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Links: to Spain, by way of Windsor: 02 Rally Finish Onto Spain: 05 onto Leon 06 Astorga 08 to El Acebo 12 O'Cebreiros |
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Old Windsor. 11 May, Sunday Heathrow airport is big. Seriously big. In the 12 years since I’d been here, I’d forgotten how big, how daunting this huge complex is. This time, I was travelling solo, an aspect that compounded my trepidation. Plus the load I was carrying two full-sized wheelie cases, a backpack and a handbag. The second suitcase is for Dave, carrying his holiday clothes that wouldn’t have fitted into the rally car which brought him to the UK via the Australian Outback, and across Europe in the Sydney to London Marathon. I needed not have worried – two local bus services and a taxi ride later brought me to my hotel here in Old Windsor. “Old” is to distinguish it from its younger neighbour, formerly known as “New Windsor”, now simply Windsor, occasional home to the British Royal Family. Old Windsor dates back to the 9th, while today’s Windsor is a bit of an upstart, tracing its history back only to the 12th century. To give the area its full title, it's the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. The Crooked House of Windsor (below) is one of the intriguing sights of New Windsor. According to Wikipedia, it was first built in 1592 and its 'lean' is said to be the result of the builder having used green timber in its re-construction in 1718. It's now a restaurant. |
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 It's on the Beaumont Estate, a property first recorded in the 13th century. Some of the buildings are a little over-the-top, including one, for obvious reasons, now called "The White House" (below), but it was originally called Beaumont Lodge. |
 The locals are friendly, with directions for the buses and their connecting services, plus encouraging words when I stopped for cup of tea and a sandwich in a corner caff directly across the road from the Castle (above), before heading out to the forgotten Windsor, where the rally is scheduled to finish this afternoon. Old Windsor is under the flight path to Heathrow, but fortunately, our hotel seems well insulated against any sound problems.
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 It's had various changes of fortune since then, at one stage even being a Jesuit school, but now, it's a conference centre. It also bills itself as "A Hotel and Inspirational Venue" (see sign above), whatever that means. Our room is nothing like as grand as the appearance of some of the buildings would suggest. It's very motel-ish, but still quite comfortable albeit on the small size. Its accommodation wings are so spread out that guests can have their daily exercise with just a couple of walks to and from their rooms to reception. That might be the only walking I do today - the temperature outside is 11 deg (at 11am) - with the qualifier that it "feels like" 8 deg!. But maybe, I should just rug up and get on with it. (later) Whoever gave the information for the weather website lied, by several degrees. My fleece and gloves were barely adequate for the walk down to Old Windsor village. One local told me it was a 10 minute walk. Another lie. Once I put the cold out of my mind, I enjoyed the stroll. Maybe it took longer than anticipated because of the frequent stops for photographs. The Olde English look of the village demanded the attention of the camera, and I didn't resist. |
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| Next: the finish of the rally | ||||||||
