🥾 Walk 367 - Ascot Heath and Great Pond

Sunday 10th February started off grey and drizzly, but this didn't stop thirteen of us, including a couple of newcomers, from turning up. As often happens with days that start like this, the weather improved throughout the day.

We set off from the car park on Ascot High Street and soon joined the Three Castles Path, which ran parallel to the 'Straight Mile' through a thin strip of woodland before joining Cheapside Road. We followed the road for a short stretch before entering woodland at Penslade Bottom, where we left the Three Castles Path, taking a route past Great Pond to Wood End.

Crossing the busy A322 Windsor Road, opposite Loch Fyne, we followed some quieter roads to Woodside. We were a bit early to stop at either of its pubs for refreshment, so we carried on through Brookside Farm and into North Ascot and Burleigh.

We re-joined the Three Castles Path as it entered Ascot Racecourse from Kennel Avenue. Here the road crosses the race track in an ingenious way. The track is not high enough above the road for a bridge, so there is a sliding platform with turf on the top and the road just beneath it. It slides on rails, to leave a gap in the track and revealing the road, allowing road traffic to enter the area of land within the loop of the race track.

Passing the pavilion of Royal Ascot Cricket Club, we stopped in Ascot Heath to have our picnic lunch. Sitting amongst the low bushes and shrubs, we could clearly see the racecourse grandstand.

After lunch, we continued to cross the heath on the Three Castles Path, passing under the race track though a road tunnel. We then walked across the race track itself at the Straight Mile. We left the Three Castles Path at the point we had joined it in the morning and it was then just a short walk back to the car park. See our route on Google Maps.

Thank you to Jane for leading the walk and to Colin for providing one of the photos.

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