Today we rode on another heritage railway, and used it to visit the National Space Centre. There were also a couple of Uber rides, and we are living on a canal boat, so today we saw the transportation innovations of the 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. However, I’m sure you’re more interested in a comparison of Russian and American Space Toilets. Russian American (from our trip to the Space Shuttle exhibit in LA) You think that’s impressive, just wait…
It takes a certain level of economic activity to generate tourists. Someone has to be wealthy enough to travel for the sake of it, rather than the usual reasons of trade, famine, or running away from secret police. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the upper classes in the UK were wealthy enough to take “The Grand Tour”, to study Classical and Renaissance art in the museums, mansions, and palaces of France and Italy. They returned with exotic paintings, sculpture,…
The weather was still bad today, but we were in a two day mooring, so set off first thing during a break in the rain. The wind was picking up, which made navigation difficult, but we made it through four more locks before it started to drizzle and we called it quits for the day. We are in the suburb of Birstall. This is the old part of town. This house is decorated with butterflies and battle swans. I’m not…
It is raining where we are today, for the first time in two months. I am wearing long sleeves and long pants for the first time in weeks. England’s long nightmare of sunshine and warmth is over. Luckily we got our sightseeing in this morning while it was still dry. First stop was the remains of the old Roman baths. The entry archway is one of the larger bits of Roman masonry remaining in Britain. These days it is called…
As you are probably aware, the bones of Richard III were found a few years ago buried in a car park in central Leicester. After being sampled, CT scanned, carbon dated, DNA tested, and 3D modeled to establish that it was in fact the missing monarch, the bones were buried again a few yards away in Leicester Cathedral, which along with the nearby Richard III Visitor Centre and Richard III statue and Richard III’s Medieval Leicester signage makes a Richard…
This is the hottest day of the year in the UK. It’s about 90 degrees where we are (32C) and there is no AC on the boat. We started out around eight this morning when the temperature was still bearable. The locks in this stretch are double wide, and the gates are heavy, so it is hard work slogging through them. They also have a tendency to swing open unprovoked, which means that you have to be on both sides…
After some more paint touch up on the boat we left Market Harborough this morning. On the way out we were behind a day rental party boat that kept changing speed from a bit too fast to way too slow. Still, they were having a good time, and if I was in a hurry I wouldn’t be on a narrow boat. We passed some construction machinery, driving pilings into the land near the canal. As Paula said, “Now, that’s a…
Let’s get the pronunciation out of the way first. It’s HAR-bur-uh. There’s been a market here since 1204. Back in those days mostly farm animals and produce were bought and sold. The modern police station is on the site of the old pig market. Who says that city planners don’t have a sense of humor? The town museum is housed along with the library in an old corset factory. This was Paula’s favorite corset. They had several more in the…
When canal fanciers gather to talk of the glories of bygone ages, soon enough the talk will turn to the Foxton Inclined Plane. An inclined plane is a fancy way of saying ramp, but it’s what was going up and down the ramp that was important. A whole section of the canal large enough to hold two narrowboats was sealed off and lowered down the ramp, counterbalanced by another one coming up. A steam engine provided the extra energy to…
There was no Internet last night, so you get two days of news today. We set off up the Grand Union yesterday morning, and were faced with a flight of seven locks. These were double wide, and we shared them with a family of inexperienced but enthusiastic boaters in a hire boat. The canal was busy (including idiots coming down through the locks who did not bother to check if anyone was coming up), but we made it up the…