Perfect day.

We'd meant to do it since last September and it never worked out for us for one reason or another.

This time we got it right - we took a boat trip from Richmond to Kingston.

We parked up in my secret place, walked along the river bank in glorious sunshine and then our boat arrived.

Here it is, turning round;

It's just the most amazing feeling when things work out....when they usually don't.

This is the terrace at Richmond which we were leaving behind us;

It's so strange being used to views of places you've known all your life and suddenly you're looking at them from different angles.

We made good speed;

Here we're leaving Eel Pie Island at Twickenham behind us;

When we got to Kingston we walked along the river side until we found somewhere to eat our sandwiches.

It's the kind of town where young people come over for the nightlife, get drunk, fall in the river and drown. So this big block of water was a clever idea;

We went to the old guildhall where one of the Thames tributaries joins the river at the ancient 'Clattern bridge'. Just before that you can catch a glimpse of some very fine fish. I don't know what these are but they were at least a foot long;

I'm not exaggerating, really!

We had a look at 'The Coronation Stone' - it's where the ancient Kings of England were crowned, at least they were for about a hundred years starting in 900 AD.

I'm sure this is a 'Sarcen Stone' just like the ones we saw at Stonehenge or the one in Lambton Park in Hounslow.

I bet it was considered sacred a long time before 900.

Doesn't it remind you of 'The Stone' in the legend of King Arthour? The one King Arthur pulls the sword out of in the legend?

It's also how Kingston got it's name; 'Kings Town'.

We wandered around looking at the shops, we had a coffee and all too soon it was time to catch the boat to Richmond.

There were fishermen, elegant Cormorants, the weir and lock at Teddington and then suddenly we were back where we started at the end of a perfect day.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)

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