Sunday 7 November 2010

The Eton walk

Last weekend I managed a spectacular walk through the New England colours of Windsor Great Park. But what a difference a week makes. Today the leaves have fallen, the branches are largely bare.

Today I took the Thames path from Datchet, across the home park, via what we call the rabbit field to Tom Jones boatyard where elegant slipper launches and steam-driven day boats are beautifully restored. Then up past Romney lock to Windsor bridge and a well deserved cappuccino.

We return to Datchet down Eton high street, across the playing fields and via the 6th fairway running down beside the Thames relief channel. We call it the Eton walk and have used it every Christmas afternoon I can remember.

The picture is Syd Barrett - a founding member of Pink Floyd and one of the greatest casualties of the sixties - about whom I was thinking as I walked. But that's another story.