Runnymede & Windsor Great Park 16 August 2015

On this Sunday I met up with the Windsor branch of Ramblers for a walk through Runnymede and the Windsor Great Park. The median age of the group was probably around 70 but they were pretty fit and very welcoming. We walked down through the forest and out on to the river plains. Runnymede is where the Magna Carta was signed in 1215 and is on the Thames river bank. It's a National Trust Site with a good tea room - actually all the National Trust sites have good tea rooms. That's my idea of a good walk - tea and scones at the end or in the middle of a walk, which was the case today. They have their priorities straight!

Down on the river plain is a fascinating art work  called The Jurors. The artist is Hew Lock and the work consists of 12 bronze chairs in the middle of a field, decorated with symbols and images "relating to past and ongoing struggles for freedom, rule of law and equal rights".

 

 

Each chair is embellished with symbols and pictures and invites you to sit down and join the conversation. 

 

 

 

There are some more monuments in the area, but that wasn't on the planned route.  I came back a week or so later so watch out for that post. In the meantime, tea and cake was on the menu.

 

Back to the Thames path.

 

 

 

The steamboat was apparently specially built for the Tarzan Greystoke movie, this according to the walk leader who is an absolute fountain of knowledge, but I can't find any reference to this anywhere else. The only movie I can find relating to this is Three Men in a Boat. Anyone seen it?

 

Onwards through a church yard with a redwood tree! That was a bit surprising. It isn't as big as the Californian trees or the redwoods in Grootvadersbosch but big enough.

 

 

Through Old Windsor and out into fields where we saw some incredibly happy and healthy looking cows. According to Pete, they belong to Prince Charles. Who knows? But they are in the right area.

 

 

And into Windsor Great Park. What a wonderful place.

 

 

As this was the tail end of an 8 mile walk, we didn't do much exploring. But we did run into a huge herd of deer who were mainly unperturbed by our presence. We got to within 20 meters of them.

 

 

 

 

My "Have to go back" list is getting longer by the week.