Henley-on-Thames and Oxford:

With the London Marathon on this weekend, the London campsite had been booked out for some time so we had to move.

Bob and Annette, our neighbours in Sydney who are in London on a posting with Bob's work, had intended to take us out of London for the day. Oxford was always on the cards and with us half-way there already, it was easy to collect us and drive there for the day. First stop for a cup of morning tea was Nuffield House a National Trust property after a short walk in a simply beautiful wood thickly carpeted with bluebells.

Oxford is where Bob did post graduate studies and they both lived there for some time, so it was excellent having guides who really know the place. We wandered through the town, through colleges and libraries and old halls, down narrow cobbled streets and by parks and gardens. An exhibition of medieval romance manuscripts was very interesting. We had lunch at the restaurant at the top of the Ashmoleon Museum. And for the whole time wandering around, it didn't rain … well it did start to rain for the last 10 minutes before we got to the car, but, hey, with our record here these last few weeks, that was amazing!

The site at Henley was just a fifteen minute walk out of the town so we walked in on Sunday. Henley is of course where the famous regatta is held. We walked around the town, taking in all the old buildings, many oak half-timbered structure leaning precariously over the streets. A beautiful little town, a very obviously up-market place even without checking out prices in the estate agents' windows! We walked along the tow path on the Thames for quite a while. This being a weekend, we were joined by crowds of people taking advantage of a few rainless hours. Eight crews and single sculls were training all along the river. We wandered back to the campsite and as we approached the van, the heavens opened and the rain poured down…