Thu 17th May - Walton-on-Thames to Staines

Unfortunately the Garmin conked out this morning as the batteries were flat. They are re-chargeable but that doesn't help when the charger is back at home :) According to the guide book today's leg from Walton-on-Thames to Staines was 7 miles so that will have to do. Yesterday there was a mix-up at the b&b. We had settled into our room when the proprietor came a-knocking. Seemed someone else should have been in the room he had given us. We were moved into a bigger room at the front of the house for no extra charge :) The owner offered to drive us back to the river this morning. We had asked for a packed lunch but in the rush we had forgotten it. After the first mile we had to get a ferry across to Shepperton. We had just landed on the far bank when the b&b owner appeared waving our packed lunch. The ferryman whizzed over the river to collect it for us! We saw some more of those birds today - having checked the RSPB website we think they may be harriers but we're still not sure. We also saw a pair of grebes doing a mating dance in the river where they mirror each other's movements. A coffee stop at Chertsey and lunch at Penton Hook (where the river does a half mile loop to travel about 400yards. Then it was a short walk into Staines where we are staying tonight. When we checked in we were pleased to hear we had been upgraded to a riverside room. A nice early finish today so we had time to go shopping for (1) batteries! (2) tomorrow's lunch (3) a new cap for yours truly .. I managed to leave my old one behind somewhere along the way. With today leg completed I think that means we've now covered 51 miles - and so far the feet and legs seem to be coping okay.