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Waterways and Windsor – a coda to our hiking trip

Ha! Surely you did not think I’d milked my recent travels to their full extent? No, no, dear peeps, that is not the case. So: a final post (hmm) about my recent adventures along the Thames, and let’s start with saying hello to Windsor. To me, Windsor is all about the castle, perched atop a […]

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Stolen Moments ~ Welcome to my blog

Hiking along the Thames – a summary

On one of my previous posts, someone left a comment asking me to specify our route along the Thames. In total, the route we walked is approximately 77 miles, around 125 km, but that excludes back-and-forth to hotels, plus detours. Like on our second day, we detoured to Dorchester, which added a couple of miles.

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Stolen Moments ~ Welcome to my blog

Hiking along the Thames – the final stretch

I was supposed to have posted this yesterday, seeing as I promised you a follow-up post about Cliveden House the day before that, but I was simply too tired! But better late than never, right? So: on Saturday’s walk,  we marched past Cliveden House, but after expanding on Bisham Abbey, it felt excessive to go

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Stolen Moments ~ Welcome to my blog

And we hike on – Bisham Abbey and onwards

We left Hurley in a grey drizzle, draped in rain capes. Boy have they proved their worth, those rain capes! Today, the Thames Path diverged from the Thames—at least initially—due to a closed footbridge. But by the time we reached Bisham Abbey, the river was a mere stone’s throw away. Bisham Abbey—the name itself is

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Stolen Moments ~ Welcome to my blog

Hiking along – from Pangbourne to Hurley

Walking from Pangbourne to Reading took us through a lot of classic English countryside – starting with a ramble through the Hardwick Estate. No, this is not the same as Hardwick Hall of Bess of Hardwick fame, that lies in Derbyshire, far, far from the Thames. For those of you who’ve never heard of Elizabeth

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Stolen Moments ~ Welcome to my blog

Hiking the Thames Path – from Abingdon to Pangbourne

If anyone were to ask me, I’d say I am in good shape. I might even go as far as to say I am in very good shape, given how much I walk on a daily basis plus my regular gym sessions. Ha! Double Ha! Walking 27 km yesterday over eight hours had me staggering

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Stolen Moments ~ Welcome to my blog

Hiking down the Thames – to Abingdon

Hubby and I are on a hiking holiday. First time ever for that, and just to make sure we did not get lost, we’ve chosen to walk along the Thames in England. It’s called the Thames Path, and from source to sea it is almost 300 km. We’re going to walk about 110 – 120

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Stolen Moments ~ Welcome to my blog

June – summer vibes and books

And so, at last, summer is here. The lilacs stand in full bloom, the apple blossom has mostly drifted away in little puffs of white blossom, the columbines sway elegantly in the breeze while the lilies-of-the-valley perfume the air. I wake at four to the chorus of overjoyed birds. Okay, I do not know if

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Stolen Moments ~ Welcome to my blog

Welcoming my 24th book baby – Queen of Shadows is here!

There are benefits to ushering book babies into the world vs real babies – like it doesn’t hurt quite as much. The labour behind a book baby is, however, in many ways as significant as that behind delivering a child. Hours and hours of research; days, weeks, months writing and honing your text; moments when

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Stolen Moments ~ Welcome to my blog

Gushing over The Escape of the Grand Duchess

Oh my, oh my. When I first picked up Ms Appleyard’s latest release, I was expecting to find it interesting. I did not quite expect to become so utterly engrossed I spent hours breaking off to research further, or to break off my reading to turn to hubby and say “did you know…” before launching

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