Length: 17 km (10.6miles)
Toughness: 2 out of 10
London Waterloo: 10-20 hrs South Western service to Ascot Clapham Junction 10-28 hrs
Arrive Sunningdale: 11-08 hrs
Return
Windsor & Eton Riverside: 23 & 53 mins past the hour South Western service to Waterloo
Windsor & Eton Central: 20 & 40 mins past the hour Great Western service to Paddington, changing trains at Slough
Rail ticket: if you plan to return to London from the Riverside station you should buy a day return to Windsor & Eton Riverside plus a single ticket from Staines to Sunningdale. If you intend to return from Windsor Central you will need separate single tickets.
I'm making a guest appearance as walk poster for the next two Saturdays as Thomas G, your usual walk poster, is away on SWC trips.
Spring flowers are blooming two plus weeks early this year, so I am hoping I am not too late to catch the azaleas and rhododendrons at their colourful best in Valley Gardens.
Today's walk starts in Sunningdale from where you head for Coworth Park then Virginia Water - and the River Thames, your main water feature for today (sorry - the old ones are the best ones). Onwards then to (hopefully) enjoy the azaleas in Valley Gardens, to drop down to the Totem Pole and on to Obelisk Pond for lunch nearby in Savill Gardens at its restaurant, a large cafeteria with inside and outdoor dining areas. Picnickers can enjoy their lunches by the Pond.
After lunch you walk down Rhododendron Drive before heading via Cow Pond, with its water lilies, to the entrance to Windsor Deer Park. Once inside the Park you have a choice of route, depending on how much of the famous Long Walk you wish to walk along. This walk, straight as an arrow, eventually ends in front of Windsor Castle. You have a good choice of walk-end refreshment stops in Windsor: for tea a good option is the Cinnamon Cafe in the Windsor Royal Station retail precinct. For something stronger, the Boatman pub on the river is a favourite with SWC walkers.
Enjoy !
T=1.18
Walk Directions are here: L=1.18
1 comment:
n=11 in w=dry-and-sunny weather. Flowering shrubs only slightly past their peak. Lunchtime cafe is now called the Savill Garden Kitchen. For those wanting a lighter meal, there's a cafe to the rear in the Savill Garden visitor centre. The Totem pole is being taken down and laid flat out on the ground this year because this is what one does with ageing totem poles. Or so the indigenous tribal medicine man has recommended, according to a nearby public notice.
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