Monday was an uncharacteristically warm and calm day, actually the temperature got up to 14 celsius for a very pleasant change and we decided to go for a drive. I had been wanting to visit Windsor since we accidentally drove through it on our way to Wales, I had briefly seen the Thames river and some houseboats that warranted further exploration.
I programmed the destination into the GPS with the instruction to avoid motorways, we had plenty of time and I enjoy driving country roads through picturesque villages, with just over an hour to travel we left home around 10h00 and parked the car after a very pleasant drive in the car park on the banks of the river just after 11h00.
Houseboats moored alongside, I fancy cruising canals at a leisurely pace and tying up outside some small country pub for a meal and a beer before resuming the trip, another holiday sometime, preferably in the summer.
We strolled down the river bank towards the town and the Castle, just visible behind the trees.
It was a very picturesque walk, and I don't really enjoy walking very much, there were literally hundreds of birds all over the area, huge ducks - so many that we had to walk carefully to avoid their poop, flocks of seagulls and then also hundreds of swans, all of the latter apparently belong to the Queen.
The town appears to have grown around the Castle which is an incredibly imposing structure, a bit of history here; the original Castle was apparently built in the 11th century after the Norman invasion of England by William the Conqueror! Since the time of Henry 1 it has been used by the reigning Monarch and is the longest occupied palace in Europe.
As I had not informed the Royal family that we wold be in Windsor for the day we decided to have lunch at a nearby "Weatherspoons"pub,
The food wasn't bad, I'm not a huge fan of English pub food (I might get shot down for this) but the prices in this chain were quite reasonable and the lagers were good. We relaxed for a bit and then strolled back to the car, it had been a very pleasant outing and I find old castles and churches absolutely fascinating.
We drove back to Dorking via another route, still staying off the motorway. Lots more to see while we are here and in the middle of next month we are going over to Bruges in Belgium for three days, looking forward to that one.
Stay safe friends and we'll talk again soon.
2 comments:
It looks like a good day to wander about.
Do you find the English pub food bland? That is the joke here that the English food doesn't have much flavor or spice too it. I have no experience though having never been there.
Brandy I'm afraid I do find the food a bit bland and pretty much every pub has exactly the same type of menu, the closer to the coast you go the better the seafood tends to be but it is mostly Cod in a batter. Lots of them make their own pies which can be really good but with lots of pastry, pork sausage and mash and gravy is another popular item, also very nice in some pubs and not so good in another. I guess we'll just have to keep looking.
The pubs are often fascinating places, some of them very old - soon we will be taking a trip to one of the oldest villages near the south coast called Rye which also has one of the oldest pubs, I'm looking forward to that one and I'll post it. The ancient history is very interesting.
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