The Gathering

We are just stuffing the last of our belongings into suitcases and will be off tomorrow to meet up with the rest of the gang at Heathrow International Airport.  I suspect the weather will be coolish but it could turn hot and most certainly will rain or, it could be cold...that is British summer.  Needless to say, we are pushing our weight limit on the luggage and will use only 1/2 of what we bring and leave behind all that we really needed!

We have hired a van service to pick us up at the various terminals and transport us all to our first hotel, The Red Lion in Cricklade.  I suspect the plan will, not go as planned, but I hope to be proven wrong.

Well, as you can see from the sign, we have arrived!  A seamless pickup and a quick 40 minute ride to our hotel.

The town of Cricklade is typical of small English towns, all activities center around the High Street
 with it's smattering of shops and several towering Churches; no matter what the population.



After a quick tour of town, emphasis on quick due to the size, we gathered for our first beer (for the men) and cider (for the girls) to get caught-up and do a bit of planning for the following day.

Cricklade is close to 21km's from the origins of the River Thames so we have organized a taxi to drop of us there in the morning.  We will then walk back into Cricklade for a second night tomorrow.  We are no too disappointed about that as the pub atmosphere looks great and the hotel has a good reputation for it's food and Gin.  Did I mention that they also brew their own beer....the boys were quite keen about that!
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 The river Thames.......just notice how narrow it seems!