The second section of the Thames path that we completed was from Kingston to Windsor. This would be a two day walk. The first day from Kingston to Chertsey (17.8km) and Chertsey to Windsor (19.6km)
It had been a while since our first walk, we had to let winter pass. We optimistically planned our this walk for early April. A bit risky as the weather can still be very cold at that time of year. We were however, fortunate with the weather.
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We set out from our flat in Du Cane Court, Balham and caught the train to Kingston, which also happened to be the journey I take to work. This is us at home, before we headed off. It was a bit crisp in the morning so we had our jackets on.
Within about 500 metres of beginning the walk on the path we were opposite my office. The picture below is the office building where I work. I sit on the ground floor at the window 5th from the right. It's a great spot, close to the river.
Just a couple of hundred metres further on and we are opposite the Riverside Cafe, where I like to spend time taking a break from work, having a coffee. I've been there often enough now that I am on first name basis with a number of other regulars and the staff.
The next sight on the walk, only another 500 metres along the path (don't worry, I'm not going to be making comments at every few hundred metres). At the time we walked past, Raven's Ait was a deserted island with a run down conference/events facility. Access to the venue is by boat. It has since been revived as a venue for meetings, weddings etc. although I'm not sure it's doing particularly well.
Not too much further we made it to Hampton Court Palace.
Some of the waterfront properties. I'm not sure if this one wasn't actually a massive houseboat.
An historic cricket ground, which has a tea shop attached, we picked up a mid-morning coffee.
The Kingston radio station is called, Radio Jackie, here is the obligatory shot with the hoarding from the cricket ground.
We stopped here for a mid morning soft drink and more importantly a toilet stop
We then went and ate our home made lunch on a little rise where we had view over the river.
This huge house is on an island, it is called Eyot House, there is quite an interesting history to this place.
Richard D'Oyly Carte bought the island to use an an annexe to the Savoy Hotel (which he built). The local council wouldn't give him a drinks license so he built this house instead which he used as one of his homes.
Shortly after passing Eyot House we had a unique experience on our walk. We had to catch a boat across the river. It was just a little boat with just one other passenger, although she did have a bike! The charge was £1 or £2, and the journey took about 2 minutes.
Not much longer and we stopped in at The Thames Court pub. It was a really nice pub overlooking the river. At this point we pretty much felt like the walk was done so we had a couple of drinks. It was a pretty short day.
The only problem was, we still had a few kilometres to go before getting to our accommodation in Chertsey, and boy did I need the toilet!
After checking in at our accommodation we popped across the river for a drink in the sun at The Kingfisher pub to celebrate another great day on the path.
Our accommodation was great, we'd be upgraded to a 'river view' room, which was really nice. The hotel was one of the best that we stayed in on the path. Lacking in character but all the comforts we could ask for which was pretty important. The pub that was attached also lacked character but had great food and service, it was quiz night when we were there so we listened in for a bit before getting to bed.
This was the view from our room.
Before heading off to Windsor, a quick pic outside The Bridge Hotel, definitely a recommended stop if you're walking the path.
It was another sunny day but a cool start.
We walked through Staines, it's an unfortunate name for a town, and from our short visit it did live up to its name. I think they were trying to get the name changed to Staines-upon-Thames to make it sound a bit nicer but I'm not sure they'll fool anyone. The only benefit of Staines was that we were able to find a department store with a toilet!
As we left Staines we were walking past a row of riverside houses on the north side of the river, minding our own business when an old lady in her dressing gown hollered at us. It turns out we were on the wrong side of the river and were going to get to a dead end. This old lady had saved a number of Thames Path walkers from making this mistake, apparently the signage isn't very good so people don't realise they're supposed to cross the river at the previous bridge. She sent us back to the the bridge to cross the river and rejoin the Thames Path, what a saviour.
On the Chertsey - Windsor leg we walked past the Magna Carta memorial which is near Runnymede where the Magna Carta was sealed on June 15, 1215 (exactly 798 years ago today). My understanding is that the Magna Carta, in which the common people of England forced the King to limit his powers, is the foundation of the modern legal system in many countries including England, NZ and USA. In fact, the yanks love it so much, they funded the memorial.
Shortly after spending some time at the memorial we popped in to the magna carta cafe (of course there had to be one!) for a toilet break and before too long we had sight of Windsor Castle.
The walk in to Windsor was nice enough but Jackie wasn't feeling very well by this stage so we got to Windsor as quick as we could, had a quick bite to eat and then caught the train home with little fanfare.
