Leamington Spa to Warwick

Sat 13^th May  Leamington Spa to Warwick

We had a low battery this morning, so we ran the engine, and moved across the aqueduct to a sunnier mooring. We also did some washing while we had the opportunity.

We visited Tesco and replenished our supplies.

We discovered that Roger and Jo were waiting for Chris and Sally and Simon to catch up with them, so we wouldn’t be seeing them today.

We had a Chinese ready meal, and watched Eurovision. The TV signal was poor, so we watched very successfully via the internet using a HDMI lead from James laptop to the TV. Sweden won, and UK came second to last.

Canada Goose family

Minimal boating today

Sun 14^th May  Warwick

We decided to catch an early X17 bus into Warwick. While we were waiting at the bus stop, a man appeared from a footpath, and we started chatting. He said the footpath led to Tesco. We also discovered that he was a volunteer on the Hatton flight on Tuesdays. We told him we were going up the locks tomorrow.

We got off the bus outside a Methodist Church. We walked round the corner, and found ourselves in the main eating and shopping area. We visited the Globe, one of the ancient pubs there, and had coffee and croissants, while we waited for an hour. We wandered back to the Methodist Church for their service at 1030am. The worship was pre-recorded organ music, with a selection of well-known hymns and faded worship songs. Few people spoke to us until after the service, when we went for coffee in the adjacent hall. We then had lots of conversations with the people on our table.

When we left, there were cycle races going on, and only certain places where we could cross the course. We went to The Thomas Lloyd pub for lunch, which was the usual Wetherspoons fare.

We wandered around the shops for a while before going to the bus station to catch our bus back to Tesco. There we found that all the others had arrived, so we now had four boats in one place.

We had another go at solving the tunnel light mystery, but without success. We all moved on up two locks to the Cape moorings. On the way, we paused at Kate Boats to empty two cassettes. While the Elsan point flushed OK, the taps had been turned off, so James had to use our watering can to rinse the cassettes.

We shared Cape Locks with Kairos, with lots of gongoozlers looking on at the pub.

We moored alongside Dizzy Duck, above Bridge 50a, and Spirit moored alongside Kairos before Bridge 50. Due to a misunderstanding, Spirit had gone on ahead, and had to reverse a little way, under both bridges.

Everyone gathered on Dizzy Duck later, and Simon produced some of his guitars, and James sang a few songs. We discovered that Chris had some running around to do tomorrow, taking a taxi to Long Itchington to collect his car, driving to Aylesbury, then to Ellesmere, coming back from there by train. We therefore wouldn’t be doing the Hatton flight until Tuesday.

Misty morning

Warwick Methodist Church

Warwick Methodist Church

Cycle race

Main Square

Old buildings

Gabriel and Kairos

Cape Top Lock

Roger and Jo reversing

Moored alongside Dizzy Duck

2 locks, 2 miles.  Dep1550, arr 1655.

Mon 15^th May  Warwick

We ran the engine, had showers, and did some clothes washing.  The hire boat in front of us moved off.

We caught a No 1 bus into Warwick, with Roger and Jo, and we separated to do some sightseeing, meeting up in an old tea shop for lunch. We came back separately, and discovered that another hire boat had moored in front of us.

Hazel cooked Satay for everyone except Chris and Sally, who returned from their running around having eaten.

Four in a bus

Ornate doorway

Upstairs in the Court House

Tea shop and castle

Timber framed buildings

St Mary's Church

Frescoes

Beachamp Chapel

Tombs and monuments

Side chapel

Fan vaulting

Ducking stool

The crypt

Leycester Hospital

Next:  Hatton 21 Locks, before leaving the Grand Union, and heading up the northern part of the Stratford Canal.