Pangbourne

Village on the Thames in Berkshire, with the Swan inn by the river. In Three Men in a Boat it is where the friends give up in the rain, leave the boat with the boatman and slink off to the station.

At a glance

Source	Author	Role	In one line
Three Men in a Boat	Jerome K. Jerome	turning point	In pouring rain the three abandon the boat at the Swan and catch the train to London.

Three Men in a Boat — Jerome K. Jerome (1889)

Source: Exploration of Three Men in a Boat · Three Men in a Boat · Original · Readwise highlight

We had deceived the boatman at Pangbourne.

• Role: turning point
• In the book: On the rainy return the friends plan to put up at Pangbourne, imagine the miserable evening ahead and instead leave the boat and everything in it with the boatman at the Swan, creeping off to the railway station with the dog to catch a train to Paddington.
• Why it matters: This is where the river trip ends, not with a triumphant return but a sheepish retreat, which is the book’s final joke on its heroes.