Our stay in Warsash continued in much the same way, lots of walking, eating and fussing with Hendrix. I can’t believe I’m now on week three of couch to 5K, that’s three runs a week, and as much as Jo Wiley, my personal coach, tells me to love running, it’s not working yet!
Brian has been getting the newspaper online, courtesy of mums vouchers, so we now start off with the regular crossword, before moving on to the cryptic with our pre dinner drink. I do find I still need a pencil and a piece of paper, but it’s actually better than expected, and beginning to come together for Brian.
This is a little video of the Isle of Wight to Portsmouth hovercraft which some people may find boring but they never cease to amaze me!
We did eventually become more than just ‘staff’ to Hendrix, he’d come and go during the night for a little fuss and spent evenings in with us in the lounge. It just takes some animals a bit longer to decide we are ok. We’ve never done a sit for less than a week, for animals we’ve not met before, and don’t really think a week is long enough. Obviously we understand why there are so many short breaks this year with all the uncertainty about booking to go away, but we don’t think it’s optimal for us or the pets. So what a joy, this next one is three weeks, in St. Albans looking after Max and Tatty, a Russian blue and a Siberian, both come all the way from Australia.
We went for a walk through Hamble, the town on the other side of the Hamble river from Warsaw and this is the way across, the Pink Ferry! Have a look at our 'Relive' video of our walk and river trip: click here
Hamble town
We travelled on Thursday with a little stop off at Winchester to look at the Great Hall, with what might have been King Arthur’s Round Table on the wall (if it had been a little older, and he’d actually existed!) It was very interesting though, neither of us realising that Winchester used to be the capital of England. We got to the house, about 16.00, to have a handover as the homeowners, and baby were leaving at 10.30 the following morning, better to get it out of the way so we could keep out of their way! We spent the night at the Holiday Inn in Apsley, because there was the choice of pub or Indian restaurant within 90 seconds walk! So we had a pint, and then a curry - can’t show favouritism! They were lovely curries, mine selected for me by the waiter, he appears to do it regularly reading TripAdvisor, and he made a good choice. We had a good excuse, Brian’s Birthday being on Friday, not that we really need an excuse. We’ve got to spend his state pension somehow! We did however both wake up feeling rubbish curry or beer? Who knows. Not to worry though, we only had to pop to Aldi before letting ourselves in to the house. We did go out though to have a quick look round, found a streetfood market (but we had leftover curry) and a running route, identified where Verulamium, old Roman ruins, are and had a general potter.
This is a chapel in the Royal Victoria Country Park, which is all that remains of a huge WWI hospital. It burned down in the 1960's and was demolished. It once extended from where we are standing to as far the other side of the chapel and from the low fence halfway across that field towards the sea. A railway line and station transported injured soldiers from the port directly to the front door. A pier stretched out into Southampton Water to allow recuperating soldiers to take in the sea air
Hendrix cat looking quite cute
Feeling much better on Saturday we had a run, went to another ‘proper’ market, went up the clock tower, the oldest town (not church) clock tower in the country. Looked in amazement at the number of restaurants and pubs there are in this city (we’ll both be the size of a house when we leave if we are not careful) and spent some time with Max and Tatty. Max, apart from sleeping a lot of the day, is fab. He’s our friend already. Tatty is a little more reticent, though I carried her down from her attic room (which she didn’t like much) last night to have her turkey mince (which she did). She soon went back upstairs though, but at bedtime came down onto the bed for strokes. She reappeared a few times during the night for more fuss which was lovely. She hasn’t been down to go outside yet (there is a litter tray in the bathroom so this isn’t actually a problem) but we are getting there!
This is Southsea Castle just south of Portsmouth, originally built by Henry VIII to protect the port. It was from here on 19th July 1545 that Henry watched the battle against a failed French invasion of 200 ships and saw his favourite ship the Mary Rose capsize and sink
This would have been Henry's view. We're looking at The Solent and the land is the Isle of Wight. French forces were massed on the left and the Mary Rose sank a little further out from where that little yacht is
A photograph of an engraving of the scene. French forces massed on the left, English forces on the right and the two masts of the Mary Rose after sinking just visible in the centre
Southsea Castle. Have a look at our 'Relive' video of our walk along the front: click here
They were also setting up for a 3 day music festival 'Victorious' over the Bank Holiday weekend. You can see one of three stages they had erected. Madness were about the only band we recognised as performing
These people were not having a fun time. We watched them get it upright and then capsize again three times at least while we watched
Now we're in Winchester, ancient capital of England apparently. The building at the end is the Great Hall and is all that remains of Winchester castle, built by William the Conqueror in 1067 and demolished by Oliver Cromwell in the 1640's during the civil war
Hanging on the wall is this, King Arthurs Round Table, or so it is said. However, the wood used dates from about 1250 and King Arthur is supposed to have existed between about 480 and 550AD. It's not even clear whether there even was a King Arthur as nothing was written about him until 1150 and some believe it is an idealised legend from a noble, lost time. He was supposed to live in Camelot and some believe Winchester is Camelot, but there are many others who claim Camelot is elsewhere. No-one really knows, but that just adds to the legend. What is known is that Henry VIII believed the story, saw the round table and ordered it to be painted, the image of the seated king you can see is actually King Henry rather than King Arthur
This is a model of what is believed to have been Winchester castle
Winchester cathedral. I can't write that without thinking of the 1966 song of the same name performed by The New Vaudeville Band. Jackie had never heard of it so I found a copy on Youtube. Here's a link to it: click here its quite catchy, you'll end up humming it!
So we had a nice evening in a hotel near Hemel Hempstead. We had a drink on the terrace here at The Paper Mill pub then went across this bridge we're on over the Grand Union canal to the Marina Spice Indian restaurant on the other side. The Grand Union canal links London to Birmingham, it makes you think, travelling by narrow boat between the two cities stopping a pubs like this on the way, mmm!
So on to St Albans. This is Verulamium Park, site of the third largest Roman city in England. A huge number of artifacts have been found here, now in a museum which we have yet to visit. Many ruins have been excavated, but then buried again to protect them, on a few bits of wall show above ground. A lot of the stones were used to build the cathedral and clock tower
Here's a bit of the old Roman city wall in the park. Jackie looks excited!
And this is Ye Old Fighting Cocks Inn, said to be the oldest pub in England. It was a coaching inn and very popular as it was one days journey from London (about 20 miles!). It helped put St Albans on the map making it a wealthy city. We have to have a drink in here!
However, it vies with a huge number of pubs and restaurants in the town. This screenshot from Google Maps shows the huge number in a small area. How do they all survive? But more importantly, how many can we try on the three weeks we're here!
This is the clock tower in St Albans, said to be the oldest medieval clock tower in England
Nice views from the top all round St Albans. That's the cathedral, another place we have to visit while we're here
But let's not forget our charges while we're here - this is shy little Tatty cat. Isn't she gorgeous?
And, of course, if you leave any clothes on the floor they are a magnet for pussy cats
And this is Max. Incredibly friendly and wanting strokes as soon as we'd walked in (as long as he wasn't asleep!). The location of the house makes it very easy to explore the city, we can walk to the centre of town in about 3 minutes, so we don't have to leave them on their own for too long. Even Verulamium Park is less than 10 minutes walk away, not to mention the number of bars and restaurants we can reach within 5 minutes walk!
No comments:
Post a Comment