Blogs from Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 2

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Europe » United Kingdom » England » Warwickshire » Leamington Spa November 8th 2018

Some of you have wondered - both publicly, and privately to me - whether this whole trip has been rainbows and unicorns, and/or if the travel has wearied me. As I wind down my last weeks in England, I can say that while the overall trip, discoveries and experiences have been PHENOMENAL, there have been trying times, places and people along the way. And it will be a relief not to be constantly researching and figuring out where to go next, how to get there and what the neighborhood/accommodations will be like. Take, for example, my current (four night) stay in Royal Leamingtom (“Lemmington”) Spa. I opted for a modest AirBnB room ($70ish per night once fees are added) in a vegan house, because it was well located and the owners offer transit from/to the rail ... read more
My roof deck, Leamington Spa
My view of Leamington Spa
Spa Museum replica of original Turkish bath hammam

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Warwickshire August 29th 2018

Regular Ruff Readers may be wondering why we've not travelled further than the English Coast in our RV, after all long stays in the wilderness is what these beasties are designed for. Well the answer is simple, and two fold. Firstly the plan is to travel around Europe, while we still can, and take our time doing it too. In order to do that we've spent hours testing and refining kit and systems while adding some nice little luxuries for those not so warm and sunny days. Secondly, who would want to go anywhere else than around the UK when we've just had the most spectacular summer ever. It's been fabulous and we've seen place's we've never been and met some lovely like-minded folk along the way. However, we have discovered there's one last bit of ... read more
Moooooove along now
Solar TIme
Have they got anything me Lyd? Something with lots of pictures?

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Warwickshire » Warwick June 11th 2017

Time is like grains of sand that slip through your fingers. One minute you have them in your hand and the next they are gone. Slowly slipping through grain at a time. It hardly seems five minutes since we set off for Greece. All that planning. All that excitement. All that waiting . Time has flown since we got home. We have rattled around the house. Like marbles in a box we roll around from room to room. So much space after living in a white box on wheels. It always seems odd to come home and takes us time to adapt to our much larger surroundings. We also have that feeling of being let down. The holiday has gone and all we have are the memories. What memories though. The weather since we arrived home ... read more
Charlecott Manor gatehouse
Time waits for no man
The hall

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Warwickshire » Stratford-upon-Avon December 25th 2016

The day began early, at 5:30 the alarm went off. I have not been up that early on Christmas Day, ever, not even when a kid. Our day tour left at 7:25 so we needed to get up early so we were somewhat awake. When I booked this tour, which is something don’t normally do but are doing more so as the years go by and our bodies don’t seem to be the age we believe ourselves to be, but back to the point. The tour was advertised as “Christmas lunch in the Cotswolds’ and a wonderful description of a traditional English Christmas lunch was described with a picture of a quaint inn in the countryside. Regrettably, all was not as advertised. The day was not as hoped for but we would be rewarded at dinner ... read more
The Garrick Pub
Traditional Christmas Lunch
Christmas Pudding

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Warwickshire » Warwick September 23rd 2016

Geo: 52.2819, -1.58447Well, it is The Globe pub at Warwick, not Stratford Upon Avon though we have spent a very pleasant few hours wandering through Shakespeare's delightful home town. There was a food fair there today so we had traditional Indian and Spanish food for lunch.Yesterday we shopped to we dropped at Rugby - took all of 20 minutes - and then found ourselves a pleasant spot to stop for our last night on Cameo, our trusty canal boat. We went rambling around the countryside before having pizza and and a can of ale for dinner!We returned to Rose Canal boats this morning and have traded our lovely 54' long home for a car and set off for Shakespeare country and then on to the town of Warwick which is very pleasant. We have visited the ... read more
Christine of Rose Canal Boats
Obligatory Photo of Shakespeare's Birthplace.
Steam engine at the Food Festival!

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Warwickshire » Rugby September 21st 2016

Geo: 52.3732, -1.26174Heading home from the pub yesterday afternoon we saw a real live FOX, again too far away for a photo so you will just have to trust us. Today was a big one on the canal boating, we had to navigate three LOCKS without the aid of Clive and to our delight it went well with no dramas, we were quietly confident, and mostly competent. The locks are really quite an ingenious and simple concept which revolutionised transportation, before the train was invented. Many of them are original (but with an element of grandfather's axe perhaps) and have been in situ for 200-300 years.After the locks we finally found somewhere to fill the water tank and have been able to have a decent shower and wash our SOX and assorted smalls.We stopped at Rugby ... read more
The second lock at Hillmorton
Another lock photo at Hillmorton
Sewing class at Rugby

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Warwickshire » Rugby September 16th 2016

Geo: 52.3732, -1.26174We abandoned our car after 606.8 miles of adventure and were met by the wonderful Clive and Sarah Thompson who entertained us onboard Amphora (their canal boat) until 'Cameo' was ready for us.Christine, the lovely lady at Rose Boats took us through everything we needed to know and then, with her on board, we set 'sail' if you can do that under power. She stayed on board for 3/4 hour or so during which time we learnt to steer, stop and moor. Linda is the master boat person and I am navigator - really easy on a canal - and offer useless advice like 'I think we have run aground' and 'I'll remove that bit of tree from the front of the boat'. She has done really well and I will stick to doing ... read more
Another bridge successfully navigated
The tunnel - all 250 yards of it.
All Shipshape!

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Warwickshire » Kenilworth September 11th 2016

Like many Brits I have to confess that I enjoy watching 'Benidorm' and was saddened to hear of Donald's passing. However, in enjoying watching Jaqueline and Donald's exploits, not once did I see their fun and frolics extend to the somewhat limited confines of a motorhome. I hope this blog has gone some way to provide an insight into what motorhome owners use their vans for - which is not necessarily for either dogging or swinging. Indeed I have friends who do swing - but they don't own a motorhome! DO'S AND DON'TS... DO: - Carry spare petrol or diesel - Check in your Adblue level before setting out - even if it is a new vehicle and technically should not need any and take a litre or two with a you. - Check for local ... read more

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Warwickshire » Stratford-upon-Avon September 11th 2016

We came out of the Catholic church where we had been attending Mass and, seeing an internet cafe across the road, decided to check our emails, which we hadn't done for several days. The last time we were here there hadn't been any internet access but the old president had died in the intervening years. His more progressive son had taken over and loosened up the communications networks. There was a tension in the air and people stared at us as we crossed the street to the cafe but we were used to that and didn't pay much heed. Most people were watching one of those 3rd grade doomsday movies about the end of the world but, being in Arabic – even though it was subtitled (in Farsi) – we didn't understand any of it. We ... read more
Sutton Courtenay - Pheasant
Wallace gathering - after the calleidh
Waverley


Thursday, June 23 Off to do one more self guided tour around Oxford and could not find any parking and ended up out of the city. Decided to go ahead and head for Stratford-on-Avon. We got there after a couple of unnerving roundabouts and again it felt like we were in some kind of bump'em car game. Got to our B&B and since we beat L&I there we chose the room with the King bed and they got the bigger bathroom. We headed to lunch and left a message for L&I who met us at King's Head Pub about an hour later. Had a great beef and ale pie with all the trimmings. The we headed into Stratford to look around. Used both cars and we led and as soon as we got to the 2nd ... read more
we meet up with L&I
Avon River
cloudy apple cider




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