Mr C surprised me with an impromptu visit to Hodnet Hall Gardens, a place I planned to visit (alone) the previous week but having tested positive for Covid I chose to stop at home to keep my bugs to myself.

We had lunch before walking round the gardens and grounds on one of the last open days for this season. The weather wasn’t entirely kind to us with a lone black cloud deciding to shed its watery load at just the wrong moment. The randomness of that cloud added to the enjoyment of our visit.

Thank You Mr C

After completing my Queen Elizabeth II memorial walking challenge; 96k (60 miles) by virtually walking from Sonning Common to London, I retraced my steps on the virtual route from London back to Windsor (just under 29 miles). I concluded my challenge with a ‘real’ walk along the 2.64 miles ‘Long Walk’ from the Windsor Castle Cambridge gate entrance to the Copper Horse statue of King George III.

We enjoyed the views and seeing the deer herd as we got closer to the large statue of King George III that is at the far end of the walk. I enjoyed the sense of achievement and reflected on Queen Elizabeth II as I took in the view from the elevated location before walking the pathway back to Windsor.

My medal didn’t arrive in time for it to be presented at the end of The LongWalk . When it arrived I had it presented in one of my favourite local places, Hodnet Hall Gardens which also has lovely tree lined walks.

All the proceeds of medal purchases were equally donated between selected Queen’s Animal Charities. I have made additional donations to two of them; RSPB and the Dogs Trust. I have also made a donation to The Queens Green Canopy which was an initiative to plant trees to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. The initiative has now been extended so that trees can be planted in memoriam to honour Her Majesty.

For breakfast I chose the continental option. It was every bit as good as I remembered it from last time. Comfortably replete, we walked through Windsor to the Cambridge Gates (The Windsor Great Park entrance to the castle).

The weather was perfect for the the walk; it was so warm we didn’t need to wear coats. The walk is 2.64 miles long and we enjoyed the views and seeing the deer herd as we got closer to the large statue of King George III that is located at the far end of the walk. We enjoyed the sense of achievement and took in the view from the elevated location before walking the pathway in the opposite direction in time for lunch in Clarence Brasserie & tea room where I chose fishcake with a sweet chilli sauce.

After lunch I sat on a bench whilst Mr C went to look for a Moroccan restaurant we had booked for the Monday night. He was gone so long I began to wonder if he had got lost or forgotten about me. Whilst I was waiting two ladies decided to sit next to me on the bench even though there were several empty benches nearby. As they had crowded me out I moved up a bit to give myself more space only for the lady next to me to shuffle up close to me again! I decided to move to a nearby vacant bench which turned out to be in a nicer spot than the one I had vacated. Whilst there I was asked to take a photograph of family group who wanted their picture taken standing in front of Windsor Castle.

When Mr C eventually returned half an hour later we walked across the Windsor bridge to visit an antiquarian bookshop that Mr C had remembered from our previous visit to Eton. Next we retraced our steps across the bridge in search of a naughty cake before taking a leisurely boat trip along the Thames to Boveney Lock after which we returned to the hotel to freshen up before dinner.

We dined in The Ivy Royal Windsor Brasserie. The food was lovely (I chose fish and chips followed by mini chocolate truffles) and we had excellent service and plenty of friendly banter with the gentleman who was waiting on us.

We finished our evening in Wetherspoons for a final drink before it was time to turn in for the night.

Our return visit to Windsor took place a week later than we had originally planned. Our plan was to revisit Windsor Castle, in particular St George’s Hall and St George’s Chapel, which was not fully open on our previous visit. The castle had only reopened a few days before our planned visit date following the passing of Queen Elizabeth II so we thought it might be busy that weekend.

Our journey to Windsor was accompanied by sunshine and mostly ran smoothly apart from a congested portion on the M40 which because of the queues, led to us missing Cherwell Valley services for lunch. We stopped at Oxford Services where neither of us were enamored by the lunch options. Eventually I opted for a sandwich from Waitrose and Mr C chose a KFC burger.  Modern life with on screen food ordering really isn’t for me. I like to get up close to the counter and see what is on offer without having to scroll through screens. The place was heaving and we were glad to get away from it.

Due to it being Saturday we found the road into Windsor was congested. The congestion was particularly bad  when we arrived at the car park which is next to Windsor and Eton Riverside station. This was where our hotel has reserved spaces that are pre-bookable. Cars were parked all over the place making it difficult to manoeuvre in and out of the car park. I got out of the car to do a recce and established there were plenty of spaces in the hotel’s reserved spaces for which we had pre-booked a ticket for the duration of our stay. We  had to be patient and wait in the queue until we got to the appropriate section of the car park.

Safely parked we checked in at the hotel, then walked back to the car to collect our luggage. The car park was still chaotic and I had difficulty manoeuvring my wheeled case between the narrow spaces between both parked and moving cars. I breathed a sigh of relief as I left the car park and stepped into a side road to let a car exiting the car park pass by me. The car driver drove towards me so I decided to move further to one side but the car driver tried to park her car in the space where I was standing causing me to leap into the only space left for me which meant hastily lugging my wheeled case up a curb to get out of her way.

Luggage safely in the room we opted not to go on the Long Walk as originally planned because we didn’t think there was enough time to enjoy it properly. We opted for a walk along the river instead which involved ice cream and a drink before a leisurely stroll ‘there and back’ along the River Thames starting at Eton Bridge.

Once back at the hotel we claimed our free drink which we enjoyed at our leisure, sitting outside on the hotel terrace before freshening up for dinner. We dined in A la Russe where I chose halibut steak followed by lemon sorbet, oranges, amaretto, and amoretti biscuit crumbs.

The place was buzzing and the food was every bit a delicious as it had been on our previous visit there. After each course we were asked if we had enjoyed it to which Mr C quipped as his (empty) plate was taken away, ‘As you can see it was awful’. At the end of the evening after paying the bill we were offered a complimentary glass of Limoncello, it would have been rude not to accept the offer. When it arrived the proprietress told Mr C that ‘it would be awful’ and as we left (with a twinkle in her eye) she wished us ‘an awful weekend’. Much laughter was had by all.

I chose a local route to complete my memorial walk in honour of the late Queen Elizabeth II.  The walk was perfect with both sunshine and showers.

I will now retrace my steps on my virtual route from London back to Windsor (just under 29 miles), concluding with a ‘real’ walk along the ‘Long Walk’ from Windsor Castle to the Copper Horse statue of King George III.

Day 14 of my Memorial Walk in memory of Queen Elizabeth II didn’t quite go as I had planned it.

My plan was to visit the Chelsea and Maxell gardens before embarking on a walk around Telford Town Park. My first choice of car park looked full so I opted for plan B. The car park is further away and involves walking through the shopping area but is slightly cheaper. I was shocked to find the parking charge had gone up by £1 since my previous visit earlier this year.

I eventually arrived at the Chelsea gardens to find that one of the gates was shut and there was a man with a key chain turning people away from the garden. I noticed that people were exiting the garden and that some of the benches and a garden area outside the garden had been cordoned off with red and white tape. Later I found that the gardens were closed due to unexpected circumstances (whatever that means).

I was a little unsettled by this turn of events so I wasn’t as adventurous on my choice of walking route as I might have been. This did lead to an unexpected delight when I found that the gates to the Stirchley Chimney were open so I was able to see it close up and get close to the remains of the nearby blast furnaces.

The Chimney is one of the principal reminders of the industry which once occupied the Town Park. 62 metres in height the chimney was built in 1873 on the site of an existing blast furnace.

Later, I sat in contemplation for a while on bench next to the Town Park war memorial before walking back though the shopping centre in search of afternoon refreshments.

On the way I was stopped by a lady who produced what looked like a petition to get services provided for deaf and mute people. After I had signed it I realised that I was also expected to provide a donation which I did… But I do wonder if perhaps I was being scammed!

Afternoon refreshments were also not to be, it was too late in the afternoon and the coffee shops were closing. Instead I chose to drive home the long way round. That part of my afternoon worked exactly as planned.

On the virtual map I have now arrived in Windsor leaving me with 25 miles to reach Westminster before the end of the month.