Runnymede and Old Windsor Circular Walk

Start & Finish: The National Trust Car Park, Windsor Rd, Englefield Green, Windsor SL4 2JL
Distance: 7.5 km (4.7 miles)
Elevation change: + / - 23 m
GPX File: get via Buy Me a Coffee
Other routes touched (walk): Thames Path
Other routes touched (cycle): N/A
Pubs / Cafes on route: Magna Carta Tea Room (SL4 2JJ), Coffee Shop at Windsor Farm Shop (SL4 2RQ)
Map: OS Explorer Map (160) Windsor, Weybridge & Bracknell
Links: Runnymede National Trust, Runnymede, Old Windsor, Ham Island

For the third and final part of our Runnymede walking trilogy we returned to the main National Trust Car park and headed North. This walk centres on a quiet part of the Thames Path to the East of Old Windsor. It’s a part of the National Trail that I’d often cycled many years ago but very little recently.

The first half is very easy to navigate as you just follow the Thames Path North until the Southlea Road Bridge. Along the way you’ll divert away from the actual route of the Thames and along New Cut, a man-made channel which created Ham Island on it’s Eastern bank. At Southlea Bridge walk up the stone steps and turn left, following Southlea Road for ~700m. The right hand side of the road is all private Crown Estate land and you can visit the Farm Shop for a mid-walk coffee.

Continue South-East as Southlea Road continues onto Straight Road through Old Windsor. Turn left onto Church Road and continue until the junction. Here you have 2 options: continue straight (East) to St Peters and Andrews Church, eventually reconnecting with the Thames Path, or taking the right hand footpath. The first option gives you a simple route back but you’ll be retracing your steps along the river. The later option takes you through the residential area back to Straight Road. Here you turn left and continue back to the Thames Path further down.