Rural Thames Path section 2: Chertsey to Maidenhead (12th Sept 2013)

This morning I woke up with a slight hangover and feeling very tired after a restless five hours of sleep! Just what you need before embarking on a 21 mile hike after doing 18 the day before! 

Blessedly, the trains behaved and I got to Chertsey in plenty of time. After plodding back through Chertsey and hitting the Thames, passing Laleham on the way, all of a sudden we're in Staines! This is where I realised my tracker wasn't functioning as it should and hadn't recorded anything from Chertsey! I have a fiddle with the phone, get the tracker from MapMyWalk on and then its, as ever. onwards! However, I just know that today is going to be a long, hard slog...

Swan sculpture at Staines

The Old Town Hall

The Swan

Staines Bridge

As we go through Staines, we cross the bridge and head on up an uneventful path, past the Runnymede-on-Thames Hotel and Bell Weir lock.I have to say, the number of houses on the riverside is awesome, and they come in all shapes and sides!

Coal post (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal-tax_post)

Bell Weir lock

Willow

We come into Runnymede, famous for the Magna Carta and cross a huge park before glimpsing the Magna Carta memorial up on the hillside. It would be too much of a detour for today to go and see it closer, as I am determined to spend a little time in Windsor, our next point to reach on this day's hike.

Heathrow is nearby(!)

Magna Carta memorial

We head past the Lutyens gatehouses and enter Old Windsor. The path continues with properties on both sides, then we have to turn away from the river and head on up to a busy road. After a short while, we head back down a slope and under Albert Bridge. Soon we hit the pretty village of Datchet and then follow the road all the way into Windsor, with its lovely castle and not-so-lovely tourists!

Old Windsor Lock

Victoria Bridge

First glimpse of Windsor Castle

Had a drink at the railway station

George V memorial

Victoria

Queen steam train

The castle though is magnificent and I spend a few minutes taking some photos and admiring the architecture. The tourists do begin to piss me off though! So it's time to leave and push on to my hotel for the evening in Maidenhead.

We pass the Royal Windsor Racecourse on the other side of the Thames, catching glimpses of stands and fences. My feet are starting to ache and my thighs are chafing. But I plod on manfully towards Bray and Maidenhead. Bray is a delightful village with a HUGE traffic problem! I wish I could eat at Heston Blumenthal's Fat Duck restaurant, but I don't think Heston would appreciate dusty, muddy, smelly old me! Oh, mustn't forget, but you couldn't blame me, for you can see not a lot of it, we passed Eton Dorney before reaching Bray.

Royal Windsor Racecourse

Church of St James

Eton Dorney, where they did the rowing at the Olympics

Bridge over to Bray

The Fat Duck

From Bray, I come off the Thames Path and head straight on the main road to Maidenhead and my hotel for the evening. As I'm walking, I start thinking, do I have to be strictly faithful to the Thames Path, or should I be looking to the long term, to the End2End I'm trying to complete, rather than meandering around the country? Something to think about in the next couple of weeks.

Anyroad, the hotel is a bit rubbish, but you gets what youse pays for I guess. However, the restaurant attached, The Flavours of Asia, served up a cracking meal with a couple of Cobras! Luvverley!