Picnic by the river
Rob Owen, aged 32, tells us about his anniversary walk and picnic.
My wife and I went for a walk and picnic by the river for our wedding anniversary. As it was beautiful summer’s day we wanted to make the most of the sunshine, rather than just sitting in a restaurant.
We had bought a cool box that could be carried as a backpack, so this made it easy to walk along the river. We filled the box with our favourite foods – scotch eggs, tasty cheeses, chocolate-covered strawberries – as well as a chilled bottle of vintage champagne.
We set off from Caversham and then headed downstream towards where the Kennet and Avon Canal joins the Thames. It was a really warm day and it seemed to bring everyone out – there were families playing frisbee on the meadows, dogs jumping into the water, anglers dozing in the sunshine.
We turned back at the canal and then made our way to the other side of Caversham, where we couldn’t wait to get stuck into our picnic.
When did you do it?
July 2006
What did you like best about it, did everything go to plan?
We liked how friendly everyone was. When you're just walking down the street, nobody really looks at you and smiles. But when you're walking by the river, it's like one big happy family!
What did you like least, did anything go wrong or was not as you'd expected?
We had to walk to The Crown On the Bridge to use the toilet as we didn't know where the nearest public one was. But now we can use the visitthames.co.uk website to print out a map of the facilities so we'll be ok for next year!