Public transport, decent walking boots and a map ensure endless opportunities to visit beautiful places, explore and build up memories. This post-Covid illness entry charts the joys of walking the Thames Path with a culture stop at Runnymede. Words by Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about my books and blogs).
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| The Magna Carta was written in 1215 - and it's still important today as this memorial at Runnymede rather proves. |
It’s two years since I did things I used to take for granted, such as visit the cinema, or hopped on a train to walk another section of the Thames Path. As a result almost anything I do now – and especially since I’ve also recovered from covid recently - seems an incredible treat. That said, doing another section of the National Trail Thames Path would be fabulous at any time. A good map to make this easy to follow is The Thames Path by Cicerone.
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| All about the Magna Carta: spotted along the Thames Path. |
For years I’ve wanted to visit Runnymede where bad King John met the barons and was convinced he needed to sign the Magna Carta in 1215. This is still a famously beautiful meadow, just by the River Thames and not far from Windsor. The area is now managed by the National Trust, which means there’s a tea room, hurray, but trying to locate how to get there by public transport was tricky. Turns out it’s easy – a two or three mile walk from Staines train station. It’s also on the Thames Path so I figured we could walk on to Windsor, completing another seven miles of this 180 mile route.
The Thames Path has so many different atmospheres, but around here in Berkshire/Surrey it is lined with posh bungalows, winter-sleeping smartypants motor cruisers and plenty of very used-to-people river wildlife. There are always coots, but we also saw five large black cormorants drying out on a weir parallel to the lock and, excitingly, a swan fight. It was more spring swan posturing as the larger bird flapped up to chase the smaller one off. Satisfied by his success the big winner then flew off (in a rather ungainly way, running his giant feet along the water) towards his mate where they very sweetly did the love heart with the neck shape. I’d never seen this in real life before, thank you swans!
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| 12 impressive chairs to help visitors take note of major legal changes. |
Just before Runnymede, Pete and I found a bench and munched beigels bought from near our home. Fortified we then crossed the busy A308 road and thanks to dog walkers' directions managed to get to the Magna Carta Memorial, a cupola roofed monument in white stone which has a very Washington feel. In fact we missed the JFK Memorial which is just to the north of it. But we did discover several beautiful public art works including The Chairs (also known as the Jurors) and Writ in Water.
Beautiful Writ in Water at Runnymede.
Writ in Water looks a bit like a circular barn, but you go into it, and find an inner roofless circle. At ground level is a pond of water which is so clear (this is not a wildlife pond or a cattle trough) that the words of the Magna Carta carved into the stone casing reflect in the water. The surprise is that it’s the watery view of Clause 39 that’s legible – the stone carving is mirror writing. On our trip the sky was a perfect winter spring blue, and windless which meant Writ in Water was at its most beautiful and easy to read. For me another surprise was that this was designed by artist Mark Wallinger. I love most of the work I’ve seen by him, especially horse-related, but clearly I haven’t made enough effort to look up his whole oeuvre. The words say: “No free man shall be seized, imprisoned, dispossessed, outlawed, exiled or ruined in any way, nor in any way proceeded against, except by the lawful judgement of his peers and the law of the land.”
With Boris in power, and our threatening migrant policies this doesn’t really ring true, but it is an empowering vision, and one that has led to America’s constitution.
Gate at Runnymede Airforces Memorial.
Life and death
Talking about laws of the land we then followed the steps up through the wood by Cooper’s Hill – full of brambles, honeysuckle and big oak trees. It’s quite steep but a lovely place and at the top passes a growing Memorial Wood being replanted in memory of people who died following Covid-19.
Young trees grow better and insects, birds and plants do better with a jumble of untidyness.
On the ridge of the hill there’s a campus for Royal Holloway university and then just round the corner Runnymede Air Forces Memorial. This sparkling white building, partly indoors, partly out, partly chapel, partly stunning viewpoint offers a memorial to the 20,275 military personnel – air force personnel – who died in the UK and Europe and whose bodies were not found during World War Two.
It is chilling looking at column, after marble column of names from all around the world although predominantly the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. So many had very ordinary British sounding family names (including Pete’s - May - and my own - Baird) but came to fight for the 'motherland' and then were horribly killed. Curiously, and like most of the Commonwealth war grave sites it isn’t exactly a sad place, but it is one of reflection. Let there not be any more huge scale awfulness and yet turn on the news at the moment and it’s all about the escalation of tension in the Ukraine.
We practically had this place to ourself, but I’m sure it will soon be busy again with overseas visitors paying respects to their lost relatives.
Joys of the Thames Path: very swish houses by the river and boats on the water.
Back in the meadow
By the time we retraced our steps back past the 12 big bronze chairs, The Jurors, I was hungering for cake but not so much that I didn’t note the jury experience idea of “12 good men and true”, or that each chair references a particular struggle for freedom and equality. You could guess this just by looking at individual chairs – all designed by Hew Locke – but the one for Oscar Wilde, in this legal setting, might be the biggest give away.
It was only 3pm on a Saturday by the time we reached the Runnymede Magna Carter tea shop (designed by Lutyens) but the person in front of me managed to get the last freshly made piece of cake. That's almost panic making...
Fortunately, there were other delicious pre-wrapped choices. Fortified by this calorific National Trust moment and a cuppa we headed back to follow the Thames Path upstream.
This involved re-crossing the road, and really the only safe way is by using the pedestrian crossing, it’s hugely fast and busy which the green-coloured National Trust map of the area does rather fail to identify. It did remind me how reliant everyone outside the big cities is on their personal vehicle – so much so that even the NT 2022 visitor book gives precise road directions for drivers but fails to include any public transport information. I think it would be good if people without cars, including tourists, were given some clues so they could then google their way there. So, nearest train station is either Staines or for a longer walk Datchet. You can walk along the Thames from Staines (as we did), or take a bus and disembark by the famous Bells of Ouse pub.
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| Pete on the Thames Path near Datchet. In this area many of the trees have atmospheric bunches of mistletoe. |
For this section of the Thames Path (runnymede and ankerwycke) we needed to speed walk in a bid to get to Windsor before the light failed – but just outside Datchet we stopped to watch a red kite circling completely engulfed by a flock of terns. All seemed to be eyes down looking at the grassy field we were walking through. It was another magical nature moment on this walk.
Despite the light failing we were still able to enjoy views of grand Windsor Castle and Eton College chapel across the flat water meadows where Windsor horse show is usually held in May. You hear so much about Eton, its playing fields and culture that it actually felt quite strange seeing this old stone building popping into view.
Actually we didn’t see any Eton students. In fact we only saw one child on their own throughout the whole of this journey – bouncing on a creaky trampoline, invisible behind the dark black safety net. It cannot be right that so few children get to be outside. Even at the National Trust site there were very few kids. Ironically this was the one “culture spot” that I’d meant to take our daughters to as kids but completely failed to organise.
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| So pleased to have visited this Magna Carta monument. |
Our walk ended at The Boatman pub which is literally beside the path, thank you pub gods, and so we staggered in, struck by how lovely it was, ordered wine and beer, fed the dog his dinner and then restored, went out of the pub’s back door to Windsor and Eton Riverside station – all of one minute – to take the train back to London.
Verdict: time passes so fast whether you chat and walk and follow the river or stay at home running errands or in my case work from home. So it's definitely worth having experiences to enjoy in the moment and to remember!
