David had built sufficient time in the schedule to allow for a morning looking round Warwick, so he and I went off on our bikes while Jan, Penny and Fergus walked into the town. We'd tied up the previous evening opposite the Cape of Good Hope pub but had eaten on board.
Warwick is a splendid town, and has become another on our list of possible places to retire to when the time comes. St. Mary's Church played a tune on its carillon several times over at nine o'clock - either that, or it played one very long tune. I haven't been able to find a reference to this despite the millions of results for Warwick church on an internet search engine.
We found a good hardware shop where we bought some timber edging (or whatever it's called) and brass pins for David to improve the slide over the rear hatch. I then cycled a few miles with it sticking out of my panier. The height wasn't too much of a problem, but I had to remember not to swing my leg over the back when dismounting. Amazingly I think I remembered every time.
Warwick Castle is a huge tourist attraction, but costs a small fortune to visit. A family of four would pay more than a hundred pounds if they wanted to go round all of it. We went round, but outside the walls, cycling alongside endless acres of car parks until we came to the River Avon. My OS map showed a track we could follow across a field, so we carried on. It was a lovely warm and sunny morning.
I think we passed a sign saying something about no public access, but I just followed David until a tractor blocked our path. A man, a shepherd, climbed down and told us we were on private land (oops!) and that the owner didn't take too kindly to strangers crossing it. He was friendly, though (the shepherd), and we were able to take another route off the estate. This took us to a main road which crossed the river, from where there was a good view of the castle. (I've just looked at the date of my OS Sheet 151 map. 1979. Ah.)
As I took in the scene, a rower came downstream under the bridge towards the castle, adding a bit more interest to the photo. Incidentally the sculler is demonstrating perfectly the way one hand has to go above the other to avoid the oars' handles hitting each other. (I found that out from Wikipedia).
3 comments:
Yes, Warwick castle is expensive, but from what I recall of our visit some years ago, there is a lot to see inside and it was very well presented. I wouldn't mind betting you could find some discount vouchers if you dug around.
Re Sculling :-
Have you never looked at the photograph of your other brother in the Diamond Sculls at Henley?
It shows his hands very plainly.
H.S.
All looks well worth a visit.
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