Not much boating - Leamington Spa and Warwick

Leamington Spa and Warwick are joined at the hip. Arriving at one end (Leamington) it is only a few miles of canal through both towns to end up at the other end of Warwick.

The day after my arrival at Leamington was my birthday. I had discussed with the Idle Women that I'd be coming back to help them with the Stockton Locks and maybe have another go at steering their workboat Tench. I had forgotten that we are all connected on facebook, so of course when I arrived they knew it was my birthday. I was greeted by a Happy Birthday serenade by all the crew accompanied by Heather Wastie on the accordion.

A little lockside serenade by Heather Wastie

We went through the Stockton Locks, the staircase and the rest of the locks all the way down to near where my boat was moored. They are tougher than I am, as they did my two day legs in one day. I got a good stretch of steering in between locks, but also in and out of some locks. In the evening I staid with them for dinner on Tench and we emptied two bottles of Prosecco. It was a lovely birthday!

Heather B. yarn bombed the Stockton locks

Dexter being grumpy in Heather B.'s lap as he had to wear a muzzle

Prosecco on Tench

Leamington Spa

The next day I went to explore Leamington Spa a bit. I always have an idea of a Spa town in my mind, which is shaped by German towns ("Kurorte"). In Germany they are usually prosperous places with lots of health and spa treatments. In England sadly the spas are largely a thing of the past. I don't quite understand why, as there is a spa hotel market in England, so why not in the places that already have the natural environment for this? Leamington has mineral springs, which used to feed pools and baths used for water treatments external and internal from the 19th century onward. The treatments used to be continued through the NHS, but stopped in the 1980s. Apparently Leamington declined quite a lot after that. Today it looks relatively rich with all lovely done up white regency houses and beautiful gardens. The little museum in the old pump room building says that there is plenty of spring water still. There is indeed a small inconspicuous tap in the street (which you only notice if you know that it's there), but alas, it was dry! No testing the alleged health benefits of "taking the waters" for me then.

Some impressions of Leamington Spa:

The old Turkish bath

Leaminton town hall

Posh looking hotel - a Travelodge!

Leamington highstreet

Clock tower in Jephson Gardens

View of Leamington from the river Avon

Warwick

On Friday it was time to move on the few miles and two locks to the other end of the twin towns. The canal moves through the back streets of Leamington and Warwick, occasionally past old industrial sites, on rare occasions past people's back gardens. It is curious how unlike rivers, the canals hardly ever run through the centre of towns. I guess this is because the canals were built as industrial routes, not for pleasure. But it means that you have to make a real effort to see any of the towns and villages you pass through.

Only two locks but another first: two boats were in the lock before me and I was waiting behind.  Something looked not right (water coming out the bottom end as they were trying to go up). I walked up to check what was going on. The two husbands were on their boat chatting away happily, the two wives at the top end with the paddles open, but one side of the bottom paddles was also open. The water just flowed through the lock and they were going nowhere, certainly not up. They could have sat there a long time draining the pound above, without me turning up to close the paddle.

Aquaeduct over the river Avon

Mooring in Saltisford

I moored up at Saltisford moorings near Warwick town centre. Saltisford is a charity working to restore the Saltisford arm of the canal. For now they have a small part of it open and provide lovely moorings with all the facilities for a small fee (washing machines!). I chose to stay there as I was going to London over the weekend to celebrate my birthday a bit with friends and this was a good place to leave the boat. I ventured into Warwick town centre later in the afternoon and found everything closed already except the absolutely beautiful little Mill Garden tucked away between Warwick Castle and the river Avon.

The Mill Garden with Avon and Castle views:

The biggest peonies I have ever seen

Warwick is a beautiful town with a lot of medieval history and very old historic buildings. I am not that well versed in English history, but it is clear just from looking at the imposing castle that the town has a long military history. St. Mary's Church is full of magnificent tombs of several Earls of Warwick, some of whom have been heavily involved in the War of the Roses in the 15th century. I skipped visiting the castle itself as judging from the website it looked more like a theme park than a historic tour sadly.

I had a stroll around the town centre instead:

Tudor houses

Castle Hill Baptist Church

St. Mary's Church

Inside St. Mary's Church

One Earl of Warwick and his wife in alabaster

Another Earl's tomb

Smith Street

Parking for the vicar

A lovely tea room