It was my wife’s birthday and after a meal near Oxford we went on a birthday walk beside the River Thames in Abingdon. St Helen’s Wharf was busy with birds after a boat stopped to feed them.

We walked over the bridge and along the causeway towards Culham.

Then we walked back along by the River Thames. There were huge mounds of wild Michaelmas Daisies beside the River, and out on the River oarsmen from Abingdon School were rowing by Abingdon Marina.

As we got near town my wife took this picture of The Old Anchor Inn.

I took one of the tall almshouse chimneys, looking like spaghetti in the River.

She took one of Abingdon Bridge.

The meal was at the Trout Inn. My wife is reading La Belle Sauvage: The Book of Dust Volume One by Philip Pullman, where the Trout Inn features extensively.  She says there are also mentions of Abingdon – there could be a future blog post about The Book of Dust – Abingdon.

Back to school this week for many. Clarkes shoe shop in Abingdon was busy the weekend before last. The barbers were busy last weekend and I ended up queuing in both.

Unlike previous weeks, there were not many families in the Abbey Meadow play area this evening. A couple were eating a large packet of crisps gazing out over the weir. A man was looking down the river from the Abingdon Lock fence.

We walked on, and as we looked back the man, and the crisp eaters were still there gazing at the River Thames. I took this view of the County Hall Museum seen through the lights on Nags Head Island.

Then this one of the sky with the clouds in long furrows. We bought the Abingdon Herald from the Co-op on the way home and looked first at the two page feature of the Wallingford Bunkfest last weekend.

What a remarkable event that is – taking over the town centre for three days.

The Friends of Abingdon organised some Bank Holiday Walks. There were four in the morning and four in the afternoon. In the morning (seen here) you could discover Abingdon Abbey, follow the steps of St Edmund of Abingdon,

circumnavigate the Abingdon Borough boundary from 1556,

or visit some alternative flowerbeds created by the Abingdon Carbon Cutters.

There were six alternative gardens: at Station House, in the Abbey Gardens (Pictured), beside the public toilets in the Abbey Grounds, by the kiosk of the Open Air Pool, alongside the new play area in the Abbey Grounds,

and the wild flower garden in the Abbey Meadow.