Berkshire

It’s been a good break over the last few days. Our good friends Andy and Mandy are living the high life in Spain at the moment so have let us use their house until we fly out on Thursday We found a few chores to do to pass the timeVisited their local pub and caught up with a few old friendsbiked into Windsor one day to catch the bus into London . Are we early for this wedding or too late?There appears to be a better class of beggar in Windsor. When we returned in the afternoon this resident, was working away on his laptop with his bowl in front of him. 1000’s of tourists around , not a problem. The reason for the visit to London was to catch up with a cuzzie. Fred made us feel at home with a Barby lunch and Lilly and Isabel showed us this WW2 Robinson air raid shelter still in their back yard. It would have been buried and cover with sand bags onceToday we cycled along the Thames into Maidenhead. Holyport is close to everything. 6kms to Windsor ,4 to Maidenhead . This is Bray lock.

Fabulous houses for the rich and famous line the Thames Wetherspoons in Maidenhead. You can get a hot lunch for a fiver at these great pubs and a pint of beer for 2 quid. Less than half the price as in New ZealandOn the way home we rode through Bray, a beautiful old village that’s won numerous awards for being one of England’s prettiest villages. This is the Lich gate house. Built 1448. It leads into the church groundsSt Michaels Saxon church. Dating back to 1298 . Boggles the mind doesn’t it . A visiting organist was here at the same time as me and he kindly played a tune on its magnificent big organ for me. With the permission of an ancient curator .More interesting than Westminster even !15th century foresters cottages. The ones on the right had front doors that were about 1200 mm high. Not that they were that short ,but because the road was gradually built up over the centuries.It was not easy coming home loaded up like this. Tomorrow it’s one last visit to the ‘local’, then get every thing packed ready to head to Gatwick airport Thursday morning.