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| Warwick castle - the original part was built in 1068 |
Considering Karen has been
working in Warwick for over a year and we have been continuously cruising the
general area all that time, it’s surprising that she has never walked around
the town. Mind you, I have only been in
there a handful of times and, until Wednesday when Buddy and I had a good look around, they were all for errands like
paying cheques in at a bank.
As we are only moored a
mile away from the town centre we decided to spend Saturday in town. Not only did we want to have a look around
there was some domestic things that needed doing like getting shoes re-heeled
and Karen getting a haircut.
Just before we left, a
couple of boats came out of the lock where we were moored. Karen and I were leaning out of the side
hatch enjoying the sunshine before the black clouds came. The first boat was being steered by Steven
Cross so we had a brief chat as he passed us.
He had been on a boaters’ social group during the week asking about
moorings at Warwick. He got the usual
split responses between those, like us, who prefer to moor out of town in the
peace and quiet and sun. The other responders recommended mooring in
the centre as its close to town which is rather gloomy because of tall trees
and flats. I was amazed that some people
recommended getting a bus for the less than ½ mile journey into town from the moorings in the centre.
Rain was forecast for most
of the day so we wore our full wet weather gear, unlike Friday night when we
got soaked walking in to town for a drink and a meal. We started off by visiting the hidden gardens
and as soon as we reached the first one the rain started getting heavy so,
unlike the other tourists, we were glad we were dressed appropriately.
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Karen and Buddy sheltering
under a tree in one of the secret gardens
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As it was we didn’t get to
go into any of the other gardens. The
first had an £8.50 entrance fee which, considering the weather, wasn’t really
worth it – it would have been better on a pleasant day when more time could be
spent there. Shame really as it has been
in cultivation for over 500 years and apparently has some fascinating features
like a pineapple pit and a 2,000-year-old nilometer shipped over from Egypt.
Nilometers were used to
measure the water level of the River Nile during the flood season and hence
provide a means to calculate the amount of tax to be levied on crop growers. There was an optimum flood height that would
deposit the best alluvial soil on the fields and hence that level would bring
in the most crops and consequently the highest taxes.
Another garden was down by
the river and castle and that looked beautiful but didn’t allow dogs in. We tried to convince them that as they had no
other visitors and it was raining that an exception could be made for Buddy but
to no avail.
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Entrance to the dog free
secret garden
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We went into the Rose and
Crown to get a drink and a sandwich before Karen went off for her haircut. I ended up having dressed crab – I can never resist
that – and Karen had a proper steak sandwich which was just to the medium side
of rare – just the way she likes good steak.
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Getting brief respite from the rain
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After Karen’s trip to the
hairdressers we went down to the river Avon - see picture at the top. It’s a shame it’s not navigable for
narrowboats but the navigation stops soon after leaving Stratford on Avon. As I mentioned the other day, there are still
plans to open it up to navigation and provide a link onto the Grand Union
between Warwick and Leamington Spa; it would be great to cruise past the
castle. The original part of the castle was built for William the Conqueror in 1068, nearly 1,000 years ago!
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| Looking north from the castle towards Leamington Spa |
The pleasure boat yard was
closed because of the weather otherwise we would have gone out in one of their
discrete pedalos (!).
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Closed pleasure boatyard
even on a Saturday in the summer
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We had a wander around a few
of the quaint streets and then, as the rain got heavier, took refuge in the Old
Coffee House.
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Welcome drinks in the Old
Coffee House
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We were tickled by this card hanging in the window of a shop that made and sold hand made cards:
Sweet houses in Mill
Street
We popped into Sainsbury’s
on the way home and Karen cooked a delicious salmon en croute for dinner.
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