We're back from a time in my home county of Berkshire.
One day I took a walk around an area of my home town which we used to call The Chestnut Tree Walk because of the avenue of horse chestnut trees along by the River Kennet.
The River Kennet is part of the Kennet and Avon Canal, a stretch of waterway in the south of England. The two rivers, the Kennet and the Avon are linked by a canal and this is overall referred to as the Kennet and Avon Canal Waterway.
The last mile of the River Kennet in Reading, Berkshire before it joins the River Thames has been navigable since at least the 13th century. Because there was no wide floodplain wharves could be built during the Middle Ages that allowed Reading to establish itself as a river port. Reading remained a relatively small market town until the 1960s and I remember there were wharves further along this stretch of the river near the Victorian development of Huntley and Palmers' biscuit factory. Once railway links had been established the waterway fell into decline until it was restored in the 1990s for leisure and wildlife conservation purposes. Originally the river would have been under the control of Reading Abbey. Today it's administered by the Environmental Agency.
Soon the chestnut trees will change colour and a walk in the early Autumn months on a sunny day will be just as enjoyable.
Huntley and Palmers' Biscuit Factory stood on the site just across from the bridge in the background.
Only one remnant of the Victorian building remains - the facade and outer walls of a small section of the factory complex.
Turning to the right from Chestnut Walk is the entrance to the ruins of Reading Abbey - more about that next time.
Meanwhile, I hope you're having a good week. The transition between August and September, Summer and Autumn is proving to be a pleasant one this year for many because of the sunny weather. We've had some spectacular evening and night skies with the August full moon and wonderful sunsets on occasions. I haven't been able to post everything we did in August, but that will have to wait for another time. However, I will leave you with some sunset photos that I managed to take as a passenger travelling back home on Sunday evening. I would liked to have been able to take some from a stationary situation as the changing colours seemed to go on and on well into the darkness of late evening.
