THREE CASTLES WALK

15/04/2008 by Jen.

As you may know, Jen and myself are keen walkers, and we have for some time now, been trying to complete the Isle of Wight Coastal Path. 

Progress on this path has been slow, mainly because someone inconveniently put the Solent in between Wokingham and the Island. Which means we can only tackle the walk when we have a chance to get over there and have enough cash to pay the extortionate ferry fares. 

So we decided we needed a long distance path that’s closer to home, which we found, and is called the Three Castle Path. This path is approximately 58 miles long and runs from Windsor Castle, via Odinam Castle at the halfway mark down to the site of Winchester castle, now just an old hall. 

And so, on Saturday 5th April we tackled the first leg of the walk, from Windsor to Ascot, which covered about 8 miles of the path itself, plus additional bits getting to and from start/end points, meant we did a total of 9½ miles. All before lunch! 

At 8:30am, the taxi turn up to drive us to Windsor. Bit extravagant you might shout, but it only cost £5 more than the train and only took us 25min. Whereby as the train would probably take us 2 hours as it’s not direct. 

The taxi dropped us at the exact start point of our walk, at the bottom of Castle Street. Fortunately it being so early in the morning, the area was pretty much tourist free. No loud Americans saying “Isn’t the castle quaint” and “We have bigger ones back home that only took a week to build” blah blah blah. 

From here we headed down the cobbled streets around the castle past Nell Gwne’s house. Those not up on their history, Nell Gwne was famous for inventing the Intermittent Window Screen Wiper…….Or was she the one that was King Charles II mistress……….nah definitely the Wipers. 

There was even a Ye Olde Nell Gwne Chinese restaurant. No Chop Sticks here. You use Wiper blades instead. 

OK, back to the walk. We carried on through the cobbled streets till we came across the crooked house. 

This stands on the corner of Queen Charlotte Street which apparently is recorded as the shortest street in the country. I’m sure the Ewens know better, but we’re going with the what’s on the plaque. 

From here we headed towards the Long Walk. So called because….. it’s a long walk !  2½ miles from the Castle to The Copper Horse. One of those treks that just goes on and on and on. Bit like this blog! 

And hour later, we finally reach the Copper Horse on top of Snow Hill. The statue is actually of King George the II on his donkey. 

The views from up there were excellent. We could see Harrow on the Hill, Wembley Stadium Arch, and the baggage mountain at Terminal 5. 

Next was another long trek through Windsor Great Park and onto to the start of Ascot Race Course. Here are the Golden Gates at the start of the Old Mile Course now replaced by the inspirationally named New Mile Course! 

Walking along the side of the Old Mile course we spotted several of these concrete pillars. These were erected during the second world war and were used to support steel cables across the course to stop Ze Germans from using it as a place to land their planes. 

Finally the end of today’s section of the walk, at the crossing point of the New Mile course. You can see some old nag was running. Apparently odds on favourite for the knackers yard. 

Then it was just 1 more mile to Ascot station and home. By the way, the train was 35 min late. Nothing new there then. 

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