Tag Archives: castle

The Long Walk’s Lesser-Known Sibling

The Long Walk in Windsor Great Park is very well known. A long, straight road the goes from Windsor Castle up to a statue of George III is something many visitors to Windsor will take in. However, it isn’t the only route radiating from the castle across the park. Queen Anne’s Ride is an even longer route. Just as straight but not paved and with the section within the town built over, it is a nicer section to visit.

Because it isn’t as well known, there aren’t anything like the number of visitors. You can often feel like you are alone when you are there because any other visitors are likely to be well away from you. Because it is grassy, it is more comfortable to stroll along. There is more undulation, though, so you have pluses and minuses (or ups and downs if I am being literal).

Halfway along the route is a memorial to 1,000 years of the High Sheriff. This circular stone monument has a hole through the middle if you want to look through it. It is a large separation from the memorial and the castle, so I played with focus stacking to get both of them in focus for one image. However, this isn’t the most significant memorial.

Go further from the castle and you come to a statue of Queen Elizabeth II on horseback. Unlike the statue of George III which has him dressed like a Roman emperor, this statue has her looking like she has just ridden out from the castle and is looking back towards it. It is a far nicer statue. If you are walking in Windsor Great Park, I would certainly recommend that you make sure to include Queen Anne’s Ride as part of your route.

Hearst Castle/Mansion

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In a recent post, I had images of Hurst Castle. A friend of mine in the US mentioned the similarly named location on the California coast near the city of Cambria. Before we moved to the US, Nancy and I had made a trip to California during which we did a tour of the place. Built by William Randolph Hearst, this place is a combination of so many influences. Much of the decoration was accrued during travels around the world. You have elements of ancient buildings, parts of monasteries, designs influenced by other places and random designs that appealed.

From what I can gather, visitors now get fleeced by having the tours broken down into smaller sections, so you have to pay for each one. When we were there, it was more of an overall tour, and we got to see a lot of the collection. This was the days of film photography which means some of the shots didn’t work and I didn’t realise until long afterwards combined with a lot less pictures being taken overall. Film was also daylight balanced so the colours when inside could be quite sketchy. A little processing now tries to improve them but there is only so much you can do and only so much effort that is really justified for a holiday photo.

These images are a brief summary of what we saw during that visit. Some grandiose elements and some looted goods. Not my assessment – our tour guide was quite clear that the methods by which Hearst got hold of these artefacts was not always ethical. I believe a visit now will cost you a bunch. However, if you are already on the coast near Cambria, I would suggest you have already gone far enough to justify making the effort to visit.

Craigdarroch Castle

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One of the places we saw mentioned in Victoria when we were staying there for Thanksgiving was Craigdarroch Castle. It was described as being in the town itself so we decided to swing by as we were heading out of town towards some other locations. The “castle” is a big house up on the hills. It has a pretty good view across the town by the looks of it. I am not usually terribly interested in the insides of buildings like this. The outside is worth a look but the interiors are usually rather old and musty, so we skipped that and walked around outside in the sun.

The building is in the middle of a residential area so it is a little strange to be surrounded by houses but it was a sunny day and the building is interesting so we had a look around before heading off on our way.

Anacortes Castle

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Driving through the back roads in Anacortes, I came across Anacortes Castle. I think it is actually just a house but it is certainly one that has been styled to look like a castle. You probably couldn’t defend it from marauders very easily and the turret seemed to have a lot of open space inside but it is still an interesting looking building. It sits on a normal residential street so is quite out of keeping with the rest of the houses. Still, it is a talking point, I am sure!

Nagoya Castle

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I had a free Sunday in Japan prior to some meetings getting underway so made the trip to Nagoya. Nagoya is a fair distance from Tokyo but the Nozomi Shinkansen service compresses that journey to just over 90 minutes! I took the subway to the location of the castle and wandered around the grounds. It was unbelievably hot. In the shade it was uncomfortable but when you got into the sun it was brutal. Still, how often am I going to get a chance so off I went.

The castle is surrounded by a moat and some very thick walls. Lots of the structures were destroyed by fire in the bombing at the end of World War II. The tower was reconstructed in concrete after the war but has now been closed and they are planning to demolish it and reconstruct it in wood like the original. Other buildings have already been reconstructed in their original materials.

The tower is an imposing structure, even on a sunny and toasty day. I was able to walk around the perimeter of the main castle buildings in the time I had available. I had a return train booked based on when I needed to meet a colleague arriving in Tokyo that evening. Therefore, I needed to keep moving irrespective of how much I wanted to be in the shade! I had a look in some of the other buildings too. They were quite simple and elegant in their construction. I imagine that the whole thing will be most impressive when the reconstruction work is completed.

There were actors walking the grounds in costume as I moved around. They engaged freely with the visitors but I still felt a little weird photographing them as they passed me by. They clearly didn’t mind but somehow it felt like I was doing something wrong. Not sure why, to be honest. Maybe it is just the feeling that comes with being a foreigner.