Arrival and Head to the Country
You will be collected at 8.30 from London at Paddington Station, Platform 1, under the clock. From there you travel by bus Windsor, which is about 1 hours’ drive. As you get to know your group, your guides will fit you to your bikes and you’ll set off into the royal deer park, past the cricket pitches and the famous Guards Polo Club and grounds, founded by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh in 1955.
A former player, he remains the Club’s President today, regularly watching games from the Royal Box. Often on a Sunday there is a polo match taking place right in front of you as you travel past, lingering longer when there is a Chukka in play!
After a beautiful loop of the Great Park grounds, with all of its eccentric statues, totem poles and ruins – including Leptis Magna, aka the Temple of Augustus, an ancient Roman ruin from Libya that has ended up here, 2000 miles away from where it originated.
After lunching in Windsor we take a tour of the magnificent castle itself, the largest occupied castle in the world. In the late afternoon, taking the bus to your hotel in Moreton-in-Marsh in the North Cotswolds means a nice, gentle start to your holiday and a social group dinner on this first evening.