Old Windsor and Old Friends, A Delightful Combination



The gate at Windsor Castle is the beginning (or end) of the Long Walk.

Our Airbnb in Old Windsor is just outside of  the town of Windsor. We stayed in the area because it is close to where we have some long-time friends. We had three goals for our stay: (1) to visit Mitch, whom Kevin worked with in England in 1989-1990, who lives with his current wife Zora, and we also wanted to see Susan, his former wife. We are friends with them all. (2) Because we have visited Windsor and toured the castle before, we didn't intend to tour it again, but we have never taken the Long Walk in Windsor Great Park, just outside of the gates, where the funeral procession of Queen Elizabeth II entered before her service, so exploring the Long Walk was also a goal. (3) Finally, we wanted to go to Runnymede, where King John signed the Magna Carta in 1215.


We went into the town of Windsor to complete some errands, and then we walked up to the castle gate and entered the Long Walk.

Kevin actually did a short run on the Long Walk later.

I think it's marvelous that local people make use of the Long Walk and the park to walk their dogs, run, and just enjoy the beauty of this royal estate. We certainly enjoyed this stroll through history. So one of our goals was met, though not yet the most important one of reconnecting with our friends.

Later in the day, though, we met up with Mitch and Zora. Mitch had to work while we were there, so we met up later in the afternoon. They had visited us in Port Ludlow last year, but we almost instantly picked up the conversation as though it was yesterday. After our catching up and viewing the renovations and re-decorating they had done to their home, Mitch and Zora took us to the pub the Red Lion for dinner. Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling well, so I only had a half a bowl of soup, but Kevin indulged in a traditional meal of bangers and mash, one of his British food favorites.

Mitch and Zora treated us to a meal at the Red Lion.

Two goals down! We also reconnected with Susan, but, I'm afraid I got so involved in our conversation that I failed to take a photo of her. It was so rewarding to see them all and catch up on their activities and children, now adults, who called us Auntie Rachel and Uncle Kevin when they were small.

As for goal number three, that was to come.









Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reflections on Our Trip

Image
  Now that we're back home, what thoughts do we have about our trip? First, it could scarcely have been better. It was everything that we hoped and more. We did have a few regrets, but those had to do with the fact that our plans were revised because this trip was supposed to be with our friends Greg and Kay. We had planned a trip to England with them in 2016, and we had to cancel, and then, in 2020, when we had everything booked, a certain virus meant we had to cancel everything. So we were sad that they could not go this time. Our other regret is that we weren't able to see all of our friends who live in and near Europe, such as our Danish friends and my Italian friend, Fiorenza, whom I haven't seen in years. We also had hoped to meet up with our friend Kathryn, who lives in Morocco. But that's an excuse for further trips, right? I almost titled this post, "We Haven't Lost It!" because Kevin and I both were pleased that everything went as planned. After ...
Read more

Our Return to "This Scepter'd Isle"

Image
Our walk took us by Windsor Lock on the Thames Path. Yes, we're back in the land of Shakespeare again, not to mention the land of cottage pie, bangers and mash, and that "heart attack on a plate," the full English breakfast. We've been pining for the latter since our last trip here was cancelled in 2020. (And we all know what happened in 2020.) But when we arrived on Sunday, September 1, it was too late in the day to satisfy our longing, so after dropping off our bags at our Airbnb in Old Windsor, we chose to head along the Thames Path. That Kevin! He couldn't resist photographing me next to the arrow! We encountered a few dog-walkers, joggers, and bikers along the way. A sign before the entrance to the path reminded us we were, indeed, back in England. Although some of the words were worn off, we smiled to see a familiar warning: "No fly tipping." And no, it does not mean giving small monetary gifts to flies! It's a typical British sign advising tha...
Read more

A Stopover in Dartmoor

Image
Ever since I read The Hound of the Baskervilles when I was young,   I have been fascinated with Dartmoor. In the past, we have spent a lot of time walking on the moors to prehistoric standing stones and stone circles--some older than Stonehenge. It's always been a magical place for me. Once, when Kevin and I were walking up to a tor, one of the stone outcroppings above the moorland, a mist descended. We could see only a short distance. Suddenly, we heard  horses's hooves pounding through the silence. Very quickly, a man and woman in riding gear emerged from the mist on two large brown horses. "Halloo," they cried, and almost immediately dissolved into the mist as quickly as they had appeared. I remember turning to Kevin and asking him, "Were they real?" We didn't have a lot of time to spend in Dartmoor this time, because we wanted to focus on places in Cornwall that we hadn't been to before. But we were at Cadson Manor a day before Shirley arrived, a...
Read more