Summer in England 2015 – part 2: rowing on the river at Tonbridge

The next day was overcast and had rain forecast, but we’re made of tough water resistant English stock – no hiding inside for us!

We had wanted to hire a boat and cruise down the river at Tonbridge, but the exchange rate was terrible and my $AU are now worth about 30% less in £GBP than last year, so we had to downscale our ambitions a little bit.  

So rather than the boat on the left, we took out one of the ones on the right..

I was hilarious! We were hopelessly uncoordinated at rowing.

Ella and I had an oar each and we succeeded on going around in circles more than once!  Henry sat on the back of the boat and enjoyed himself as he was a little small to be pulling an oar.  We’d only been out for a few minutes when the heavens opened and we had to seek shelter under a bridge for a while.  Undeterred, as soon as it let up raining, we carried on and rowed around the island.

It took about an hour to row around the island, colliding with the river banks and going in circles, but we’d almost perfected it by the time we were heading back.

After that, we noticed that the mini railway was running, so the kids had a go on that too.  Ella despite being a teenager, loved it and stated that she’d never get bored of it.  She’s a good kid!!

  

Once back home, we went out for a poke around the park and river at the back on my parent’s house.

Ella found a tree branch down across the water and wanted to walk along it – I suggested she remove her brand new trainers..just in case!

We had a great day just doing simple stuff, proving that you don’t need to go crazy to have a good time.