Its half-term this week, and at the start of the week I saw this expedition setting off down the river. They were going to camp overnight after about 20 KM.

I also watched this Oxford College crew picking their way carefully along Abingdon Lock. It was an education to me. Aftr that a single rowing boat went up the lock on its own.

First noticeable frost on the windscreen yesterday morning. A soft blanket of leaves lies beneath this Ash in the Abbey Meadow.

Here too, on the river walk across from St Helen’s Wharf, the leaves lay like a blanket, but these leaves are a lot more crunchy, so I’m not sure I can call it a blanket.

The speed limit on the B4017 between Drayton and Abingdon will be set at 50 MPH. You really have to put your foot down anyway to get up to 60 MPH on this short winding stretch. I remember the motor cyclist who was killed on this stretch about four years ago. I cycled past the slowly fading flowers left as a road side memorial for many days. I remember his first name, and people complaining that something had to be done about that stretch of road.

The parking spaces opposite the Co-op development are to be lost to the builders for the next 45 weeks. I don’t really begrudge them the space. We do after all want the store. But it will make it even more like a game of musical chairs for us residents trying to get a parking place. Grrr!

After last weeks heavy rain, the River Thames has been riding high from since before the weekend. At the Weir it looks dramatic.

Not many calm patches for the fishermen up that way.

At Abingdon Bridge the water swirls.

Only downstream could a fishing competition be managed. The green buoy lets the boats know they should keep away from the shallow water toward the far bank – opposite Wilsham Road.