A boat trip from Oxford
Last Sunday I had the great pleasure of being invited along on a boat trip down the River Thames - a celebration of my partner's uncle's 80th birthday.
We set off at noon from Folly Bridge in Oxford, passed through two locks, sailed as far as Abingdon, turned round and came back.
The sun was shining, there was plenty of food and drink, and the river, and the countryside. All in all, a splendid day.
These are some of the photographs I took on the little voyage.
Folly Bridge is a stone bridge over the River Thames carrying the Abingdon Road, south from the centre of Oxford, England. It was erected in 1825–27, to designs of a little-known architect, Ebenezer Perry (died 1850), who practised in London.
The bridge is in two parts separated by an island. The origin of the name is uncertain although it has been suggested that it originated about 1650 after a tenant of Bacon's study.
It couldn't have been better arranged. As we were returning upriver to oxford, we were buzzed quite closely by a Vulcan bomber. An astonishing sight, this graceful, decades-old aircraft - apparently the only one still flying.
