Windsor Castle - opulent and ostentatious or something to make you proud to be British?

Making our way north up the Grand Union, we're now moored not far from Hemel Hempstead railway station.

Tuesday 14 September

Despite being up and about just after 0800hrs, we still didn't manage to leave the boat till 1030hrs and I'd hoped we'd be back on board by midday in case we had to pay another mooring fee!   It was unlikely that would happen anyway, it's rather expensive to visit the Queens pad so we needed to get our money's worth then speed away as soon as we were back on board.

After a quick trip to the Post Office to send Andrew Denny's 'The Travelling Man' DVD (sorry it was delayed Andrew!) back to him, we walked up to the public entrance of Windsor Castle.  Sharing the pavements with us was a motley crew of steam cleaners removing the ghastly chewing gum patches -Barry reckons you can tell the status of a town by the amount of gum on the pavements.  One would hope that Royal Windsor would be fairly high in the status stakes!

As previously stated, Windsor Castle is the oldest and largest inhabited castle in the world, boasting around 900 years of British Monarchy in residence.  Admission was £16.00 per adult, and £14.50 for Tom (as he's a student) - no wonder the Queen's so rich!

From the outside, the very imposing Windsor Castle - good to see it withstood last nights 'attack'!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   This tower looks a little Rapunzel-like           Sandra has to tickle tired Tom to make him smile!

Queen Victoria watches over Windsor - still the longest serving monarch to date

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ornate decorations all clean and polished

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think the guard wanted to have a second look at us - but we survived all the security checks and made it through along with a few other lucky tourists

The Round Tower, is the highest point on the castle

 These towers must've all had a use at some point?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slits for arrows to defend the castle from intruders                  Delightfully different windows

 

 

 

 

Tom and Barry a little in awe of the experience so far; the only vaguely similar building which springs to mind in New Zealand would be Lanarch Castle in Dunedin, which pales into insignificance, but has an breathtaking location

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Obviously some parts were sealed off from the public - maybe Charles had left his room in a mess?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's not difficult to see why some people are anti-monarchy, there really was obscene opulence in the 'State Apartments' and 'St George's Hall', and I can't make my mind up whether I'm proud to be British and have such an old and established 'institution', or whether it actually makes me quite ashamed that this astounding wealth is locked away while the vast majority of the world's population live in poverty.

Of course you're not allowed to take photographs inside the buildings, but believe me, the grandeur of the furniture, furnishings, painted ceilings and armoury collection is quite unbelievable - but then I suppose it does have to be 'fit for a Queen/King'!

Good to see they're using energy saving bulbs in their light fittings

 Some of the castle gardens - understandably not open to the public to trample on

 You can imagine soldiers at the top watching for enemies ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Unable to see who this represents with his sword ready - and there's still canons poking through 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And you think you've got a boring job? We did ask permission - a slight tilt of the head said 'yes'

 

 

One of the royal lions being regally sick!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There seems to be monograms everywhere - I guess she has to put her initials on everything in case someone nicks it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sandra and Tom filling in postcards to New Zealand - then straight into the royal box

 

Hope this box isn't just for mail to the queen - she doesn't need postcards from Windsor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There's a bit of graffiti around the walls that hasn't been cleaned off for a while i.e. 296 years

 

The doorway up to the main tower - they were having some sort of a tea party up there at the time but we'd not long eaten so declined

There's simple and practical and then there's this ....

 A touch of autumn colours the buildings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A lot of the walls are studded with bits of flint - I guess it's an early form of anti climbing paint

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The usual British sign - it's only for show          A spectacular (or eclectic?) mix of architecture

No chance of movement blurring here!

  Residences within the castle grounds (in the 'Lower Wards')

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

St George's Chapel - a fine example of Gothic architecture

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

       The lavish brick-work of the castle                     Armed police guard the main entrance

Arriving back at the boat we were horrified to discover that the plank to board from the high bank had disappeared!  Had someone taken it?  The more likely scenario was it'd fell off after the boat had moved a little as boats passed by, and was floating somewhere down the mighty Thames.  It was a little precarious getting on board as we had to 'jump', so Tom and Barry jumped over the gap without problem then assisted the less agile or courageous Sandra on without mishap!  We set off and soon saw it washed up on the bank a few yards from where we'd been, so turned around and Tom jumped off the front and brought it back, a little dirty from it's river swim, but otherwise sound - thank goodness!

Apart from visiting the castle, we had no time for any other explorations of Windsor due to our tight schedule, so were off towards Teddington, though unsure whether our plan of cruising the tidal Thames through London was going to come off.  We'd heard some bad news this morning.  Having understood from reading the information on the tidal Thames on the internet that boats of 45 foot length didn't need a VHF radio to navigate the tidal Thames, we were then informed by the lock keeper when Barry phoned him, that was the case only if you're under 45 foot.  Most confusing.  So we're going to have to find another boat to travel with who do have a VHF radio (and license to operate one)  or we can't go through London.  Let's hope there's still some people around on boats doing the journey - narrowboat, barge or cruiser, it makes no difference!  If not we'll just have to do the short trip up to Brentford and then east along the Grand Union.

We didn't start moving till after 1400hrs, and stopped around 1800hrs following a very grey and wet afternoon.  As I had a horrendous headache, I missed half journey as I was sleeping inside, leaving Tom and Barry to it ...

'The House on the Bridge' restaurant beside Windsor Bridge

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Crown lands seem to go on for some time with quaint buildings and signs everywhere

Last view of the castle as we leave Windsor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cottage at Bell Weir Lock and our fellow boater (an empty trip boat), down through Penton Hook Lock

Under the M3 motorway bridge and a brief lull in the rain

Approaching Chertsey Lock with the weather still pretty glum

 

 

What do they say? 'Buy the worst house on the best river' - well I think this is definitely it

 

 

 

 

... though this is interesting - is it two flats or a two up two down?

 

 

 

 

We moored just short of Weybridge Lock, 11 miles and 5 locks from Windsor.  In the evening we watched some of 'The Life of Brian' - but once again the jet-lag overtook Tom and he was asleep within a few minutes, so we all had another early night - a good job really as tomorrow could be a big day!

A little something in a royal blue!

The grandeur gets greater and greater - Maidenhead to Windsor

We left Rickmansworth late morning and cruised about five miles and five locks to Hunton Bridge, on the outskirts of Abbots Langley.  Thankfully the previously unremitting cold and damp was replaced today by large patches of blue sky and warm sunshine - bliss!  The journey was also coloured by beautiful things along the way, but you'll have to wait a few weeks for the photos to appreciate them, sorry!

Monday 13 September

Around 0830hrs this morning, what seems to be the standard time, there was a loud knocking on the outside of the boat as the council collector came for his dues - no free mooring here then!

Although Maidenhead didn't impress us much, along the riverside on the outskirts, probably more towards the town of Bray, there were homes to die for!  In fact, some were so staggeringly opulent that we even turned the boat around to go back for another look!  Barry had been below deck working on the blog, but soon realised that wasn't the most productive use of his time when there were such amazing sights to be photographed.

In one house we thought we saw Phil Collins; there was a drum kit in the annex and a balding man wandering about in his dressing gown.  We waved furiously at him, but for some unknown reason the greeting wasn't returned!   Does anyone know who lives in any of these places?  There's some serious money invested in these well-maintained bricks and mortar.

A selection of some of the palatial residences along the way ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh! this one's a restaurant - The Waterside Inn

At Bray Lock the self-service sign was up and once again it was full as we approached, with a large cruiser at the back looking nervously at us - if they'd all shuffled around we'd have fitted in easily but they weren't having a bar of it so we waited patiently.  I wonder if sometimes they do this on purpose, scared that the steel hull of a narrowboat will bang their plastic boat - can't blame them really!  Occasionally we've found the owners a little snooty, but we've also met many friendly cruiser owners with the most approachable being those who used to own narrowboats.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Northern Pride sits alone, but proud, in the lock once it finally gets in!

A reception and conference venue par excellence along the way

We stopped at Windsor Marina to fill up with water and diesel and get a pump-out - even though we're not yet full we thought we'd take advantage before Tom comes on board.  It was a very busy place and at one stage a cruiser tied up to us waiting to use their services.  As one would expect this was definitely not the cheapest place for a pump out or diesel - but you become a captive audience on the Thames unless you're near to a lock with a pump out facility so beggars can't be choosers!

They can be a little oppressive these cruisers!  Lots of fenders down to buffet the knocking

Approaching Windsor, the very impressive Wheel and Castle dominate the skyline.  Windsor Castle has been the home of British Monarchs since the 11th century, and is the oldest inhabited castle in the world.  It's purportedly a favourite residence of Queen Elizabeth, spending most of her private weekends there, and one assumed that as the flag was flying she must've been in residence. 

We moored opposite The Royal Windsor Wheel, which we discovered is only open from 1 May to 19 September - phew, we just crept in before it closes for the winter!  I went up the wheel two years ago when I was on holiday visiting a friend who lives nearby, you get a tremendous view of the castle and London during the ride.

The advertised mooring fee was £6 a night, which was worth every penny to spend a night in such an impressive location.  Certainly it's far better value than the £8 we had to pay in Maidenhead - it doesn't make sense!  This time we were paying our dues to Eton College no less, who own the land, and they came to collect the fee in the evening.

The first sight of Royal Windsor is the wheel on the sky line ...

 closely followed by a jaw-dropping view of the oldest inhabited castle in the world

Smaller carriages than the London Eye, but infinitely more intimate

Looks like Lizzie's in residence before dashing up to Scotland to greet the Pope

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Courting by the ice cream kiosk; and a dashing horse-drawn carriage awaits a lucky couple

Walking into Windsor to the station so that Barry could get the train into Paddington to meet with Jamie and Tom, we discovered that the legendary 'Changing of the Guard' ceremony is only held on alternate days from August to March, and as it doesn't take place on Sundays' we wouldn't be in luck - what a shame. 

We had to leave on Tuesday as we have an appointment with the tide at Teddington Lock early in the morning in order to negotiate the tidal Thames on Thursday.  I'm travelling up to Sutton Coldfield for the weekend, catching the train from Euston on Friday at 1246hrs.  It's a real shame to rush this section of the Thames, but we've been dawdling lots this trip and it has to catch up with us sometime!

 

 

Tom and Jamie enjoying a drink or two

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tom, Barry and Jamie, a rare and precious family gathering

 

 

 

 

When Barry and Tom returned I'd discovered from a leaflet that there was a 'two-for-the-price-of-one' offer on the Windsor Wheel on Monday's, so suggested they take the opportunity to go for a ride.  As (bad) luck would have it however, when they got back from London just after 2000hrs, the silhouetted lights on the Wheel changed from white to multi-coloured, and not long after they left the boat they all turned off!  The leaflet only covered the period to 31 August so we'd missed our chance once again - by 13 days!

Ah well, it's out of high season now, which means there's a lot less traffic on the water and consequently more availability of moorings, so you can't have everything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tom straight off the train and taking photos - the magnificent steam train at Windsor Station

The night-time walk back to the boat along the river

They make the most of the riverside here

 

 

 

 

 

One of the carriages (presumably the darkened one) is a private booth - £40 for up to 6 people (not bad considering it's £6.75 for one adult!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Round Tower is gloriously illuminated at night

 

 

 

 

It was great to see Tom, but understandably he was still quite jet-lagged (especially as he'd been out on the town with his big sister the previous night!), so we all had an early night as it's difficult to stay up when your guest is sleeping in the dining room/lounge! 

Tomorrow we'll visit Windsor Castle, expensive as the entrance fee is it's an opportunity not to be missed.  We'll attempt to set off by lunchtime as the receipt suggests that we'd only paid from 12md to 12md, whatever time you actually arrive - I'm not paying another £8 to Eton College!

Could it be an Al-Qaida or a UFO attack on Windsor Castle - luckily repelled at the last moment or there'd be little for us to view in the morning ...