Random thoughts and photos of my journey through life…
My afternoon walk was in Attingham Park, always a lovely place for a walk.
I enjoyed the walled garden in glorious sunshine whilst the rainclouds floated ever closer. As I left the garden the clouds started to release their watery content leading me to walk the woodland paths so I could keep relatively dry.
It was a beautiful refreshing walk, listening to rain and birdsong along the way 
2 Comments CherryPie on Jun 30th 2022
I entered the Mines of Moria through Durin’s door. I then navigated my way through the mines meeting hazards along the way, to face one last hurdle where to my dismay a wizard went over the edge at Durin’s Bridge. Once on the other side of the bridge I was able to claim my medal.
Then after a brief rest I started on the next part of my journey, ‘The Eye of Sauron’…
No Comments CherryPie on Jun 29th 2022
Some highlights from my post Windsor holiday walks.
4 Comments CherryPie on Jun 28th 2022
We enjoyed our final breakfast with a window view over the Thames, making a full set of breakfasts with window views. Before checking out, Mr C parked the car at the back of the hotel near to our room so that we could load our cases into the car easily. As we were loading the car, two buses came down the narrow street, one of them hoping to park in the space next to our car. The space wasn’t quite big enough and we weren’t quite ready to leave. This led to the buses doing manoeuvers and the two drivers having to wait at the end of the street until we had handed in the room keys and vacated the space we were parked in.
We visited Waddesden Manor, a place that has been on my ‘To Visit’ list for many years but we had never been in the right place at the right time to make it happen. There is a lovely long walk to the manor where you catch glimpses of it through trees until it reveals itself in all its ‘French Renaissance château’ glory.
I wasn’t disappointed. The house and gardens are stunning, although the pools for the fountains were empty of water and the aviary was only partially accessible due to painting and refurbishment. This just means we will have to visit again soon.
We explored the gardens before eating lunch in the Stables Courtyard where I chose blueberry and lemon cake accompanied by elderflower presse. After we had eaten, we made our way to the manor for our timed ticket entry slot. It wasn’t a busy day so we were able to enter the manor early which turned out to be a good thing due to the numerous rooms and displays on offer.
We left Waddesden late in the afternoon and programmed the SatNav for home. Shortly afterwards the SatNav responded that there were delays which would add an hour to our journey. We had hoped to pick up a ready meal from one of the motorway services but the SatNav found a quicker route which meant we bypassed all of them. Back in our home town, much later than planned we purchased a Chinese Takeaway meal from Sainsbury’s, which, after unpacking our cases, we enjoyed with a refreshing glass of wine.
4 Comments CherryPie on Jun 25th 2022
We were due to meet my nephew for lunch so we spent the morning in Windsor. The first place to visit was The Parish Church of St John the Baptist to see the 1660 painting of The Last Supper. As we arrived outside the church Mr C realised that he had forgotten to pick up his camera. He returned to the hotel to get it which left me plenty of time to find lots of other treasures within the church. When Mr C returned I showed him some of the more interesting features.
As we left we realised that the Changing of the Guard ceremony was soon to take place so we lingered a little so that we could see the soldiers marching out of their barracks on the way to Windsor Castle to take up their guard duty standing down the Ghurkas that we had seen mounting guard on our visit to Windsor Castle.
After watching the soldiers march we walked to the George IV Gateway at Windsor Castle, the start of the three mile tree lined ‘Long Walk’ to the copper statue of George III riding a horse. Being time limited, we didn’t quite reach the statue before we had to turn back.
Along the walk I was presented with my medal for the Platinum Jubilee Challenge, received for my pledge to walk 70 miles for the Queen’s Jubilee and a total of 100 miles for May’s National Walking month. On the Long Walk I had an interesting encounter with an Old English Sheepdog. He came to say hello to Mr C then circled around me pushing his way through my legs from behind before jumping up and gently putting his front paws on my shoulders. The owner was surprised at his behaviour as he doesn’t normally do that.
Back in town we made our way to Clarence Brasserie & Tearoom where we were meeting my nephew and his good lady for lunch. We had intended to sit outside but a few spots of rain and an ominous cloud led us to retreat indoors. This turned out to be a good choice; shortly afterwards the heavens opened! It was lovely to see my nephew and we had a good catchup over lunch.
After lunch, Mr C and I went to Henley where I was hoping to pick up a couple of outdoor clothing items from the Rohan outdoor shop. I arrived to find that the summer waterproof jacket I was hoping for was not due to arrive until the end of June. The fleece I was looking for was in stock but not in my size. Apparently, I was the second person that day who had enquired about the jacket in that size and they don’t stock all sizes these days due to online shopping. Well to my mind that was two sales lost on that day for not adequately stocking shops with merchandise. Before returning to the hotel we had just enough time for tea and cake, in my case the cake was passion fruit and frangipane.
We dined in a Thai Restaurant, The Giggling Squid. The service and food were excellent but for the second night running we had been placed within the fierce, icy blast of the air conditioning unit! We had a nightcap in Weatherspoon’s before returning to the hotel for our final night before returning home the next morning.
8 Comments CherryPie on Jun 23rd 2022
My medal for the second stage of my Lord of the Rings challenge has arrived.
I travelled from Bree to Rivendell where I accepted the challenge to carry the One Ring to Mordor, At Rivendell a Fellowship, the Fellowship of the Ring was forged to help me on my quest.
The Fellowship has now arrived at Durin’s door. The doorway leads into the mines of Moria. Gandalf is figuring out what magic is needed to open the keyless elven door.
6 Comments CherryPie on Jun 22nd 2022
Whilst enjoying a leisurely breakfast, we were treated to another early morning river view. After breakfast, we stopped at the hotel reception area to request replacements for the essential items that had gone missing when our room was serviced the previous day.
Supplies suitably replenished, we returned to our room and gathered what we needed for a day visiting Brooklands museum which is home to the world’s first purpose built car-racing circuit and an aerodrome. Mr C was particularly interested in seeing the historic steep banked car racing circuit dating from 1907. On arrival he was able to sit in the cockpit of a racing car and drive along a simulation of the track.
As we made our way around the museum we were lucky enough to be treated to personal guided tours by museum volunteers. The first such tour took us around what is known as the Loch Ness Wellington, the only known surviving Brooklands-built Wellington. This Wellington, N2980, developed and engine problem during a training flight in 1940 and ditched in Loch Ness. In 1976 the Wellington was located in the Loch by a team of American Loch Ness Monster hunters and subsequently raised.
Later we were given a detailed explanation of the Stratosphere Chamber, designed to simulate atmospheric conditions such as snow wind and ice where planes, boats, clothing and other equipment were tested out for vulnerabilities in order to improve their design.
After our personal tours it was time to board Concorde with our complimentary boarding pass. Our tour guide, a former flight attendant on Concorde, shared both technical information and anecdotes. Suitably seated and ready for flight, the pilot, via video, gave us additional information as we reached Mach 2.02. We were told not to look outside the windows at it might spoil the illusion. When we reached our destination (right where we started) we were given a complimentary flight certificate to commemorate our flight on Concorde.
I have only touched the surface of the things we saw during our visit to Brooklands and there was so much more to see, but we ran out of time. This meant that our planned visit to Runnymede later in the afternoon had to be postponed for another occasion.
Back at the hotel, we had time to relax and freshen up before dining in the Cote Brasserie which is located just on the opposite side of the Thames, via Windsor Bridge, from the Hotel Christopher Wren. Then it was back to the hotel for a nightcap in the bar, which on this occasion, was still serving when we retired for the night.
8 Comments CherryPie on Jun 20th 2022
