We set off later than we intended, stopping at Warwick services for lunch. The place was heaving, so we picked up some sandwiches and drinks for an in-car picnic before continuing on our journey, which took us to a small village called Brill. Brill was Tolkien’s inspiration for the village of Bree in Lord of the Rings.

Much to the bemusement of the locals I had my photograph taken with my Shire medal from my recently completed walking challenge. Afterward, as we we were driving along the motorway a Red Kite swooped down, swooping back up only just in time to miss hitting our car. Phew!

On arrival in Windsor we found the Hotel’s offsite car park then made our way to the hotel, Sir Christopher Wren to check in. We took our suitcases to the room before setting off for a cuppa and a walk around Windsor.

Back at the hotel we freshened up before dinner at The Boatman, a place we had dined on a previous visit to Windsor. We had a pre-dinner Prosecco whilst waiting for our food to arrive. Unfortunately the waiter got Mr C’s order wrong and the Roast Beef he ordered arrived as a Roast Chicken portion which he particularly did not want. There were no more roast meals left so he settled for fish and chips instead. There was no real apology, discount or sweetener for the error.

We returned to the hotel bar in order to use the free drinks vouchers we had received for making our hotel reservation direct with the hotel. The bar staff said the bar would be shutting early because it wasn’t very busy that night. This was to the dismay of at least 10 people who turned up just before the bar shut at 10 o’clock.