Hiking in Oxfordshire with the former Prime Minister of Israel

Ok... the title is a bit misleading... but it's still a good story! The day started pretty early with a group of us from the College taking a classic London black cab to Paddington Station where we boarded a train bound for the historic town of Henley-on-the-Thames. As the St-Catharines crowd is well aware, this town is well known for its rowing history - with its first rowing regatta dating back to 1839. We hiked from the town of Henley-on-the-Thames through Grey's Court and Rotherfield Peppard.

Well, let's just say that we've experienced first hand the english country side. Beginning with walking through a field surrounded by hunters shooting at birds... That's when I thought to myself... this can't be really safe... but then, we made it through just fine and Greg made a few friends. Here is a classic picture of one of the hunters and his dog.

After more than 5 hours of walking through the fields and with our feet wet and muddy we then decided to stop at a small pub for lunch. Maybe I should specify that it was the only pub in the region. Well, it was quite an experience! I was the first one to walk into the pub and as I did I felt like if I just walked into someone's house. I am so used to the London city phenomenon it caught me by surprise when everyone that was having a pint at the bar introduced themselves and was asking about our group. We ended up spending a couple of hours by the fireplace, playing board games and eating the good traditional fish and chips! Below, is a picture of the old pub.

I couldn't help but take a few pictures of the scenery...

Before boarding our train back to London we decided to have a nice cup of tea... sitting outside on a patio overlooking the river... I know... so english. Well, all of sudden "people watching" became quite interesting. So, a big black van pulled in front of us and two men walked out each with their earpiece... clearly body guards. Then, an older distinguished man came out with his wife. So at this point, Greg said he recognized the man but couldn't quite place him. Next time I see bodyguards I will take pictures even if I don't know who the person is! So, as the couple strolled away along the river... Greg was exercising serious peer pressure and asked me to go talk to the driver of the van... And of course, without too much convincing I went. Our mysterious couple turned out to be Mrs. and Mr. Netanyahu (former Israeli Prime Minister). The driver told us that if we wanted to wait around we could take a picture with him. I really wanted too! It would have been quite funny with mud all the way up to our knees! It would have made for a classy picture! Anyhow, turns out that we would have missed our train! All this to say, it was quite a fun day!