We were first up and had had breakfast before others appeared. It was raining so the planned picnic lunch was canned. However when Don drove us to the depot to pick up the car at 11.30am the weather was looking much nicer.

Although we got the car successfully we were not impressed . Out itinerary was very clear that Hertz no longer issue vouchers but the local agent was expecting to see one. We had just the relevant itinerary page and she thought as it said page 4 of 9 there was more information which there wasn't – the rest was about the rest of our travel. She couldn’t look up any details of our booking and was set to charge an extra 90 pound to allow me to drive. In the end we just took the car with one driver and will try to sort something out at another depot.

We had our picnic lunch on the table in the flat then piled into Don’s car as there is an extra row of seats in it so he could take all 6 of us.

We went first to Richmond Park, where we had been going to picnic. Instead we drove through the huge park and admired the deer. The grass was very brown as it has not rained much in the area for the last 2 months. We later found a sign that said Charles 1 had just taken land for a hunting park and later had enclosed it with a wall . Over 100 years ago it had been opened up for general use and that is the case today. The carparks were certainly full.

We went next to Richmond Terraces, from which you get a great view of the Thames river and surrounds. It is a popular place for special photos and there were at least 3 wedding groups there while we were walking along the terraces. At the start was Wick House and there was a plaque to say Joshua Reynolds had used the house for about 20 years. Ali was excited as she has an Art History degree and we had already talked about our brief visit to the National Gallery with her. There were a large number of donated benches here, usually given in memory of someone who had lived in the area. One amused me as it was given for the memory of someone 'who never sat still and was always active’.

We then drove in the direction of Windsor so Ali could see the castle from a distance and had a great view up an avenue to the Castle . We then went through Slough which John and I remember only too well as we had tried to get accommodation there many years ago. We had found it was very expensive and it was too late to return to Windsor where we had been so we ended up in Reading and paying an exorbitant amount.

We stopped at Boulters Lock, the area that we had gone to with Irene when we last visited. It is a favourite spot for Don and Margaret and we were keen to see it again. The working of the lock is always fascinating.

This time we saw a long boat with a dog on top, a posh looking boat with a nice looking bowl of fruit on the back and a boat with an assistant in a waistcoat helping with the ropes. This last one had a number of hampers in the back and the people in the front were sipping champagne.

We walked through the park area as far as the canoe flume which is part of the weir placed by a national canoeing group . We saw a lot of ducks including some babies being fed by Mum. We looked for squirrels but later found they had been culled a few years ago. The grey squirrel is not popular here as it has displaced the native red squirrel. The grey is generally more hardy but also is the carrier of a disease that kills the red without affecting the greys. We told Ami and Christian to check out Gunnersbury Park instead for squirrels as we had seen several there a couple of days ago.

We stopped at Cookham, an old village nearby where we had picnicked in the drizzle on the common in 2005. Today we just drove around and looked at the old pubs. The church here dates from the 11th century.

We then went home to eat leftovers for tea. Today Don was the very tired one although Christian was not much better. John did some puzzles, Margaret knitted for the prospective grandsons (having had it confirmed that both her twin daughters Jenny and Melissa are expecting boys), Ali read and I blogged.