Narrowboat Tacet

Silent Movement - Our gap year travelling the inland waterways



Thursday, 31 October 2013

Into Warwickshire

 

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We have had another lovely autumn day, not so cold today even though we barely saw the sun, but this was the view from our windows just before we set off towards Hatton.

 

 

 

 

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Shrewley Tunnel was soon ahead, its not very long and you can clearly see the other end, but it is unusual with the horse tunnel at a higher level.

 

 

 

 

We have worked the Hatton flight 4 times before, so it seems familiar now.  Today we were on our own as we went down, but we met several boats coming up and for the last 4 locks were joined by another.  They were all hire boats, it has been a noticeably busier week as it’s half term.  They’ve had quite a good week.

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Trying to find some different pictures of the flight, so as not to repeat previous blogs.

 

 

 

 

 

We had completed the journey to Warwick by lunchtime, and we walked into the town, for a quick wander round and visit to the antique shops.  We had quite a few visits here last year when we were ‘stuck’ at Lapworth before Christmas.

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In the Medieval period Warwick was controlled by various Earls of Warwick, many from the Beauchamp family.  It became a walled town, today only the east and west gates survive.

 

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William the Conqueror started building Warwick Castle in 1068 on his way to Yorkshire to deal with rebellion in the north.

The castle developed into a stone fortress and then a country house and today is a popular (though very expensive) tourist attraction. Which is why we have never visited it.

 

 

 

 

The Great Fire of Warwick in 1694 destroyed much of the medieval town and as a result most of the buildings post-date this period.

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And then we moved on to Leamington Spa and look forward to visiting the town here again tomorrow.

9 miles, 23 locks, 1 tunnel

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