The long walk is a long walk indeed. Back in the Charles II era, after Oliver Cromwell, the King wanted more stuff like what he had seen at Versailles. So he created the Long Walk and planted it with elm trees. The elm trees were replaced over the centuries by other elms until the 1980's when the dreaded Dutch elm disease took them out. The elms were replanted with a mix of horse chestnuts, oaks and London plane trees. The horse chestnuts were in full bloom. We had seen these trees all along the Thames on our river cruise. The Walk was 2.64 miles long and we walked half of it. We would have gone further but a busy road cut across it without any pedestrian crossing. We did a bit more shopping, mostly to replace the glasses we broke at the AirBnB. The birding was productive with two new lifebirds. The new ones were carrion crow and rook. The rook was striking a pose on the fence demarking the castle grounds. The Royal Mausoleum was on the other side of the fence next to a small pond. The pond had greylag geese, Canadian geese and a common shelduck swimming in it. We took a different path home after seeing multitudes of dogs.
The neighborhood roses have seemed to bloom all at once
Fun patterns in the trees
One never knows what lies behind a tall hedge
In this case it is a fine Tudor building
When all the folks on the street plant a garden the result is spectacular
Queen Elizabeth II and her corgi dogs
Woof
So many corgi dogs
His nose gets lots of rubbing
It is another Queen
Wuff
Ox roast anyone?
A quaint pub right next to the long walk
Clearly artificial beauties
Locked out of the Castle
Look close at the guard shack to the left is a guard
My big hat is slipping off
I'll just lean way back and my hat will stay on
The long walk is so long, it is just a thin line way out there
A tower at the edge of the castle grounds
This Red Kite escorted us along the walk
Flying a kite
Honey the dog came out to Leslie and gave out free smooches
Horse Chestnut trees
Such extraordinary flowers
Out lunch spot
Back to the castle
What is in the mouth of this bird?
Carrion Crow Lifebird #1
Greylag Geese
Common Shelduck
Bronze horses
A long walk in front of us
A long walk behind us
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
A Rook! Lifebird #2 for the day
Cawww cawww
A fancy hotel on our walk home
Keeping the pigeons off the statue
Funny funky planter
This house is leaning
Sliding down hill
