Eight of us turned up on Saturday 28th January for a short (six mile) walk followed by a pub lunch. We met outside the Duke of Edinburgh on Woodside Road, near Ascot, for a 10 o'clock start.
We set off along Kiln Lane, which soon became a footpath leading through farmland and bringing us out onto the A330 at the northern-most tip of North Ascot. An alleyway between shops took us onto the B3034 Forest Road, which we followed to a crossroads with Coach Road. This we followed, leading us back into North Ascot. We joined the Three Castles Path, just as it reached the Kennel Gate of Ascot Racecourse.
The Three Castles Path is a 60 mile route that links the Great Hall in Winchester with Windsor Castle, and passes Odiham Castle on the way. This route also passes through Ascot Racecourse, so we went in. (There wasn't any racing on that day.)
We passed Royal Ascot Cricket Club, which is on the land in the middle of the racecourse, and then went under the racetrack before crossing the 'straight mile'. Our leaders had been told by a local man walking his dog there, that it was possible to walk down the 'straight mile' and exit the racecourse at the end. We soon discovered this wasn't true and had to double back, but we had a little running race of our own, just to test the track.
After our little diversion, we rejoined the Three Castles Path, which followed a footpath parallel to the 'straight mile' and brought us out onto Cheapside Road. We left the road, continuing to follow the Three Castles Path into mixed woodland before leaving it for another footpath, taking us to Great Pond. Large parts of the surface of the pond were still frozen from the recent cold spell and birds were walking about on it.
Passing the pond on a footpath that took us through Paddock Wood and then Wood End, we emerged onto the A332 near the Loch Fyne restaurant. Crossing the road, we soon joined Woodside Road, which took us back to where we'd started, with plenty of time to change out of our muddy boots before going for lunch. See our route on Google Maps. Seven of us stayed for the pub lunch, and were surprised to meet the comedian Tom O'Connor in the pub.
An apology: The success of this lovely walk was marred by an error I made when copying the details from our website to the Ramblers Walks Finder. I got the date wrong and as a result, a few walkers turned up the day after we'd done the walk. I am very sorry for the confusion and inconvenience that this has caused. Rob Cameron
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