1 year, 50 days since the start of the 1st lock down in March 2020
We listened to Simon Calder’s usual weekend broadcast at midday along with our coffee and a little later Chris contacted Colin to say he would be walking Branston on the Ham Lands close to us. I have not seen Chris for ages due to the lock down and it was very nice to see them both. At the last minute I changed my fleece for a waterproof jacket which was just as well as the weather veers between warm sunshine and torrential downpours.
We walked all the way from Teddington (stopping after 5 minutes for an ice cream at the newly reopened Flying Cloud cafe) and then over the bridge to the Ham Lands. This is a good cut though to Ham House and avoids all the cyclists on the tow path. We kept walking all the way to Richmond where we stopped again for a drink and I enjoyed a cafe latte. It is good to see that the herd of belted cows are back for the summer grazing on Petersham meadows.
Over the bridge and the high tide had receded enough to enable us to walk back along the tow path towards Orleans House and Twickenham. As I did not have a mask (forgot to take it out of my fleece pocket) we did not cheat and get the bus but walked all the way home. A total of well over 7 miles and well over 18,000 footsteps.
I took a lot of photos so this is a montage of our walk showing the ominous storm clouds and bright sun on Richmond bridge. I even managed to include my favourite belted cows.
