We have left France behind and moved on to the next part of our tour – England and Wales. Although we have been in the UK a few times our time in these parts has been very short. We are mainly doing the English and Welsh countryside and start in Windsor.
Day 1 was really just getting to Windsor. We left Amiens and headed to Charles de Gualle airport for our flight to Heathrow – about an hour and a half drive. With the airport on our side of Paris we didn’t have to negotiate Paris traffic but negotiating the roadways around the airport itself was a little tricky.
We finally made it to the car rental return ready to head off. The car had been somewhat dirty when we picked it up and was certainly somewhat more dirty after our ventures through the fields of France around Normandy ! However there was one spot on a rim near the back door which the lady was concerned was panel damage. I had photos from when we collected it but mainly of the wheel rims and not the surrounding panel. I was not convinced it was panel damage but more likley someone brushing along the side of the car. Anyway she ended up accepting it wasn’t panel damage and we were on our way.
Through checkin and security we had a wait of about another hour and a half for our quick flight to Heathrow and the flight was on time. Immigration was pretty quick with the new electronic system they have since our last trip and after collecting our bags it was a wait to get the shuttle to the Hertz pick up location. We now have a hybrid Lexus which the guy convinced me the bit extra cost would be mostly offset by the fuel cost saving so we’ll see. It certainly drives nicely.
Windsor is a short hop from the airport and we arrived at the de Vere Beaumont Estate for our next 2 nights late in the afternoon. We strolled the extensive grounds – it had previously been used as a boys school amongst other uses. It was quite busy being a Saturday with a couple of functions happening, including a big contingent for Bath Rugby end of season festivities. A waiter told us next day – when it was much quieter – there had been over 900 to be fed for breakfast the next morning.
We had a drink in the bar then dinner in the main “1705 Restaurant”. The meal was very good – Adrienne had risotto which she said was the best she’d had for some time ! I had a very tasty linguine. Our room was pretty tiny – just big enough for a double bed really, we had to store our bags in the bathroom ! We had an early night – with the sun not setting till 10pm we have ended up being in bed with the sun still out ! I’ve also had a bought of hayfever and by the evenings my eyes have been quite sore and ichy.
Next day we did our “Royal Tour” – first stop Windsor Castle. We had not been on previous visits so it was on Adrienne’s list for this time. We managed to coincide with the Royal Windsor Triathlon so we were dodging bikes and runners as we tried to find parking. Eventually parked we made our way to the castle entrance. We arrived just before opening and had pre-booked tickets so our entry in was pretty quick when the gates opened.
We made our way to the north terrace but the inside parts of the castle open later so we had a further wait to actually get in to the building. Following our audio guide, we wandered through the grand rooms then outside to the Quad and past St Georges Chapel – being Sunday it was actually closed. No inside photography allowed either.
We left the castle and wandered up to the famous “Long Walk” which today was being used as part of the running leg of the triathlon. So there were many exhausted participants making their way up and down path. We headed back to the car a bit after midday as the roads started to re-open fully with the bike section now obviously complete.
Next we headed to Hampton Court Palace. We managed to park not too far away with many out enjoying the sunny Sunday weather. At the Palace we again collected our audio guide for the tour through the rooms and then we wandered about the huge gardens outside. We had lunch in one of the garden cafes before making our way back to the car before our “Park and Pay” time expired – you don’t seem to stop anywhere in the UK unless you “Park and Pay” !
Back at our hotel we decided we might just have a light dinner in the bar however when we ordered our drinks and I asked for a menu the barman advised they weren’t serving in the bar that night. We saw our waiter from the previous night walk past and her recognised us from chatting to him the night before and he asked if we were going to the restaurant again. We said we hadn’t booked but he said they were very quiet so we would have no trouble getting a table. So after a drink we ended up with another nice meal in the restaurant.
We toddled off to bed in the sunshine again and paked up ready to collect Erin as we left the next day.