Day 18 - Runnymede to Walton on Thames

 26 August

We woke to beautiful sunshine and a quiet river.

We went downstairs at our hotel, The Runnymede, for a HUGE buffet breakfast, a breakfast made for walkers, it was delicious.

We loved our brief stay at the hotel, it had everything we needed plus so many other lovely things such as the pool, river view etc

We were headed into this direction underneath Runnymede Bridge towards Staines for our walk today.

If you are interested in history, then this spot became of very important historical interest in the 1980's; in 1975 the development of the M25 was underway and had reached Runnymede, and construction of a bridge over the river was about to start.

Local archaeologists spotted some pottery fragments first of all, these were dated at 750BC, so a team from the British Museum were dispatched to come and have a look. Well, what they found became so significant it led to the site being protected as a Scheduled Monument in June 1980.  Over the following summers during 1984 - 1990, further excavations were carried out.

The finds can now be found in The British Museum.

Before these excavations little was known about late prehistoric SE England prior to the Iron Age, the archaeologists were able to build a much clearer picture of the Late Bronze Age through their findings of evidence of structures, pot fragments, flint and metal tools, jewellery and animal bones, Runnymede was obviously a place for regular social gatherings, it is also clear that the river played a fundamental role.

Egham Museum created a documentary in 2017 about Runnymede Bridge and this can be found on the website HERE

A big moment of the whole walk was making the marker of walking underneath the M25, leaving behind the countryside of Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire.

And who knew how amazing these bridges were underneath!

We love arriving at bridges, walking underneath and looking up, seeing the reflections, the design and hearing the rumble of all the traffic going overhead.

But almost immediately we were surprised to find ourselves back in lovely woodland!

But it was quite brief as we were about to enter Staines upon Thames

A river crossing point since Roman times, the barons used to gather in this area before meeting King John at Runnymede. 

The Romans built a road from London to Silchester which runs directly under the modern high street of Staines upon Thames and crossed the river by bridge.  For the next 500 years or so this was the only crossing over the river outside London!

 A stone commemorates the fact that Staines was a horse-changes site in 1805 when news was being delivered about the death of Horatio Nelson.  

Did you know the town used to be a major producer of linoleum!

1864-1969

The Domesday book which was published in 1086, a large land registry put together by William the Conqueror, the whole of Staines was valued at £35!

Staines Bridge, designed by George Rennie, son of John Rennie who built the original Waterloo Bridge, has 3 arches in white granite and was opened in 1832.

In 1197 King Richard I needed money to pay for his Crusades so he sold the rights over the River Thames between the Estuary and Staines to the Corporation of the City of London.  In 1285 the limits of this jurisdiction of his was marked with boundary stones and The London Stone, a replica can be found in the Memorial Gardens. 

Posing a bit further down from Susan posing was this chap and his swan, this is

The Swanmaster

by Diana Thomson.

In the 12th Century all the Mute Swans in the land were owned by the Crown (and eaten!)

The Crown still owns all the swans and in early July the Swan Master and his team of Swan Uppers row along the Thames for 5 days checking the health of swans, counting them and measuring the Cygnet population.  It's a Swan Census!

 In the Middle Ages and after, apart from their meat, the swans' quills were also used for writing.  Quills from geese were much more commonly used as they were cheaper, and preferred by many people who found a swan’s quill too stiff to write with easily. However, a swan’s quill was said to last as long as 50 goose quills, and Queen Elizabeth I preferred to write with a swan’s quill. 

There is alot more information, photographs and history on the Vintner's Company website.

We walked towards Laleham village, mainly for a loo and coffee stop, it had been very quiet up til now.  We certainly didn't need food, we were still going well on our super charged breakfast!  (Laleham means 'village of twigs or willows')

I didn't realise at the time that Laleham, apart from it's history, is the seat and home of the Lucan Family, since 1803, with the 2nd Earl.  The 7th Earl was the one who famously disappeared in 1974 after being accused of murdering their family nanny at their London home.  When the Lucans left, Laleham House/Abbey was divided up into flats and the 70 acres of grounds were given to the public as Laleham Park.

There was a church (All Saints dates from the 12th century and monks from Westminster operated a grange and watermill here in the 13th century) a post office/small shop with machine coffee, a closed pub, so not really worth a detour from the path!

Houses and boats were getting really interesting and bigger from here!

We had a little rest at Penton Hook Lock, all the locks have really good information boards, they help you see the shape of your river journey, and how the section you're currently doing fits in with where you've been and where you're off to next.

We were aware of alot of water, more than just the River, at Penton Hook there is a really impressive loop, in the early 19th century the narrow neck of the river was broken by flood waters, so often, that barges often took a short cut.  The first lock to address this was built here in 1815.  The whole area around here is now run as a Nature Reserve, it's popular with anglers and is quite the wildlife haven.

Big shiny houses, Surrey prices!

And yes this is a house, barrel style ... would love to know the history of this one ...

This was our first walk on a Saturday along The Thames Path, there were lots of families, bikes and dogs around, it was lovely.

Hello, another bridge, this time it's the M3 crossing the river.

We were needing a rest, loo break and coffee/hot chocolate and found the pub called  The Kingfisher, this would be a perfect spot for lunch but we were STILL full from breakfast!  It's a big pub, really friendly staff, great menu.  We sat in a little corner, readjusted our shoes and laces and had a breather.

The clouds were coming in and we needed to work out how much further we were going to walk for Graham to meet us at the other end, and where.

We'd walked 5.5 miles 13,000 steps.

We didn't see any of Chertsey, it's known as a large commuter town due to it's proximity to London and it's transport links with the M3.  It was built up around the Abbey, founded by the Bishop of London in AD666 and it grew to become one of the largest Benedictine abbeys in the country until it's dissolution by Henry VIII in 1536.

After the dissolution the Benedictine community moved to Bisham, near Marlow, the buildings were demolished and the stone moved downstream to improve Henry's new home at Oatlands Palace at Weybridge.

And a fact for my Dad; in 1776 Chertsey Cricket Club was the first club to add the middle stump to the then normal two, due to gardener 'Lumpy' Steven's bowling skill!

On the eastern side of the bridge (or Middlesex side) is Dumsey Meadow, one of the few remaining traditional watermeadows on the River Thames, and home to a variety of wildlife.

On from here is a lovely spot, a riverside community called Ryepeck Meadow Moorings. 

A small community of about 10 houseboats, that have their own gardens on the opposite side of the path.  The mooring fee of £12k gives the houseboat residents access to parking, electricity, sewage, mains water, telephone and internet and bins!

Here is one that was for sale

Houseboat for Sale

We continued our stroll and stopped for some blackberries, despite seeing them on some of our recent walks, today was the first day they had developed some flavour.

This house is lovely, it shows you don't always need to have a glass cube!

This house on the path had Jake and Elwood on their balcony?!

It was getting busier along the river as we came into the Shepperton Lock area.

Shepperton means shepherds habitation and in the Domesday Lock it belonged to Westminster Abbey.  

The Lock here was a busy one and as you can see on the map, there is alot of water around this area, "a spaghetti junction of waterways".  The Wey joins here, well actually the Wey is not a river but a 'navigation' - a canal opened in 1760 to link the hames and the actual River Wey at Guildford and Godalming.  It is still navigable to Guildford but then the 4 mile section to Godalming isn't really used. 

The sign below explains that due to tight waterways and shallows it made river travel difficult and dangerous, so Shepperton Lock and Weir was built across the top at one end, which created Hamhaugh Island, and then later another one to create Desborough Island.  

We made our way along to The Ferry Point, a great spot for food, drinks, ice cream, shopping and Ferry Tickets.

There is a little ferry that takes you across the river, to avoid the long route round.  It is one of the last remaining ferries left on the River.

It's a couple of pounds each and you ring the bell if no-one is by the boat.

There's been a ferry here since Henry VI's reign, in the 1700s it cost a shilling to take a drove of oxen across for Kingston Market. (It reopened after a 26 year break in 1986).

I only know of Shepperton due to having a film buff son and the studios there, part of the Pinewood Studios group.

Shepperton is also the scene for the martian attack in War of the Worlds, I'll leave you to google that one!

Once we'd crossed the river we came across Pharoah's Island, this dates from the Battle of the Nile when the island was given to Lord Nelson.  There are 23 properties here with names such as Sphinx and Thebes.

Sphinx was for sale for £2.25million and was featured in Country Life, click on the link as the photos are amazing, especially the one from above.

We then came across D'Oyly Carte Island, named after the impresario and hotelier Richard D'Oyly Carte, who bought the island in 1887 after discovering it whilst on a rowing trip with his sons.

He built a large house, which he thought could be the country wing/annexe to London hotel in London - The Savoy, but he couldn't obtain a drinks licence and so instead ended up using it as a country retreat for himself and his family.

Previously he had worked in the theatre in Soho and was the one who brought together Gilbert & Sullivan, they wrote one of the songs for The Mikado whilst staying on the island.

D'Oyly Carte (1844-1901) moved into hotels, opened the Savoy in 1889 and then went on to own Claridges, Simpons-in-the-Strand and the Berkeley.

And here in the distance is Walton Bridge, where we were looking for a riverside cafe to meet Graham, just before that cloud opened!

There is a real history with the Walton Bridges, the first in 1750 was an unusual wooden geometrical design which appears in a Canaletto painting, which now hangs in the Dulwich Picture Gallery.  It was a picturesque latticework described as 'the most beautiful wooden arch in the world' and designed 'so that a damaged timber could be removed without having to dismantle the whole structure'.

I think I read it was designed and built to last for 200 years but only made about 30....

The second bridge, made of brick and stone which opened in the 1780s was painted by Turner.

(photo Sothebys)

It's not quite the same these days!

After a cuppa and cake, we ran to the car as the heavens opened, it wasn't just rain, it was a heavy rain storm with hail, we had timed our finish beautifully!

Our walk today was 8.8 miles 21,000 steps.

Home to make this delicious blackberry crumble!

Day 17 - Windsor to Runnymede

 Friday 25 August

We took the train from Newbury to Reading, which was full of Reading Festival people being herded into lanes/queues and onto Slough, where we caught the little quick train into the centre of Windsor.

Through the shops and restaurants mall and you are bang smack opposite the castle.  Avoiding the long taxi queue that snakes up the hill we found someone to take our starting photo.

We walked down the hill, past the previously mentioned fudge shop and onto Windsor Bridge, the bridge that links Windsor with Eton, built in 1822.

We should have guessed it was going to be one of those days when Susan despite standing under this sign pointing our way for the day, walked in the opposite direction!

As this walk progressed we made sure we kept looking back, as you kept seeing the Castle from different angles and Eton College's Chapel.

Henry VI who founded the college in 1440 when he was only 18 had intended for the chapel to be bigger than a cathedral, at least twice it's present length, but was toppled by Edward IV in 1461 before the chapel was completed.

We were passing through the public area of Home Park at this point, these playing fields date back to the late 1600s when work was undertaken to construct a great garden between Windsor Castle, the River Thames and Datchet.  In 1851 Queen Victoria authorised and commanded that this area of land should be appropriated and used for the recreation of the citizens of Windsor.  The park is still owned by The Crown Estates.  The site is home to Windsor Rugby, Cricket, Archery and Fishing clubs.

The other section of Home Park is the King's private back garden, open to the public on just a few days a year.

The next bridge along is closed for security reasons, so we crossed over the road and onto the path on the other side of the river.

Victoria Bridge; this was originally a cast iron bridge but was replaced by concrete in the 1960s, after the WW2 tanks crossing it and causing damage.  It connects Windsor to the pretty village of Datchet. (Datchet was the first place in Britain to witness the arrival of the motor car!)

The Honourable Evelyn Ellis (1843-1913) bought the car, a Panhard-Levassor which had a Daimler engine.  He picked it up at Micheldever station in Hampshire, it had come over from France by train.  He drove it back to Datchet in July 1895 and in February 1896 King Edward VII became the first King to have a ride in a car.  Ellis himself went on to found the RAC and the Panhard-Levassor can be seen in the Science Museum, London.

Looking back at the bridge.

*

The lovely building below is the Royal Boathouse, 'Albert Cottage and Boathouse'

The next section of the walk is plagued by huge aeroplanes having taken off or landing at Heathrow, they come in really low and you have to stop conversation!

There are some really interesting houses along this stretch, a real mixture.

We arrived at our first Lock of the day Old Windsor Lock, where we saw the people we'd waved at when we were crossing Victoria Bridge.

Old Windsor is where the palace belonging to Edward the Confessor was sited before William the Conqueror moved the royal residence to the present castle site 3 miles away.  It was a very important town in Saxon Berkshire.  

Along this section there is only one place to stop for lunch, a Harvester Restaurant called the Bells of Ouzeley, so you may want a picnic for this stretch, it was really busy, and I'd got a Wowcher voucher which in the end caused way more bother than it was worth!

We had been walking for over 2 hours and had done about 5 miles.

It's name recalls a legend that goes back to the Dissolution of the Monasteries, when in 1538, the bells of Osney Abbey in Oxford were supposed to have been lost in the mud of the river bed here by the monks who were trying to escape with them from Henry VIII's agents.  The bells have never been found.

Just down from the Lock is Honeypot Cottage, built in 1933 with local bricks and thatch, where actress Beryl Reid used to live from the late 1950s til she died in 1996, apparently she loved cats and would look after any stray having up to 20 cats in her home.  It has round rooms and she added a square dining room.

The right river bank which is in Berkshire, now becomes Surrey and we enter the land of The Magna Carta, where over 800 years ago somewhere in this huge (now owned by the National Trust) meadow King John stamped his seal on the Magna Carta (the Great Charter) this formed the foundation stone of English Liberty.

It was a result of King John's abject misrule.  There was no money and the King had been forced to raise exorbitant taxes to pay for his disastrous wars.  The Barons had enough and united against him and liberated the nation from the power of absolute monarchy.  This subsequently became enshrined in English Law and formed the bedrock of national constitutions around the english-speaking world.  There were 49 grievances drawn up by the barons and by the edge of the river an agreement was thrashed out by the King, representatives of the noblemen, the church, merchants of London and some ordinary men folk.

It underlies the American Constitution and Bill of Rights, and also the European Convention for Human Rights.

There are 3 memorials, the Magna Carta Memorial (pictured below) was presented in 1957 by the American Bar Association as a tribute to 'freedom under law' and also the Kennedy Memorial, set on an acre of land given to the people of America in 1965 in memory of President John F Kennedy. At the summit of the hill is the Commonwealth Air Forces Memorial, dedicated to the 20,456 airmen who have no grave.

We wandered over to Writ in Water, an immersive architectural installation.

Designed to reflect upon the founding principles of democracy through a meeting of water, sky and light.

A doorway leads to a circular labyrinth, where you can turn either way to reach the inner doorway which opens out into a central chamber, where there is a huge opening through which you can see the sky which reflects above a pool of water.

A little further downstream is Ankerwyke Priory, founded in Henry II's era for Benedictine Nuns and alongside is the National Trust's oldest tree the Ankerwyke Yew, estimated to be about 2000 years old.

We only had a little further to walk before reaching our stop for the night right next to Bell Weir Lock

We stayed at The Runnymede Hotel, which was perfect after a day of walking The Thames Path, the view below is from our bedroom, overlooking Bell Weir Lock.  The hotel had an outdoor pool which was wonderful to swim in and a buffet style dinner which was amazing!

We finished today's walk at 8.5 miles, 21,000 steps.