We are moored up tonight between the fields where the Battle of Bosworth actually took place, and Crown Hill, where Richard III’s crown was found on a thorn bush and place on Henry VII’s head. We know it’s the right place, because it’s on all the street signs. The village on the hill is called Stoke Golding, and is a bustling place with three pubs, a school, two hairdressers, and a convenience store. The local church dates back to the…
Last night we reached the last turning point on the Ashby and turned around. The canal used to go further, but subsidence due to coal mining meant that the last third of the canal had to be abandoned. However, the local canal enthusiasts are a determined bunch and the last winding hole had a permanent rummage sale to help raise the hundreds of millions of pounds that will be required to reopen the missing bits. They have some other sources…
It sounds like something from The Gashlycrumb Tinies, doesn’t it, right before “N is for Neo who Thought he was God”. But Sir Marmaduke Constable was a real person who survived the battles of Bosworth and Flodden, only to die when he swallowed a frog in a glass of water. That is one of the best things in the Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre. There’s not much that remains of the Battle of Bosworth. In fact there is so little left…
People decorate the tops of their boats in different ways. Often you will see planters full or herbs or flowers, rubber ducks, garden gnomes, or buddhas. Once we shared locks with a boat that had a lawn on top. It needed mowing and watering. Then there’s this. This isn’t even the most surprising boat topping I’ve seen this trip. We went past a boat with an open topped crate containing two Harris Hawks. Yep, there’s a falconer living on a…
Hinkley is stocking country. Oh, these days they make Triumph motorcycles, but historically the main industry of the town was knitted legwear. Woven fabrics are great for suits, dresses, ribbons, sheets and curtains, but for something that hugs the figure and can deal with a bended knee or disguise cellulite in the thighs you need a knitted fabric, which will stretch and give. As Heinlein said, “If you think rocket science is difficult, you should consider the topology of a…
We visited downtown Bedworth again this morning to check if it really was as bad as we had thought. It actually improves on a second visit. By far the best building in town is the set of almshouses built in the 1840s to house the poor. They were built by a charity founded by an 18th century parson and squire called Nicholas Chamberlaine. He left most of his estate to the charity. This included some land which turned out to…
We have decided that “brindley” is an adjective, as in, “This bit of canal is quite brindley.” James Brindley built the first canals of the industrial revolution, and he followed contour lines as much as possible to minimize the use of locks and spread the advantages of canal transport far and wide. It follows that brindle must be a verb meaning to wander apparently aimlessly here and there with very little visible concern for reaching your ultimate goal. The North…
Our new alternator securely mounted, we set off again on the North Oxford Canal, past the outskirts of Rugby. We stopped just north of town, hoping to pick up some groceries at Newbold, but the one grocery store is being remodeled, so we ended up going to the local pub for dinner. There was a piano in the Gents, lurking behind the baby changing table. Do the locals in Newbold enjoy a good sing-song while relieving themselves? Is there a…
What is the point of filming Tales of the City in San Francisco if you use the WRONG SAFEWAY? Sorry but it has to be said. It should have been Marina Safeway, not the one on Market Street. Nobody ever tried to get a date in the Market Street Safeway. The Marina Dateway on the other hand, well, people have got married there because that was where they met. It must have been a bit strange for the people trying…
There is not much to Hillmorton. A few pubs, a strip mall, the occasional chip shop, an old folks home… Most of it is suburban sprawl from the second half of the 20th century. The church, however, is a fine example of low bid vernacular. You start with a 13th century building built on the edge of a swamp, and then whenever bits fall down, you get the lowest bidder to do the repairs. The result after eight hundred years…