last day of cheating today - we got the boat to runnymede. Made up for this by walking four miles around the site and also walking to america ! - those of you in the know will remember that the queen donated the acre of land the jfk memorial is on to america - we were okay though - apparently they are good enough to assume we were pilgrims and so didn't require a retinal eye scan.
Of course we also saw the american bar association magna carta memorial but perhaps the most memorable part of the day was the air force memorial at the top of Coopers Hill - dedicated to 20 000 airforce servicemen who died in ww2 and have no known grave. We had a quiet contemplative few moments there. Anyone thinking of visiting runnymede should definately make the effort to walk there.
All in all the area is an interesting place with many important and poignant reminders of the importance and cost of freedom.
To lighter things though (or not as the case may be) Martyn has until now refused to concede any comment relating to him being in any way a 'wide load' unfortunately he had to admit defeat with this 'gate'. Apparently it was his shoulders that caused the problem !
Kay needs to remember all the wildlife seen so far so here's a list
himalayan balsam (the pink flower isabel !), yellow frilled lily, stoat, heron, rabbits, deer, wagtails, great crested grebe, coots, moorhen, mallards, canada geese, cows (lots, some with horns), bulls (big ones), mute swans, banded demoiselle ( a type of damselfly), common blue butterfly and an orange butterfly I can't remember the name of oh, and a parakeet - they were bought over from asia and apparently like the area of the thames around windsor (no i'm not joking - we saw one in windsor great park) also seen many caterpillars and slugs and an albino slug - not kidding it was white (couldn't see its eyes though)- have photo as proof jon..
There was some delay to our walk today as Kay found a nature board and had to identify everything.
Slight sadness tinged our walk today. We passed under the M25 and the M3 and passed a coal post and stone indicating we have reached the old upstream boundary of london. We also passed through our last bit of thameside meadow today so from here on in civilisation returns.
Also Martyn is upset as he has realised shepperton studios are nearby but they don't seem to do tours so he will have to spend the extra time tomorrow enjoying my circular walk around hampton court !
Good news though - apparently our building work is done.
Well we are now ensconced in tonights accomodation - the anchor in shepperton - apparently another favourite haunt of dick turpin (he also liked the olde bell in hurley it seems) anyway, full tummies and sore feet so off to recover. More tomorrow from hampton court.
M&K
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