It's middle October in London and it feels like California fall -- cool, brisk mornings, cloudless skies, and sunshine galore. Pinch me! A day like this is not to be wasted anywhere but particularly here...and we didn't!

Forty-five minutes northwest of here is the Chilterns Area of Natural Beauty -- a wonderful place for walking and breathing in the fresh air. First thing in the morning we brewed a cup of coffee, assembled a couple of roadies, and loaded in to the car of a day's adventure. We ended up in Watlington with this walk as the plan: http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/Ridgeway/uploads/watlington3.pdf

It turns out that this area is a breeding ground for Kites - which are these spectacular birds of prey that used to be near extinct in the UK. They were re-introduced in the late 80s and have done incredibly well. They graced the skies with their flight; all seemingly out for a "joy ride".

Our walk took us through farm land, past an apple tree loaded with fruit for the pickin' and up to the top of Watlington Hill where we could look out over the surrounding valleys -- clear views in all directions! Reaching the "summit" entitled us to a proper pub lunch at the Fox and Hounds -- delicious food and extremely dog friendly. Foster was in his element. We wrapped up the day with a steep descent down to the start of our walk and a short tour around the town. Being a small town, it was pretty much closed at 5pm. Shame too, because Todd had eyed some pork pies that he was going to buy from the butcher earlier in the morning. Good thing we managed to pick up a few pumpkins at the local market before we started our walk!

Nice to get out of London for a day and see a part of "our backyard".