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stages of the walk have been with old friends from my
single days. Lucy is amongst my 'new' friends (having
met her at the local toddler group when Matthew was
a baby) and I see her most weeks for a cycle ride. Lucy
and her husband Andrew also have two sons, called co-incidentally,
Jamie and Matt. On one of our cycle rides Lucy agreed
to come on a Thames walk with me. The first task we
faced was to convince our husbands not just to take
care of the boys for the day but to drive us all the
way to Ham
House, hang around for the day and then collect
us at the end of our walk. |
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To
persuade the dads, we had to get the boys on our side.
Having reconnoitred Ham House at the end of the previous
walk (blissfully on my own) I realised there wasn't
enough to get them there under normal circumstances.
Then I learned that on 7 May there would be llamas
at Ham House. The way to James' heart is definited
via animals, and the other three youngsters were easily
led by the concept. And where they want to go, dads
had to follow. The boys were able to
groom the llamas and lead them around the magnificent
grounds. They loved it.
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Meanwhile,
Lucy and I started walking, on a day that had been predicted
to be wet and cool, but which turned out dry and warm
- quite warm at times. Lilac has such a short season,
and we were lucky that our walk co-incided with the
blossoming of masses of lilac along the path - as pretty
as Lucy herself. And of course, the Thames herons were
ever present. |
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The
other sight seen all year around on the Thames are
the many rowers, out in force on this bright Sunday
afternoon, with the bullying of the cox heard even
from our distant position on the path. A boat house
in the garden seems a necessity along this stretch
of the river - so different from the warehouses backing
onto the river at Wandsworth.
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by the Thames Path sign that we were heading in the
right direction, we strode along. Walks with old friends
have meant years of gossip to catch up on. However,
even on a walk with a friend I see so regularly, there
seemed to be few lapses in the conversation. |
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Rowers
gave way to sailors and large houses to what looked
like holiday homes (the most expensive beach huts
I'd ever seen) and we reached our lunchtime target
of Hampton Court. We stopped for a bite to eat at
Blubeckers.
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We
had a great lunch - a couple of items from the starter
menu with side orders of salad and garlic bread. Service
was fast, despite the busy restaurant. We left satisfied,
but without being too overloaded to walk - or to enjoy
an ice-cream from an ice-cream van whilst we counted
the goslings (16 in all). We had a few spots of rain
in the afternoon as we sat down for a cup of tea near
Walton Bridge, but it was so refreshingly welcome
we didn't reach for the waterproofs.
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We
kept in touch by phone, so Malcolm and Andrew knew
when to drive up to Weybridge to meet us. The dads
had coped well with the noisy bunch of boys, who still
seemed to have unlimited resources of energy left
after a day of playing together. We checked out the
Shepperton ferry details (strangely named - this seems
to be Weybridge, not Sheppterton) as the next leg
of the journey will start with the short ferry trip
across the river.
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