For as far as the eye can see...people. Tens of thousands of them stream in from every entrance to Windsor's Long Walk.
Young, old, tearful, jovial, contemplative, grateful - the emotions in the crowds are as varied as the numbers they arrive in. One lady stands next to the sea of floral tributes crying, while another takes a selfie of themselves laying flowers.
A mother drags her five kids up the path, while others push elderly relatives in wheelchairs. Ex-servicemen come in their regalia, royalists drape the Union Jack. For some, it's a family day out while others have a pint in the pub next to the Windsor Castle gates toasting Her Majesty's reign.
There's many an emotion on the pilgrimage up the Long Walk (the royal park on which the castle sits), but only one reason for being here - Queen Elizabeth II.
READ MORE: London florists running out of flowers as thousands pay tribute
1News reporter Joy Reid says there are people as far as the eye can see along the Long Walk. (Source: Breakfast)
The town of Windsor is heaving. Queues at times are at a standstill throughout the town and the main streets are overflowing.
I've covered many royal events in this historic town during my time as TVNZ's Europe correspondent – the largest being Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding in 2018. The crowds gathering now feel larger than that spectacle which attracted 5000 of the world's media and 100,000 royal fans. The difference is the crowds now aren't lining one parade route, they're filling every lane of the town as well as the Long Walk path and they're growing larger by the day. The flow is constant.
Officials are trying to count the number of people swarming in, but there are simply too many to get an accurate picture. It's a bit like a city slicker trying to count sheep - it's impossible to count them all.
The unofficial estimate for today alone is more than 100,000 but one police officer I spoke to thinks it was more like 150,000. And that's just today. That doesn't include the tens of thousands that arrived yesterday and the day before that.
Locals tell me they've never seen anything like it. One souvenir shop owner told me he has sold out of his Queen Elizabeth products and there's still another week before the Queen is buried here. The crowds won't stop for days.
But it's not jam-packed like a concert. There's a one-way system and people's movement is constant and calm – a mix of grief and celebration.
We were here before dawn to watch the first arrive in the dark. It started as a trickle, a few out on their morning run coming to pay respects before the hoards arrive. As I write this now as night falls, they're still arriving in the hundreds. It's never-ending - a testament to just how great Her Majesty was endeared.
The smell emanating from the sea of floral tributes is a pleasant fragrance. Each night the flowers are taken inside the Windsor Castle gates, to allow room for the next daily instalment to arrive. It's a well-oiled machine on an unbelievable scale.
Windsor is only three days into its mourning period – with a big week ahead. The scale of the outpouring of grief and gratitude here reflects the level of appreciation for Her Majesty's 70 years of service.
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