Shared path – care and courtesy. The family friendly section is all the riding within the Great Park.
Not surprisingly as we enter a Royal Park, perfect cycling conditions await - similarly alongside the Olympic rowing course at Eton Dorney (anticlockwise - see below) – and very good on all sections between (NCN 4 signage guides you through Windsor side streets) and beyond. Feeders join in the park so that there are plenty of ride options (Spoke 7a 0 and 1.8; Spoke 7b 2.1 and 3.4). Or used to be: the path round Virginia Water, admittedly busy at weekends, since Covid has been banned banned to cyclists, ridden or pushed! And the same directive applies for the short section through the deerpark of Spoke 7b. Currently therefore Spoke 7a from Blacknest to Virginia Water visitor centre is suspended (you have to detour via A329 and A30 until a wider path is built). Spoke 7b is rerouted to enjoy another rideable option.
After a run down on the western edge of the park, Windsor is skirted through suburbs (6.9 and 7.3 Windsor & Eton links) before crossing the Thames and resuming off-road up the towpath to the magnificent Dorney Lake rowing course 8.9. The entrance here is guarded by a combination code, so the Arc is routed with NCN4 on the path outside the fencing. However the course is opened for walkers and cyclists part of the year and you may be lucky to find this gate open - but riding anticlockwise is more accessible as the main entrance 10.1 is unguarded, while at the southern exit a button will release the gate.
At the head of the rowing course 10.1 take Spinoff 9 L for NCN 4 to Reading and Spoke 8S R 10.7 for Slough and West Drayton. The route ends with two miles of Jubilee River – a bird watching highlight.
