Mon 14th May - St Pauls to Putney

In contrast to yesterday (when I managed to get sunburnt on my arms) today was wet. Drizzle to begin with .. rain to follow .. then drizzle again later before it eventually turned dry .... just as we arrived at our hotel! My feet were sore today (mainly the little toe on my right foot) so I was glad of the toe protectors to save it from any more bruising. Early on we met three ladies coming the other way. They had just spent two weeks walking from the source. They showed us some video they had taken of the Thames Path flooded and where they had to wade knee deep through water. They thought it would have probably drained away by the time we reach there! Not so many diversions today but an awful lot of riverside developments which took you away from the river from time to time. It was noticeably quieter once we had got past the South Bank and the London Eye. Vauxhall and the MI6 headquarters was quite foreboding. Battersea Park with its peace and quiet was a revelation. We stopped for a coffee in Battersea - I thought of saying it was raining cats and dogs at the time but thought better of it :) As we found a table a familiar looking lady walked over and gave Sue £10 towards the sponsorship money. It was Charlie Dimmock (from Ground Force). In case you were wondering, Alan Titchmarsh was nowhere to be seen. Tomorrow is our longest day - we have 13miles to cover to Kingston-on-Thames. I do hope my feet (and especially my little toe) are okay by the end of it. Unfortunately it looks like it is going to rain again :( With today's walk that's 22miles done - but still a lot of miles to cover. After tomorrows long slog we have some easier 8 or 9 mile days to look forward to. Less walking and more 'feet up' time!