Sun Aug 26 11:14:53 2007
Watery Pursuits
Rowing on the River Avon
Yesterday was another gorgeous summer day, and on a Bank Holiday weekend, too! So we decided to go for one of our favourite pursuits: Boating on the Avon. Not having access to a car we had to take the train to Bath and walk from there. We walked through Henrietta Park on the way to the Boating Station. On a totally calm day the reflections were perfect.
We arrived very early, before 10am (blame the jet-lag). The Boating Station wasn't quite open yet so we hung around admiring the view. This is an array of punts but we were after a rowing boat. Those-Who-Provide-Most-Of-The-Muscle-Power claim that rowing is more civilised than pushing a boat around with a stick. Nothing to do with being not very good at pushing a boat around with a stick...
With no wind to speak of, and no boats out yet, the reflections in the river were perfect.
Wildlife-spotting is usually very successful on the river because a boat is so quiet. Yesterday we saw a squirrel, a moorhen and a dove as well as the usual ducks but the prize of the day goes to this heron. We followed it down the river.
On the way up this weir forms an impenetrable barrier whose location coincides with that of a pub. The natural thing to do is to moor the boat at the thoughtfully-provided landing stage and have lunch in the pub garden. The setting was absolutely lovely in the sunshine.
