A year ago Dushan Salwathura opened the long closed Nag’s Head on Abingdon Bridge.
Now it has now been named as Oxfordshire’s Best Pub of the Year in the CAMRA awards.
A CAMRA spokesman described it as “an astounding achievement”.
The Oxford Times has a disturbing story about a woman being shot whilst walking between the Appleford railway bridge and Culham.
The gunman was on the right bank and fired across the water.
This is a most unusual incident. People are usually only injured when jumping into the water.
Deptford Dockyard and the adjoining Sayes Court Garden have been highlighted the World Monuments Fund 2014 Monuments Watch.
The announcement was made in New York today by WMF President Bonnie Burnham who presented a list of diverse cultural heritage sites at risk from Venice to Aleppo in Syria.
The inclusion of Deptford highlights the historic importance of the site now due for controversial redevelopment.
The first ever national online pub guide has been launched by CAMRA.
The guide is called whatpub.com and has been compiled by thousands volunteers.
A test on Lechlade brings up The New Inn and The Crown as one would hope.
This site is handy for bed and breakfast searches as well finding a pub with food and real ale.
CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide is of course also a good pub guide with always good suggestions for which pubs on the Thames Path are worth stopping at for lunch.
The 2014 edition just published confirms well-known pubs such as The Waterman’s Arms at Eton, which is on the path, and The Crown in Lechlade.
The Thames Path seems to get more mentions this year.
The most handy listing must be for The Bounty on Cock Marsh near Cookham where opening used to be vague. Indeed the address has always been difficult as it is just over the railway bridge from Bourne End.
Before the footbridge was attached in 1993 you had to ring a bell and be rowed across from the station side. The delight is that the pub cannot be reached by car.
Editor Roger Protz has nailed down some opening times: 12 to 11pm in summer and weekends only 12-dusk in winter.
The Thames Path in London has been named the second best urban walk in the world.
Lonely Planet’s 1,000 Ultimate Adventures (£15.99) published this month has the 32 mile walk through the British capital ahead of the Great Coast Walk in Sydney and the Berlin Wall Trail.
Top trail is the Tijuca rainforest in Rio de Janeiro famous for Mount Corcovado and the huge statue of Christ the Redeemer.
London’s Thames Path allows the visitor to see the Thames Barrier, Docklands, Greenwich, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, Southwark and St Paul’s cathedrals, Borough Market, Tate Modern, Parliament, the Boat Race course, cattle at Richmond and Ham House stately home and the ancient town where Saxon kings were crowned.
The Daily Mail has the best pictures including one of a conservancy gate which will be familiar to those walking beyond London.
Convoys Wharf at Deptford is open on Saturday 21 September (11am-4pm) as part of Open House London. The site is the former Deptford Dockyard founded by Henry VIII and now due for redevelopment.
In a corner of the dockyard, at the end of Watergate Street, is The Master Shipwright’s House which is 500 years old this year. The building is open on both Saturday and Sunday (10am-1pm).
Convoys Wharf will have a pop-up cafe but the Dog and Bell is in nearby Prince Street. The pub on the Thames Path is in the just published Good Beer Guide.
A post box has appeared just above the water on the side of Sonning-on-Thames bridge.
It is a mystery to Royal Mail and villagers including Uri Geller.
A blue plaque in honour of boat builder Samuel Saunders of Saunders-Roe fame has been unveiled on the Royal Mail sorting office in Goring-on-Thames. The building, a former boathouse, is in the High Street at the end of the bridge.
He was born in The Swan at Streatley on the opposite bank in 1857. His father Moses was the last ferryman and Samuel inherited the boat-building business. He moved to Cowes on the Isle of Wight in 1901 only because he was building boats which were too fast for the Thames.