfordshire series
Landscape series

Lozarhythm Of The Day:
Trentemøller - River In Me (2016)
River In Me is the first single from the new album Fixion and features Jehnny Beth from the Savages

One year ago:
Bowood 2015 #36