As mentioned, I decided to take some time and some pictures in The Wilderness before continuing on to the office so there are a number of pictures of the daffodils and other flowers in the garden. I also took a number of self portraits. I am not really happy with any of them, but I decided when I started this blog that I would upload all the photos I am taking – even the bad ones – so that you could see the process of taking pictures the way I do. Having tarried a while, I continue south, through the tilting yard and past the castle itself.

Spring in Bloom

I am assuming that the ball-shaped foreign vegetation growing high in some of the trees on the palace grounds is mistletoe.

Exiting the castle grounds on the south side, I walk along the Thames River for a short piece, and then turn left and walk along the A309 though East Molesey to Summer Road. This stretch is a bit the longest, most boring stretch of the walk.

Once on Summer Road, I head east back toward the Thames and into the village of Thames Ditton. I walk past the narrow street with too many cars parked on them and up to the Ferry Works, where the office is located. The Ferry Works is in an old factory that at the turn of the last century was in the business of making parts for the ferries that ran all up-and-down the Thames. There is a cool view of the roofline that shows the serrated line of the roof with the huge banks of windows.

On the way back, I spotted something that took me aback. If this is what it appears to be, it is the largest Spanish Bayonet that I have ever seen! I had not expected to see tropical plants in England; I had thought this was a temperate climate rather than a tropical one. Well, it is lunchtime and I am off to the pub for a bight and then into Surbiton for some shopping. More on this gorgeous weekend tomorrow.

I hope you have a wonderful day wherever you are!

Don Bergquist – 19-March-2005 – Thames Ditton, United Kingdom