Perilous and precarious painting!

A gorgeous crisp and sunny autumn day. To celebrate and enjoy the last day of half term I took the afternoon off and pretended to be a tourist.

Cycled to town via Abingdon Lock where the water was very high. A friendly Environment Agency woman with a large bunch of keys was opening all the weir gates let more water through.

Then I walked through the meadows and got some amazing views of the beautiful St Helen's wharf.

Finally, I made my way back over Abingdon Bridge where the famous Nag's Head Pub (on Nag's Head Island) has recently reopened after being shut for two years. It is a marvellous summer pub with its garden spread out across three islands connected by wooden bridges. It was originally three 16th century crofters' cottages. These were joined together to create the pub in 1856. You can make out the positions of the original cottages in this photo.

Hope I haven't bored you all with this potted local history tour! They've made a brilliant job of repairing the roof with old tiles (do press L to see more detail if you have time). Compare it to what the roof looked like 2 weeks ago! As you can see, final touches are still being made to the exterior paintwork.

I like this shot because the painters are engrossed and oblivious to the beautiful surroundings (and me on the bridge!).