Monday December 11, 2006

Two walks in two counties

On Saturday we did a short three mile walk around Maidenhead Thicket that we have done many times before. This walk was in Berkshire. The day was full of bright sunshine and little wind. On the Sunday we decided to do a walk we did many years ago which was difficult to follow as the Eton rowing Channel was under construction and the path diversions were not at all clear. This walk is in Southern Buckinghamshire which seems quite odd to me, I always associate Bucks with the Chilterns. Sunday had started with a very sharp frost but rain was predicted for later in the day. We started at Boveney the other side of Maidenhead from us. The area is very attractive and there are a lot of conflicting landmarks. The River Thames, and the more modern transportation of the M4 and planes taking off from London's Heathrow airport. In the distance the buildings of Windsor Castle and Slough's power generating chimneys can be seen. We left the car park and found the river flowing fast and muddy and the pretty 13th century church of St Mary Magdalene by it.

Soon on our right was Eton college's rather ugly modern boat house and behind it the two Kilometre rowing lake now complete at a cost of ten million pounds. To fund it the college allowed gravel to be extracted from the area - this extraction is now complete. We past Windsor Marina on the opposite bank and then the Gothic designed hotel Oakley Court built in 1858 converted to a hotel in 1980. Again on the opposite bank the 18th century Down Place could be seen now the home of the Bray Studios. Here we turned away from the river and past the other end of the Rowing channel. We met a narrow road and past St James the less Church and the half timbered Dorney Court built in 1440. The word Dorney means Island of bees and the court still claims it fame for its honey but it actually is more famous for being the first place in the UK to grow a pineapple that was presented to Charles II in 1661.

We then met and turned left on a larger road and went into the local pub the Pineapple which does around 1,000 sandwich combinations. I had my usual sausage sandwich which was excellent. Upon leaving the pub it had started to rain lightly. We then followed another watery recent addition the Maidenhead Flood relief Channel now complete. This area has been carefully created to provide a haven for wild birds. We left the channel soon and walked across a field attracting large amounts of mud to the bottom of our boots. Common Road was crossed and we then had a pleasant walk across Dorney common its lush grass that did a great job of cleaning all the mud from the field off our boots. We met a narrow road where it crossed Cress brook and followed it back to the car park. an excellent five mile walk.