August 16 – 18
Off to the Races
As I said we went back the second day so after completing our visit to the castle we went to a pub and then to Windsor Riverside Railway Station to travel to Royal Ascot. As the Royals always rode to Ascot there is no direct train link but on arriving at Ascot you would swear there was only the racecourse and all roads lead to it.
Truly breathtaking. The first thing you see (apart from the 25,000 other people visiting) is the mounting enclosure and a modern glass and metal stand of huge proportions. Standing room only when we got inside. I bought a beer from a friendly vendor and we settled down (actually we stood up) till the events started.
First there was the fly by from the Red Arrow RAR aerial acrobatics team. That was it – we were left somewhat dumbfounded but then came the Chinook – well what this thing could not do – just amazing. This was followed by the race – time trials across a course where the pilot manoeuvre his plane through various obstacles on a course in propeller driven planes at 300 kph. There was an Aussie competing -Matt Hall and he qualified by beating the favourite Pom. Unfortunately he missed out on the next qualifying round so we went home. My camera battery was flat also and I had not packed my spare battery. NOTE TO TRAVELLERS – BACKPACK WITH ALL NECESSARY SPARES, COATS, UMBRELLAS AND WET ONES NEEDED.
Here are some of the photos I took:
• The pub
The racecourse the royal box and mounting yard
Buying a beer
• The fly by
• The Chinook
• One of the racers and
• The finish line – we were standing directly in front of the finish line and where they took off – another lucky fluke
glendon1954 