Sunday, 9 January 2011

Chilterns and Thames Valley

Memorials and Monuments

runnymeade-meadow.png Distance: 7? miles
Ascent: unknown
Duration: 3 hours 30 minutes

Walk 18: Runnymede and Windsor Great Park

Emma has new boots. I do not. Mine have an ever-widening hole between the upper and the sole.

The good news is that the new boots are perfectly waterproof. The other good news is that my toes are capable of determining the temperature of freezing water when they come into contact with it.

To say today's walk is all about memorials and monuments wouldn't be quite true, but that's certainly the prevailing memory of it. In fact, the three significant monuments at Runnymede - the JFK memorial, the Magna Carta Monument and the Air Forces Memorial - all came within the first two miles of the walk. From Runnymede to The Great Park there was little of interest, but of course once inside the park itself the sense of history returns, culminating with the view from the Copper Horse statue on Snow Hill back down the Long Walk to the Castle.

raf-memorial.png

The most memorable of all these was the Air Forces Memorial. Built in the shape of a cloister, this monument has the names of over twenty thousand servicemen and women of whom no remains were found. It felt somehow fitting that from the rooftop terrace we watched aeroplanes take off at Heathrow destined for the home nations of so many of those commemorated here.

Posted by pab at 17:28 | Comments will be back later in the year. Please email me instead!