Despite the weather forecast threatening two drops of rain all day today it was nice and sunny when I got up so I decided to venture down to the other end of Berkshire: Newbury. Unfortunately, just as I arrived there it clouded over and got a bit miserable, but at least it didn’t rain. Here’s a picture of Newbury if you’ve never been:

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Mostly I only know about Newbury because some people were very keen to bypass it when I was a child. I don’t really know why: it’s not that bad. I would suggest that they pedestrianise their town centre though.

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This is Donnington Castle a few miles outside Newbury. Unfortunately it was ruined by the parliamentarians in the civil war after a siege. How thoughtless: looks like it would have been a really good castle.

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This is the Newbury bypass itself. I remember the protests being on Newsround! Not sure what I think about this: I like countryside but I also like engineering :?. The bridges over the bypass, one of which I am standing on, apparently won the Concrete Society’s Overall Award for Outstanding Structures in 1999. Ooo.

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This is Snelsmore common: a nice wooded area. I do like woods this time of year! Apparently there are ponies living in here but I didn’t see any.

A few more photos here.

In summary: an OK day out but I probably wouldn’t go there again.