Our Scrapbook of Previous Walks

Walk 793 - Foot Golf social event

It was the return of Foot Golf to the Berkshire weekend walkers calendar, a slight mis-fit perhaps amongst the comprehensive programme of walks. It was a pleasant August morning where six aspiring foot-golfers kicked off in hope (rather than expectation) of nailing the course with a string of birdies and eagles. However, I had forgotten how unforgiving the greens are with any slight aberrations of pace or direction leading to the football rolling off the other end of the green. This was exacerbated by rock hard fairways resulting from the summer heatwaves.

Any score at a hole of less than 10 was considered a good score given the awkward humps at every hole.

Congratulations to our chairman Steve who won with 42 strokes (or kicks) through his concentration and composure in in mastering the 9-hole course. This was his first round on the Wokingham course but had apparently played it before. Second was Mark followed by Richard, it was their third times of playing the course and that probably helped.

We all had lots of fun and afterwards we enjoyed a pint or soft drink and some fast food at the cafe; with a view of model dinosaurs at the adventure golf course; maybe that or Pitch and Putt will be on th agenda next year.

Thanks go to Richard for organising this event and for writing it up.

Walk 791 - "Elephants and Castle" Windsor walk

This circular walk aimed to take in as much as possible of the Trunks Across the Thames sculpture trail, which features painted elephants around Windsor, Slough and surrounding areas. With thirty "large" and over sixty small elephants, we were never going to see them all, and we concentrated mainly on the large ones, but one member counted twenty in total, including a two small ones in the pub afterwards.

A couple of us met at the Horlicks Quarter cafe to see a few extra elephants around Slough before catching the train to Windsor for the start of the walk proper. After bagging a few elephants around the town centre, we headed out through Bachelor's Acre, passing the statue of Elizabeth II with her corgis, and joined the Long Walk by another elephant sculpture, Quiet Majesty (pictured).

We left the Long Walk at the first opportunity, and took some quieter paths off to the left, where we saw a large herd of deer. There were also several stags after we rejoined the tarmac road. We continued round past Royal Lodge and then turned off for a drink/photo stop at the Cow Pond, followed by a lunch stop near the Savill Garden visitor centre and obelisk, where we saw two more large elephants and several smaller ones.

After lunch, we passed Spring Awakening by the Obelisk Pond, followed by Hopes & Dreams and Sanctum by the Guards Polo Club, where we also saw a polo match in progress.

We returned to Windsor via the Copper Horse (which was covered in scaffolding but still offered good views of Heathrow, Wembley and central London) and the Long Walk. On the way back into town, we saw most of the remaining large elephants in Windsor (just missing out Stroll through the Great Park, which was a bit off our route). The walk officially ended by the station at Alexandra Gardens, but a few of us stayed for a drink or two at the near by Windsor & Eton Brewery taproom.

Cow Pond

Guards Polo Club

The Long Walk

Walk 789 - Twyford evening walk

On the hottest day so far this year, seven members gathered for an early evening walk around the area of Twyford & Ruscombe. The tree shade early on in the nature reserve gave welcome cover, then as we crossed various fields the main heat began to reduce and ensured we were able to enjoy the walk. We could however see more signs of the drought with algae in the lakes, dried up streams, very little grass for grazing and early harvesting.

On finishing we topped up essential fluids relaxing for a drink in the Royal Oak beer garden.

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Sunset towards the end of the walk

Thanks go to Ann and Kathy for leading the walk, and to Kathy for writing it up.

Walk 788 - Lily Hill and Swinley Park

There were 11 members plus Molly the dog. Four people were welcomed from other groups.

Given it was a warm day the earlier start and route being largely in the shade made for an enjoyable, leisurely and pleasant walk with many points of interest along the way. Of note was viewing the drought effect at Englemere Pond at the Nature Reserve.

At the end a couple of us visited the Running Horse pub for a welcome cold soda.

Thanks go to Kathy and Ann for leading this walk, and to Kathy for writing it up.

Walk 785 - Binfield evening walk

There were 11 members who came along on a very warm evening and enjoyed a leisurely walk in the countryside surrounding Binfield near Bracknell.

Afterwards most of the group went along to the Stag & Hounds pub nearby for some welcome cold refreshments.

Thanks go to Kathy and Ann for leading this walk, and to Kathy for writing it up