Twelve of us gathered on Sunday 24th April in the recreation ground car park in Old Windsor for a repeat of the walk that Kathy and Ann had led for us last year. The twelve included regulars, some less frequent BWW members (it was good to see them again) and a few members of other local walking groups.
We set off along roads through Old Windsor until we got to the Church of St Peter and St Andrew, where we joined the Thames Path. Following the River Thames as it snakes past Old Windsor and The Bells of Ouzeley pub, we continued along the Thames Path past Runnymede and Magna Carta Island.
As we approached the M25 motorway bridge over the Thames, we passed a large hotel with gardens by the river. In the garden were a couple of large deckchairs. I tried one for size. (See photo.)
Leaving the Thames Path we headed across a field and then made our way up the steep wooded path to Cooper's Hill and to the Air Forces Memorial. We stopped to have a look around this monument, erected in the 1950s in memory of over 20,000 men and women from the air forces of the British Empire who were lost during World War II.
We ate our packed lunches in the grounds before heading off along the road to Englefield Green. A bit more road walking and we were out of the village and heading round to the other side of Copper's Hill. On the way back down to the river, we passed the John F Kennedy memorial, where we stopped to read the inscription.
At the bottom of the hill we passed a permanent art installation consisting of twelve bronze chairs. The Jurors was created by artist Hew Locke in 2015 to commemorate the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta. After inspecting this unusual exhibit, we move on to the nearby National Trust tea shop for refreshments.
Re-joining the Thames Path we retraced our steps back to Old Windsor. We took a slightly different route through the houses back to the recreation ground. See our route on Bing Maps.
This interesting walk with lots to see was well worth doing a second time. This time the rain held off throughout the whole walk. Last time we had a couple of downpours!
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