Who’s been sleeping in my bed? Warwick Castle was a fortification from 914 onwards and a family home up until 1978. They were a very rich family. Several nondescript members of the nobility stayed in this guest room, but far more importantly… Just down the corridor is this room. Aleister Crowley used to hold seances here. The oak paneling was originally in Kenilworth Castle where it was commissioned by Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester (remember him, the guy who founded…
It appears that the people of Warwick worship a giant blue porcupine. Apart from that they are very nice. I suppose it makes as much sense as any other god. There was a guy in San Francisco who started worshipping a parking bollard in Golden Gate Park, because he thought it was a lingam (the Hindu god Shiva as represented by a phallus). Eventually other people joined the cult and started leaving offerings for the god. Unfortunately, having a religious…
Two thousand pounds ($3,000) as it turns out. It was a full size aftermarket plug compatible Dalek in a toy shop window. Apparently if it had been a genuine ex-BBC dalek with working death ray it would cost twenty five thousand pounds, so it’s nice to know that the market provides a more economical alternative for anyone fancying a quiet evening of Extermination and Annihilation. Seeing it close up was scary, particularly as the store had no sofa to hide…
Today we moved a few miles and two locks from Royal Leamington Spa to its next door neighbor Warwick (pron WORR-ick). Though the towns are next door to each other they have a completely different feel. While Leamington is mostly regency and victorian, Warwick dates back to the year 914, and there are many fine medieval and Tudor buildings there. For instance the Lord Leycester Hospital. This was built between 1126 and 1450. In 1571 Robert Dudley, first Earl of…
On the boat there are a number of fluid levels we have to monitor. None of these have a gauge, so they have to be checked in various other ways. Drinking water. Also used for washing and flushing the toilet. In a big tank at the bow. When the front of the boat starts to get higher than the back it’s time to top up. That’s usually about every three days. Toilet holding tank. When it gets full it needs…
All downhill today, through ten locks, including our first double lock, where the bottom gate of one lock is the top gate of the next. Since these are double wide locks, we paired up with another boat, Flat Bottomed Girl, to go down, which saves water, and stops the boat drifting from side to side in the lock. Flat Bottomed Girl is brand new, and the owners were trying to avoid bumps and scrapes. Happily, Peggoty came with a full…
Ten locks today, a flight of eight called the Stockton locks, and then two more, Itchington Top Lock and Itchington Bottom Lock. Yes, there is a place called Long Itchington, though not apparently Short Itchington. Itchington has the potential to be a quite nice village but for the traffic on the A423 thundering past the village green. There’s a Tudor Manor House. Elizabeth I is supposed to have stayed here (about the time of the last paint job), but then…
Rain was forecast for this afternoon, so I only wanted to go a few miles to Napton Junction, where the Grand Union and the Oxford canals part company. We tuned down the Grand Union heading towards Warwick, and then moored up just before the Calcutt locks, a flight of three. After Paula’s Big Adventure, which she can tell you about herself, we went down the locks, and moored a little past them. The rain was still due in an hour…
So, there I was alone on Pegotty. We were moored and Andrew had toddled off to view the locks we had planned to do tomorrow. He was Just about a city block away. I was playing a game, not focused on the outside. There is a fair amount of swaying involved as other boats go by. Sometimes boats get too close and thud into each other which could be bad news if these weren’t steel boxes. So I ignored the…
To fully appreciate this post I suggest reading it while listening to some Ralph Vaughan Williams, perhaps Lark Ascending, or Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis. We just moved the boat less than two miles this morning, but this mooring has a completely different atmosphere. We are away from the hustle and bustle of the Braunston towpath and the road noise from the busy A45, and out in the country with a fine view of the rolling English countryside….