For breakfast I once again chose a few items from the Full English option. On this occasion my plan for a smaller breakfast didn’t work, the chef added extras of the items I had chosen so that my plate was full!

After breakfast we checked out of the hotel  and drove to Bury St Edmunds in order to visit St Edmundsbury Cathedral. It was one to add to my Cathedral passport which details my pilgrimage to British  Cathedrals since the passport was launched in 2020. Starting the pilgrimage  off was a bit of challenge, shortly after the pilgrimage passport was launched England and other parts of Britain were put into lockdown due to the Covid 19 epidemic.

At the Cathedral, a lady from the tourist information area pointed out some highlights and suggested we also visit the nearby St Mary’s church where Henry VIII’s sister, Mary Tudor is buried next to the high altar. She also told me to look at the spectacular Angel vaulted ceiling.

We enjoyed our tour of the Cathedral where we learned that the tower and crossing were quite modern and completed in the 1950s. We had enough time to visit St Mary’s where we were greeted by one of the guides who shared detailed history of the building including the location of Mary Tudor’s (Queen of France & Duchess of Suffolk) tomb. Mary Tudor was married to Louis XII of France until his death after which she married the Duke of Suffolk.

Besides the two beautiful church spaces the town of Bury St Edmunds is delightful. We didn’t have time to explore the town but we had just enough time to visit the Abbey gardens before continuing our journey to Windsor.

We broke our journey for lunch in The Old Butchers at Balsham a place recommended on the Extra Mile website. On arrival we found the menu was not as extensive as the website suggested but the food (in my case a cherry flap jack with yoghurt topping) was both excellent and delicious. The weather was warm and sunny allowing us to sit outside.

The remainder of the journey to Windsor was tedious; lots of motorway and duel carriageway driving. On arrival at the hotel we checked in and found that we had been booked into the same room we had stayed in on our previous visit. Initially we were a little dismayed, we had been hoping to stay in the annex near to the car park and station. We also remembered the bed being a little on the small side, which it is not.

Later I realised the problem was the mattresses were tired which meant I kept rolling into the middle (small bed space). The mattresses have been replaced and are now super cosy.

We chilled out in the hotel room, cooling off from the muggy heat before enjoying our free pre-dinner drink in the hotel bar. Then we walked the short distance across the bridge into Eton where we dined in the Cote Brasserie. Before returning to our hotel for the evening we had a nightcap in the George Inn.

After breakfast we walked to Windsor Castle to pick up our pre-booked free-return visit tickets. We had a mini panic when we arrived at the desk. Mr C should have received a confirmation email with a booking reference to enable us to collect the tickets but this had not arrived. Thankfully the lady on the desk for pre-booked tickets was able to track our order down via the £2 fee that we had paid for making the booking on line in advance.

We chose to visit St Georges Chapel first as this was one of our main priorities to see because it wasn’t fully open on our previous visit. There was only a small queue which less than 5 minutes to enter the chapel. It was easy to enjoy the chapel and see its many features. We were able to pay our respects to Queen Elizabeth II as we passed the King George VI Memorial Chapel, her final resting place. It was humbling to see the newly marked ledger stone with both hers and Prince Philip’s inscriptions beneath those of her father, George VI, and mother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Now the family are together again resting in peace.

The sun shining through the stained glass windows lit the chapel in a spectacular way, the Quire was positively twinkling with light and energy, displaying all that was on offer. It was an uplifting experience leaving me with a sense of joy and wonder as I left the chapel.

Next we entered Windsor Castle and lingered in our favourite rooms. We were also able to enjoy the Castle view of The Long Walk and relive our experience of walking it the previous day.

We joined the queue for lunch in the Undercroft Café which was just as busy and chaotic as it was on our previous visit. But thankfully this time I didn’t have someone standing so close they were physically touching me. There was a lovely couple in front of us who we got chatting to as we waited to be able to pick up our chosen food options. The sandwich section was a bit thin on the ground (awaiting restocking) so we opted for cake instead.

After lunch we thought we might visit St George’s Chapel again but the queue had turned into a long winding snake with 40 minutes wait to enter the chapel. We decided to drive to Maidenhead instead in order to visit the Heritage Museum. When we arrived we found that it was closed on Mondays. Silly us for not checking the opening times! Not to be deterred we decided to return to Boulters Lock and Ray Mill Island which we enjoyed on our previous visit to Windsor. Approaching it from the the opposite direction we briefly found the wrong car park and had an altercation with a picnic table that had been placed in an unexpected area of the car park.

At the island I hinted that perhaps we might like to go to the café for an ice cream. Remembering how delicious it was on our previous visit, I chose wild cherry. Rays Mill Island was every bit as delightful as I remembered it. I had the privilege of seeing a Kingfisher sitting on a post, but he was gone in a flash of blue before I could even consider a photograph.

We returned to the hotel to find that our room had been serviced. We had been told that rooms were currently only being serviced on request and we hadn’t requested a service due to a poor experience on our previous visit.

Later we dined in Al Fassia, a Moroccan Restaurant.  The restaurant manager was very welcoming and after my first choice of dish was not available, helped us to choose our main courses. We shared the restaurant with a lovely group of ladies who it turned out were there for a birthday celebration; their lovely girly giggles were so joyful to hear.

We returned to the hotel via Wetherspoons. After we had settled in our chosen seat we had to move due to a large group choosing to sit on a small table next to us with one of the group placing his chair back leaning on Mr C and jostling him continually!  We headed back to the hotel the long way round because of a diversion due to roadworks.

St George’s Chapel is the place of worship at Windsor Castle. It is both a Royal Peculiar and the Chapel of the Order of the Garter.

The castle chapel was established in the 14th century by King Edward III and began extensive enlargement in the late 15th century. It has been the location of many royal ceremonies, weddings and burials. The chapel is located in the Lower Ward.

In 1348, King Edward III founded two new religious colleges: St Stephen’s at Westminster and St George’s at Windsor. The new college at Windsor was attached to the Chapel of St Edward the Confessor which had been constructed by Henry III in the early 13th century. The chapel was then rededicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, St Edward the Confessor and St George the Martyr. Edward III also built the Aerary Porch in 1353–1354.

The chapel was a popular destination for pilgrims during the late medieval period. The chapel was purported to contain several important relics: the bodies of John Schorne and Henry VI of England and a fragment of the True Cross held in a reliquary called the Cross of Gneth.

• More of the history can be viewed here.

Created by King Charles II, the Long Walk was introduced in 1680 – although it was not until 1683 that the avenue was extended to its current length. The iconic Copper Horse which stands guard over the Long Walk was also a later addition.

This impressive statue, depicting King George III on horseback, was erected in 1831 to commemorate his significant contribution to Windsor Great Park.

A stroll along the Long Walk and through the Deer Park is the perfect way to soak in the history of the grounds, enjoying a landscape that has barely changed in 1,000 years. Windsor Great Park and forest is home to one of the largest populations of ancient oak trees in northern Europe. In fact, there are trees still standing today that saw William of Normandy ride past on Royal hunts.

Unfortunately we didn’t have quite enough time to walk the full length of the walk to view the statue of King George III.

After a good night’s sleep we were treated to a river view in the hotel’s dining room whilst we enjoyed our breakfast selected from the hot and cold options on offer. We then walked over the Windsor bridge into Eton looking for suitable places for evening meals.

Our recce complete, we made our way to Windsor Castle where we had pre-booked tickets for a visit. We knew that our bags would be checked but weren’t expecting a full airport style scan. This caught Mr C off guard, especially when he realised that his multi-tool knife might fall outside of what was allowed through. He had been expecting to have to leave his bag in a locker before entering the grounds, but this turned out not to be the case. He declared the multi-tool knife and just to be on the safe side, the lady checking us through security put it in a bag and gave Mr C a ticket to retrieve it when we left the castle grounds.

Just after we entered the castle grounds, we realised that the ‘Changing of the Guard’ ceremony was about to take place. We hurried to the parade ground to see the Coldstream Guards stand down and be replaced by the Ghurkas. We didn’t have a prime spot for capturing photos but it was a great experience.

Next we entered Windsor Castle to see the rooms and State Apartments. Mr C lingered a while in St George’s Hall where he particularly enjoyed the Coats of Arms displayed on the ceiling. After our tour of the castle it was time for lunch in the Undercroft Café. There was a queue, where unfortunately the man behind me was crowding  me out so closely that he was physically touching me. How rude!! When we arrived at the serving area I stepped aside for Mr C to order our food and choices. The same man, by getting too close, caused Mr C to step aside. The pushy man tried to make an order only to be told to step aside so that Mr C could place his order first. The café was rather full with no tables free but luckily we were able to share a table with other diners.

After lunch we made our way to see Queen Mary’s Dolls House where, much to our surprise we found there wasn’t a queue. The detail of the miniature items within the house is amazing.

Before leaving the castle (and picking up the contraband item) we visited St Georges Chapel, finding that its history wasn’t shown off to its best advantage.

It was too early to return to the hotel so we returned to Eton and attempted to follow The Eton Walkway, a short two mile walk. At one point the directions were confusing, leading us to miss out at least one of the points of interest.

We dined in a lovely French style Bistro, A La Russe where I learned that service à la russe (service in the Russian style) a manner of dining that involves courses being brought to the table sequentially, and the food being portioned on the plate by the waiter (usually at a sideboard in the dining room) before being given to the diner.

This is different from the older service à la française (French: [sɛʁvis a la fʁɑ̃sɛz]; “service in the French style”) in which all the food (or at least several courses) is brought out simultaneously, in an impressive display of tureens and serving dishes, and the diners put it on their plates themselves.*

After dining Mr C made his way to a pub. On my walk there I was heckled by a couple as I walked past them. I chose to ignore them and as I walked on by I heard them shouting ‘Oi Doris’ to me. I carried on walking and didn’t look back. The chosen pub turned out to be rather dodgy, with substandard wine.

On our way back to the hotel we lingered on Windsor bridge enjoying the views. We had a short (friendly) encounter with a slightly tipsy man who engaged us in conversation.  Eventually we were able to make our excuses and return to our hotel. The slightly tipsy man was last seen walking towards two ladies that were also on the bridge.

*Info from Wikipedia