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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10/03/2008 by Jen.

We also picked up our BMW 3 Series Convertible at the weekend . . . . . . .

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12/02/2008 by Jen.

We’ve just got back from a fantastic weekend to Delft in Holland, where we stayed with Neil’s cousin Mark and his gorgeous girlfriend Liliana.

Delft is like a mini version of Amsterdam and personally we think it’s prettier. Canals, bridges, cobbled streets, soaring church towers (most are leaning over), a big public square surrounded by bars and resturants. I just wish we had some like it in England.

To top it all we had fab weather. Three days surprisingly warm sunny skies. We were able to sit outside eating out pancakes and drinking our beers whilst actually getting a little sun burnt! Neil had to put factor 50 on his head!

We even took a trip on a tram through Den Hagg to the beach. Can’t pronounce the place let alone spell it. Something like Skegness, but with a Dutch accent. When we got there we couldn’t believe how busy it was. Everyone out enjoying the unseasonal weather.

We’ve actually been to this beach before several years ago with Paul and Di. On that day however, it cold, grey and rather damp. I seem to remember us being the only people on the promenade. But Paul insisted he knew a good pancake resturant, so off we went. And it was good.

Anyway, our last day in Delft, we really decided to go dutch and all four of us hired bikes and headed off into the country. Considering how many bikes there are in Holland, it’s surprising how old fashioned even the new bikes are. Most don’t have brakes, those that do, don’t do much apart from make a horrible grinding noise. Quite worrying when your cycling along a path 2 foot wide with canals either side, and then you meet another cyclist coming the other way. The Dutch on bikes don’t slow down for anything.

After several miles we found ourselves at an old windmill, converted into a resturant. Good apple pie to be had.

Then unfortunately it was time to head back and catch the train to the airport. All over far to quick. Wish we could have stayed longer as there were so many bars and resturants that needed investigation. 

Definately a place we want to go back to.

 Many thanks for a fantastic weekend to Mark & Liliana

Neil & Jen x

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03/10/2007 by Jen.

PUMPKIN!!!!

We had a rather strange ‘beanstalk’ (as quoted by a rather curious neighbour) growing right across our lawn over the summer.

First we thought it was a cucumber. But it grew a bit. So we thought, maybe it’s a squash? But it grew a bit more. OK we thought, maybe it’s a marrow? But then it slowly started turning orange.

It was this massive pumpkin!

Said pumpkin has now been harvested and is ready for pumpkin soup.

But, I hate pumpkin!

So, where did this strange triffid come from?

We had our Godson down last Hallowen. Having empied out the pumpkin of the seeds we had fun cutting out a scary face (modelled on Neil!). Seeds from last years pumpkin were put into the compost bin - say no more.

To give you some sense of it’s size, we took a picture of it next to Greebo (very difficult to have him sitting so still) and a enormous tin of Ginger Beer.

jb x

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