Days out and cats to fuss in Welton, Northamptonshire

Excited Jackie at Watford Gap, Britain's first service area

Monday we had a thrilling trip out, just to stop Brian getting square eyed working on his expenses spread sheet. I discovered we were two miles from the Watford Gap, a thing of confusion for as long as I can remember, how can Watford be a big town south of where I grew up, close to London, while Watford Gap is a service area on the M1 in the Northamptonshire? Turns out the reference “north of the Watford Gap” probably referred to the one near London, as obviously that was London, and anything else was just ‘the North’

Rather than put separate photos of a canal, railway, the A5 trunk road and the M1 - with the village of Watford circled (we couldn't photograph them all in one), here's a map, courtesy of Google Maps showing how close they are. The 'Gap' conjours up images of a narrow pass between two big hills, but you can barely see the rise to the hills either side. It was obviously enough for generations of engineers to decide to build their constructions through it though 

The old Royal Ordnance factory on the canal at Weedon

Turns out there is another Watford, and the Gap, according to Wikipedia, is a low point through a range of hills providing an easy route between the South Eastern and Midland areas of England. In the era of Roman Britain , the Watling Street Roman road, now the A5 used the gap.

Later the road was joined by the Leicester line of the Grand Union Canal, which passes through the Watford Locks, just to the north of the gap.

Timid Mollie cat get fuss at her 'fuss station' in the kitchen

Pretty waterfall in the garden at our housesit

The historical geographic importance of the area led to many modern communication routes passing through this narrow gap: the coming of the railways brought the London and Birmingham railway now known as the West Coast mainline; the most recent addition, in 1959, was the M1, Britain's first inter-urban motorway, bringing with it Watford Gap services the first motorway service station. The A5 Road, the West Coast Mainline railway, the M1 motorway, and a branch of the Grand Union Canal, traverse in parallel a space about 400 metres (1,300 ft) wide. And this is what I wanted to see, but sadly there is nowhere to stand to look at all these things running next to each other. A bit of a washout, then really, but it did get us out! We didn’t go to the Blue Boar service area, the first service area in the U.K., as it’s not what it once was. During the 1960s, the services were a regular stopping venue for bands such as Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones. The Beatles stopped at Watford Gap while travelling from Liverpool to gigs in the south in the early stage of their career. Jimi Hendrix heard so much about "Blue Boar", as the services were then popularly known, that he thought it was a London nightclub.

Sign at the entrance to Welton, the village in Northamptonshire in which we are housesitting this week. We were amused that it is twinned with Cape Town, South Africa and felt that perhaps they are trying to 'punch above their weight'. Welton has a population of 608 and is 0.8 sq km in area, Cape Town has a population of 4,700,000 and is 400 sq km. We wonder if Cape Town has a similar sign promoting it's twinning with Welton

Rugby School, founded in 1567, birthplace of Rugby the game

Tuesday we went to have a look at Daventry, that didn’t take long! Wednesday we went to take Caroline climbing again, we’d all enjoyed it so much a couple of weeks ago. She did really well, belaying me on every climb so we could all climb one, rest one, belay one. Sadly till she’s 18 she can’t belay unsupervised, which is a shame as we were hoping she could go with Jonathan. We dropped her off and came home to fuss and feed pussycats before going to the pub for dinner, such a temptation when it’s so close!

Statue of Sir William Webb Ellis (1806 - 1872), the man who picked up the ball and ran with it during a school football match in 1823, creating the 'rugby' style of play

Lovely day for cricket at Rugby school!

Thursday we went to Rugby, to see the school, though tours are cancelled till September, to learn about Rugby, the game, ‘invented’ by William Webb Ellis, though this may be all a fallacy, but the museum was closed. To see where Frank Whittle designed and built the first jet engine. It’s now a hotel, so we didn’t go in. As for Brian’s favourite, the centre of cement production.... he would really have liked a cement museum, but even the tourist information centre laughed at him! We drove to the cement works for a photo!

The bronze sculpture commemorating Sir Frank Whittles pioneering work on the jet engine

Again a bit of a washout day, though pleasant enough, Brian thought I’d lost the plot when I made him stop in the village with all the knitting! This turns out to be Kilsby where the WI have been ‘yarn bombing’ the village to celebrate their 100 anniversary. Telegraph poles, road signs, street signs, trees, the phone box, anything that stayed still has been covered in knitting! Along with 7 installations highlighting various issues important to the WI from Keep Britain Tidy, to Maternal Health and Save the Honeybees. It was fab, we weren’t the only people wandering the village taking many photos stunned by the efforts that have gone in.

This is Brownsover Hall, now a hotel in the north of Rugby. Sir Frank Whittle had his offices here and designed the worlds first jet engine, testing it in 1937 at the nearby British-Thomson-Houston factory, now GE Energy

Friday we went to look at the canal and marina at Braunston and have lunch, all very civilised and British. Today has been the usual clean and tidy before we have a late departure. Our homeowners land in Gatwick at 21.30 so usually we’d stay and see them in the morning, but as they are meant to be isolating on their return it seems only right that we should leave before they get back. Once they have landed and are on their way we’ll head off.

The Rugby Cement works (Cemex UK). They have been producing cement here since 1862. Why is there no museum? You can't even get on site!

We shall be sad, the cats are just getting used to us, Oberon spending the night with us, Figaro spending a lot of his time upstairs (he obviously likes the underfloor heating in the bathroom, but who can blame him). The three of us were still in bed the other morning until we were all disturbed by a strange noise.... the window cleaner with his extendable brush spraying water on the window .... we were ok, Figaro went to see it off! Pandora made us laugh the other night, she wasn’t in when we went to bed, so didn’t get her ‘Dreamies’. She came upstairs and told us she was back, so if we’d like to come and give her her biscuits she’d be very grateful! I’ve also managed strokes and fuss with little Mollie, at her ‘fuss station’ by her windowsill. She’ll still run away if approached too quickly while eating, but to have some fuss has been fab.

There's one more thing that Rugby is famous for, Rupert Chawner Brooke (1887 - 1915), a poet born in Rugby and famous for his First World War sonnets, especially The Soldier. He died in Greece at 28 years old from sepsis which he got from an infected mosquito bite. He was on his way to fight at the Gallipoli landings 

A montage of the many knitting installations in Kilsby village for the Womens Institute 100th anniversary

Braunston marina through a footbridge over the canal

One of the many locks on the Oxford canal in Braunston

A shop on the towpath. Makes it easy to get your supplies in whilst enjoying a narrowboat holiday

A bit of history, the old Stop House on the towpath where users paid their toll

Lunch at The Boat House in Braunston whilst watching the boats go by on the canal

These guys know how to chill out. Figaro in the foreground, Oberon behind. They seemed to like our bed - or should I say, their day bed!

Pandora cat with her amazing fur

A last photo, this is Figaro asleep in Jackies cargo bag. She now has very furry clothes!