Last Saturday El Hombre and I went for a day trip. It’s Summer!! And once settled down in the new house, we decided to go for a hike following the Thames Path.

I didn’t really know how big this trail was until last Saturday, when I saw National trail sings everywhere. It’s 184 miles long! Funny enough, I have done this trail myself many times before without knowing it.

When living in London, I used to go for long walks by the river: Tower of London to Big Ben, Millenium bridge to  Pimlico, Hammersmith to Richmond, among others. El Hombre was wondering what is it that I like it so much. Well, the answer is I don’t know. I just love being around water.

El sábado pasado nos fuimos de paseo con el Hombre. Decidimos hacer un trozo del Thames Path, que como bien indica, va por la orilla del río Támesis. No sabía que era tan oficial como para ser una ruta nacional, equivalente a los GR españoles, pero la verdad es que tiene todo el sentido del mundo. Y sin querer, ya había hecho varias partes de él cuando vivía en Londres.

So I found a very good route on this website, walkingclub.org.uk, Reading to Henley-on-the-Thames,  about 11 miles, and we just simply did it.

The route was very well described, step by step. We started in Reading walked by Sooning, then Shiplake. We stopped for berries, wheat or anything that could go into our mouths. We were amazed with some of the houses we saw (mansions) but, overall, the boats.

And finally, we got to Henley-on-the-Thames. Gorgeous!! The houses by the river looked amazing! The green was busy, families and friends having picnics, live music on the background… Super! The town itself was lovely too, but not so much different from any other village, I would say.

Así que encontramos una ruta ideal, Reading hasta Henley-on-the-Thames, 18km, y empezamos a caminar. De Reading, pasando por Sooning y Shiplake hasta llegar hasta el precioso pueblo de Henley. El paisaje a orillas del río no tiene desperdicio. Grande descampado con gente de picnic, música de fondo, muchísimas barquitas monísimas. Ideal de la muerte, de verdad. Aunque luego el pueblo por dentro tampoco se distingue mucho de cualquier otro pueblecito inglés, la verdad.

 

 

 

Two funny events after this hike:

1. The next day we went to a BBQ with friends where a girl had recently bought a boat and she’s ready to live in it in order to save money and be more sustainable. She has NO CLUE about boats. That was inspiring. 😉

2. Yesterday I found out that George Clooney owns a property in Sooning and his local pub is The Bull Inn (recommended on the route, but we just checked it out from the outside)

 

De lo que me enteré después de hacer esta ruta:

1. Al día siguiente fuimos a una barbacoa con amigos y una chica que estaba allí se acababa de comprar un barco para ahorrar dinero (en vez de vivir en Londres) y ser más sostenible. La chica no tenía ni idea de navegar, pues nunca lo había hecho. Admirable! (y yo la envidio!) 😉

2. Me enteré de casualidad que George Clooney se ha comprado una casa en Sooning y su pub local es The Bull Inn, pub que está recomendado en la ruta.

I might need to do something about it…

For more info about the Thames Path, check this out. Highly recommended!