3rd July 2005 – Ordination of Chris to Deacon

We got into the city of Derby in about 30-minutes, arriving at around 1pm. We parked in the car park outside Matalan and walked into the city centre, seeing Derby Cathedral in the distance. It was odd to find that it was not listed in Autoroute 2005 (under the ‘attractions’ category or in any other in fact), but not more so that finding that Derby city centre had completely failed to sign post it. Nothing highlighted the existence of the building.

We arrived and checked the time for the ordination and then left to look around town and find a cinema. Sunday lunch time in Derby was quite busy, but I suppose there isn’t really a day in the week when any town isn’t busy. We asked the lady at ‘Customer Relations’ of the city’s shopping centre for the nearest cinema who gave us some vague idea of its location. We left and headed in the vague direction of northwards. A taxi driver was turning around in a small entrance area and suddenly his dragging front-left wheel guard got caught under the wheel and the thing came off. He began to drive off leaving a bit of his car in the entrance when we stopped and picked it. He too stopped and turned around. We threw the rubbish into his boot and I took the opportunity to ask him directions to the cinema.

Unsurprisingly, we were going the wrong way and needed to walk back and take a different road. I suppose we were kind of expecting that to happen. We backtracked and after some more walking, found the cinema. It was about 2:15pm, we decided to watch Mr. and Mrs. Smith (a good and fun film, worth watching) at 3pm, so we used the time to go to Morrisons to get some lunch. We strolled back to the cinema, watched the film and hurriedly walked back to Derby Cathedral.

The ordination was interesting to watch and everyone was happy to see Chris and congratulate him. He got a gift from the cathedral Deacons/Fathers and his lovely fiancée, Suk, received a big bouquet of flowers. I also managed to see a few others from Southampton and get some chit-chat time with them. Nav and I found out that the cathedral was founded in 1927 which greatly explains the design of the building – it didn’t look much like the cathedrals we had seen on our travels, looking much more modern with the orderly fashion of the roof structure and the flatness of the walls. It may also explain why Morton didn’t write about it in his travel book. I have to say, it looked like less personal man-power had gone into building it, and the advantages of machinery and such like had been utilised. No doubt it took a lot less time to construct than those that are many centuries old. Ultimately, it made it less personal cathedral. Also its size represented more towards church-size than that of a cathedral, but this is probably explained by being restricted (in terms of building ground) by the surrounding buildings that must already have been established before the cathedral was even thought of.

The service was finished by 8pm and we gathered for refreshments and talks. Around about 9pm, Nav and I said our goodbyes and well-wishes, and left for the car. And there begins the end of the whole adventure. The first stop was north London for myself, involving a drive down the M1 where we encountered a car accident at Junction 9-8. We stopped off at my home for a cuppa, a rest and to sort out the stuff that belonged to whomever. And then Nav set off for home or Southampton; my leg of the journey finally finished, and Nav’s to follow shortly.


And here ends this blog; ‘Round England with a Coolbox’. I hope that all those who have followed it have enjoyed reading it, but either way please pass on any comments about anything you wish. They will be read and responses given if necessary (by me commenting on this, my final post). It’s been fun writing it, especially in the colloquial style that is allowed for this type of log, so watch this space for other (and probably less interesting) blogs.

I’m currently at the stage of putting together some extra photographs – mainly panoramic shots that can be scrolled around with using Quicktime VR. Copy and paste the following URL to find the extras:
www.mrjoll.plus.com/steven/blog/extras/


So long and thanks for all the fish [sandwiches, Nav]


-- steven

2nd July 2005 – In Search of James

Utter madness last night as we tried to find a campsite to stay in. We drove up to Nuneaton but couldn’t find the one listed, and then headed back to Warwick. I tried for the place we stayed the night before but they were full. I phoned to another and they said it was fine. We found the road and the sign post for the farm. Except it wasn’t a campsite. After faffin around for at least 30-minutes, Nav found that the sign said ‘Next left’. The bloody annoying thing was that we had turned around in a small drive just prior to that turn because we originally missed that sign on the first run. Unbelievable. We set up camp in the dark – it was 11pm or so – Nav doing the dinner. Except he manage to spill practically all the Meths on his jeans, so instead squirted some of his lighter fluid into the little fuel pot. It did the job albeit giving the cooking pot a nice coat of soot.

The day was dedicated to visiting James, a university friend from the Southampton days. We found our way up to Nuneaton and slightly further north to small town where James has his own house (well, not yet completely). He gave us instructions yet we still, and with great ease, managed to get lost. Twice (I phoned him after telling him where we were and after we turned around in a side street, manage to go down a completely different road).

We found the designated landmark (a local Co-op) and waited for James to pick us up. And that he did, still driving his Aston Maxi and still loving it. Also, he still has his spiky hair although now in techni-colour blue and blonde. He was well and seemed his perky self, still at Rare (the games company) but now having moved out from his previous apartment which he shared with others from Rare. His house was in a nice quiet suburban area, his house the last on a terrace of four or five. It was a lovely and neat house, both in- and outside. And with being on the corner, he had the added bonus of having a good sized back garden.

We met his lovely girlfriend, Ali, who usually visits James on the weekend as she works in the Bristol area. And also their two pet rabbits, Bernard and Baldrick I think, (I forget). Large, plump rabbits… dribble...

We had a light lunch in the back garden (pizza, not the rabbits). Originally, James had the idea of us seeing Bosworth Castle but instead we had a good ol’ chit-chat about past, present and future and a good laugh about things in general. I think we stayed for 4-hours or so as it was coming up to 5:30pm, and Nav and I decided that we should head off for Derby so that we didn’t have to drive in the morning. So we said our goodbyes to Ali and James drove us back to Nav’s car. We said our goodbyes to James, and we ourselves drove north up to Derbyshire. We found a campsite without trouble, high up on some Derbyshire hills, a few miles south-east of the Peak District National Park. In fact, you could actually see the National Park from the campsite and it looked great – however, we hadn’t nor would have the time to explore them but that’s now been put on my list of places to visit the next time I want to travel England.

Nav remind us that it would be our final night of camping out and that it would feel pretty odd to be able to sleep in a bed again. I agreed although I would be very welcome to try and get used to sleeping in a bed again…

-- steven

Round England with a Coolbox – Statistics

Estimated miles of travel according to MS Autoroute 2005:
1575.18 miles

Total miles driven:
Approx. 2050 miles

Estimated time of travel according to MS Autoroute 2005:
3 days, 7 hours, 52 minutes (9am – 5pm, without stopping)

Total time taken:
Approx. 19 days (no fixed time schedule)

Number of sandwiches made:
At least 35


Anything else you want to add, Nav?

1st July 2005 – And finally, Warwick and Kenilworth

Today we started our last day of the trip, dedicating more than six hours to our final two locations; Warwick and Kenilworth. We didn’t leave until late-morning – during our time at the campsite, we were starred at by a man owning the nearest tent. Later, he went off to sit in his car – probably to get out of the sun. Finishing today meant that we would be one week ahead of schedule and that was fine with us. It gave us time to relax over the weekend, something probably well due after the travelling we had managed.

Warwick Castle and Beauchamp Chapel were on the list, both of which we found with ease. The Castle seemed like it would be fun to explore but when we got to the main entrance we found that it cost £14.95 to get in. £14.95?!? Ridiculous – they must have been aiming it at the American tourists who would clearly pay anything to have a look, and not give a second thought to the home people whose heritage it is anyway. And that is what Nav based his motive operandi on – he wanted to see his heritage and he would get in, without paying.

£14.95?! And this wasn’t even peak time, either… grrr…..

So we scouted around the edge of the Castle grounds looking for potentially scaleable fencing. We found that most of it had barbed wire along the top of a high fence. Whilst walking, we passed a large group of American tourists and also a load of posh school children (they must only have been about 8yrs or so and they were wearing ties! And wearing them properly too! And white hats with rims like those of cricket players!)

We eventually found something that looked promising: a very high gate with spikes on the top with further such fencing along the side. It can be found coming in through the big archway entrance, at the end of the pathway (the one which is tunnelled through mounds of earth) and at the point when you have to climb some steps. Through the gate you can see the Castle grounds. We sat around on the corner, waiting for people to leave and when I gave Nav the all-clear, he stepped onto the low brick wall, hiked his left foot high up to his waist and put it onto the nearest tree branch, lurched upwards and did the same with his right foot, stepped onto the metal spiked fencing (it had curved upward-pointing parts to make the top slightly wider), swung to his left to make his right-side go over the fence, and with a final twist to his right shifted his left-side over the fence and hopped down ten feet to the soft ground. It was done in seconds and was pretty Jason Bourne-esque. A quick dust down and Nav then took my camera. I said that I wasn’t nearly agile enough for that (Nav’s a bit of a tree climber and has been wanting to do some climbing ever since the beginning of the trip), plus I had my backpack with me so there was no way I could follow. Nav took a load of photos, so here are some of them:

The board says ‘Storm the Castle’ – oh, the irony. Nav didn’t play because, obviously, he had already done it

View of the Castle and grounds

So says James’ Ali, Warwick Castle was bought by Madame Toussords (sp?) which explains the large number of wax-work people

Not doing its job properly, I see

More wax-works

Turbine part of the mill, which is still in use to generate electricity to the Castle

Turned out Nav had made it just in time too as a family group came around the corner on the pathway and a couple of others from the steps above. So for Nav, his reward for his efforts was free entry to look at his heritage. Later, he tells me that his punishment for beating the system was to be surrounded by a load of American tourists. I didn’t get any pictures so there’s no proof that he broke in – maybe that’s a good thing. I decided that I would head towards Beauchamp Chapel instead, although managed to divert into town centre. It is an incredibly small town centre and managed to walk through it without noticing. I stepped into the local WHSmiths and browses through a couple of magazines to while away the time before moving onto the Chapel.

Beauchamp Chapel was located within the St. Mary Church, although there it was only a single room of which could not be entered. There was some sort of music festival/show to be held in the church (they were practicing when we arrived) and I don’t know if this was part of the reason for the Chapel not to be open. However, you could more or less see everything within.

Beauchamp Chapel – just a single room

I also had a look around the church. There was some artwork from the local school children – some of whom were quite incredibly talented – and the occasional burst of music from the instruments, but the rest of the church was as normal. Nav had joined me later on (because he was still in Warwick Castle) and telling me that he “just wanted to get in to see the church and chapel”, he replied a ‘no’ and ‘yes’ grunt to the old lady at reception asking “Are you hear to see the music?” [grunt-no], “You’re here to see the church then?” [grunt-yes]. I think that the lady assumed Nav was not a native Englishman and so asked if an English tour guide sheet would suffice! Not only that, but it turned out that she had given Nav a sheet that had larger font and less (and probably more basic) information – ha de ha ha!

This time, we found our car without a problem and set off for a short drive north for Kenilworth. It was about 4pm and Kenilworth Castle (or the ruins of) and the surrounding grounds were empty bar two or three other people. We tried to stroll in through the entrance, but were stopped and told that there was a fee. We said that we’d look around the outside of the ground and decide. Having toured around the ruins, we managed to both get student discounts on the tickets (Nav had lost his student card) because the lady at reception said “just because you came back”.

Either way, we were going to have a look at Kenilworth Castle because it was our final location. And it was worth seeing too. Most of it had been destroyed; the wooden roofs gone making the larger rooms open-air, parts of wall blown up during the Civil War, suspended floors gone revealing the empty shell of the building. But some of it still stood; stone window frames, spiral steps to different levels, cooking areas and ovens of the kitchen denoted by the use of slate, outlines of the numberous buildings making up the Castle.

The remains of Kenilworth Castle

It was nice to find that the information boards dotted around, all of which had sketches and detailed info to provide a mental image of what could have been. There is one particular ruin of a building that can be climbed to provide a spectacular view of the surrounding countryside (which was once an area of water with islands) and also to overview the Castle remains.

’Inside’ view – most of the walls had been destroyed leaving a very open-plan office

There was also a keep with 8-foot thick walls, one of which had been blown apart (during the Civil War), revealing the haphazard placement of stones within the regular design of the exposed sides. It was all good fun and much better to be explored first hand, as it will sound like any other castle ruin (even though it is but each should be visited in its own respect).

And so it came; about 5:40pm we decided to leave as the Castle grounds started to shut-shop, the end of the journey was nigh and would happen as soon as we stepped out of Kenilworth Castle grounds. And that we did.

It was a strange feeling; Nav and I discussed the places that we had been and what the experience of travelling around England had brought to us. To me, during the travelling, it never felt like it but we probably were ‘in search of England’ and I think we found England in lots of different places. Being able to mentally visualise a county when someone talks about it, knowing where cities, towns and villages are with respect to one another and in England, being able to juxtapose different places and compare and contrast them – all of this was gained over the 19-days of travelling.

We both felt that it was well worth the effort, sleeping rough for 17 of the 19 days, eating at odd times and in odd places, getting lost on numerous occasions, setting up the tent and dinner in the dark – the list goes on, I just can’t remember it all. But the experience I will.

Round England with a Coolbox (a.k.a. ‘In Search of Modern England’) was complete


-- steven

30th June 2005 – Oakham, Tickencote and Coventry

After getting cleaned up and dressed, I bought a condiment jar of Apricot and Pineapple (to go with gammon or even ice-cream apparently). I love locally made preservatives, chutneys and jam – always better than the stuff you find in superstores. Nav and I discussed again our plan of action for the next few days. It turned out that we had made incredible time – most likely because we overestimated the time it would take to see the north/north-east of England. As such, I had to move a destination or two, which were originally planned for Week 4, into Week 3 to fill the gap between today and Sunday (ordination day). We even said that we’d put in a visit to see an old university friend this weekend – that still needs confirming James. The county of Rutland was supposed to be the only thing we would do, but it turned out that the extra stop (Coventry, which was planned for tomorrow), was also completed today.

The county of Rutland is said to be the smallest of all those in England – how many of you have actually heard of it before, because I certainly hadn’t. According to Morton, Rutland is only 17 miles wide. From the guide info that I’ve read, the Rutland River (or that big lake thing that you are more likely to notice) occurred due to the overflowing of local rivers in the 1970s. It flooded two hamlets leaving only that village you find on the peninsula. From the campsite, our first town of call was Oakham.

Now, when we read the book, we said that we would measure people to see if they were to scale with the county (Morton saying something along the lines of ‘everything is to scale here’). We didn’t do that as we could see that everyone was ‘normal’, except I found (again from the guide info) that the smallest man, Jeffery Hudson, was born and lived in Oakham. He was 39 inches tall (approximately 1-metre to those who think metric). On his house, there is a plaque that proudly reads that he was the smallest man born into the smallest county.

Jeffery Hudson’s house – look how small the front door is!

We also had a look at Oakham Castle, which turned out to be nothing more than the remains of, and actually looks like a barn. I think that people would easily miss it if there didn’t know about it – it looks like it could be a local house. We went inside and it was full of horseshoes. The story goes that when any royalty comes into Rutland, they are to present the county (castle) with a horseshoe – the reason why had not been documented, said the man at the desk, but did tell us that it could be something to do with payment in the ol’ days. The latest on that the acquires was that from Prince Charles in 2003. Today, there was to be a royal visiting the county (I forget which) so the ‘castle’ was to close at 1pm (in about 40-minutes time) with the appearance of the royal at around 3pm. We didn’t stay for the occasion; instead we headed out of the grounds in search of the Town Pump.

Rutland ‘Castle’... pah!

Horseshoes galore – they had very big horse back in the old days…

And we found it just outside the castle gates, just down the road a bit. It was a sorry looking pump and obviously was not in action any longer. The handle was clamped to the post.

Town Pump – nothing spectacular at all

And then, as special treat to ourselves, we went in search of the Butter Cross – which has a five-holed stock which “is a bit of a mystery” (quoting a guide info leaflet). I looked to our right and found it there, all alone, with nobody else around it. The name Butter Cross may have come from its history where they used to sell dairy products there. And there was indeed a five-holed stock – we couldn’t figure what the middle one was for but could hazard a guess…

The mysterious five-holed stock – see how it… err… stocks!!! Garh, me ‘arties!

We headed back to the car park (Nav happily saying that he “managed not to kill anyone or hit anything” when parking up) and set off for Tickencote. We drove on the north side of the Rutland River (or Lake or whatever) and it was very pretty indeed. The water was quite high up and you could see where the grass nearly meets the water. It is certainly a place to visit properly as there are said to be quite a few activities to do and also some good views over the lake.

We arrived to the two-street village of Tickencote – there was a sign saying ‘Tickencote only’, which basically meant that you were driving into a dead-end. We parked outside the church of St. Peter and St. Paul and it was another of those churches that didn’t seem to get used all that often. Inside, dotted on the ends of the arches making up the vaulted roof were carvings of different faces (or facial expression) and also along one of the six arches of the ‘magnificent chancel arch’ (as quoted by the guide booklet). Other than that, there wasn’t much else to see, although we did stroll around the two streets – an incredibly quiet village even though it stands pretty close to an A-road.

The chancel arch

The chancel arch – close-up (still doesn’t make it any clearer, does it?)

It was around mid-day and we found ourselves having finished Rutland county and Nav now wanted to tour Coventry today. And so we did – we drove east back through Oakham, around Leicester, down the M69 and into Coventry. We only had Kenilworth and Warwick left to visit and that would complete the trip, so potentially we could finish before Sunday. We realised that we didn’t do Winchester, Romsey or Southampton, but seeing as we’ve been to those places before, we decided that it didn’t count. Also, as Morton left from Windsor and didn’t say much about that either, we thought we could play the same game with Southampton.

The sign into Coventry read: “Welcome to Coventry – City of Peace and Reconciliation”, and as we drove around trying to find a place to park on the outskirts of town, we found Coventry to be quite… erm… quite different from any of the towns that we had visited so far. We though Carlisle was in bad shape but then found out about the flooding. The outskirts of Coventry (and also quite some way in) didn’t seem appealing at all. We parked up into a cul-de-sac area that looked pretty okay, although I saw that the Ford next to us had a huge crack in its windscreen. I think that we were both (but Nav more so) that we wouldn’t find our car ever again (or at least its contents). Maybe I’m not doing it justice as I’ve not lived there or seen enough of it to make valid comments, but it didn’t seem the most welcoming of cities. Somebody prove us wrong.

We said our last prayers for the car and let it to be. The walk into Coventry wasn’t difficult and we soon found the Lady Godiva statue positioned outside of the shopping centre – except Nav found it not to be the one Morton observed in the 1920s as this latest was donated in the 1940s. Also, Morton found his in front of the Guildhall.

Lady Godiva - real or fake or fake or real or really fake or fakely real?

We tried to find the Fords Hospital (for all of 5 minutes) and then decided that we couldn’t find it and so headed off to Coventry Cathedral instead. What we found were the ruins of the old juxtaposed with the ‘modern’ cathedral – modern as in 1960s. Firstly, the old cathedral; it was pretty big, although maybe this was the effect given by there being no roof. It still had its surrounding walls albeit with some of it missing, but the general outline was easily noticeable. Some parts of the interior were intact such as statues and tombs and a few new benches put in also, but otherwise it was pretty much gutted.

Old Coventry Cathedral – view from ‘inside’ – how big could it have been?

The new cathedral was built in the mid-1960s and just from seeing it, all dresses up in concrete, you could probably tell that. It’s an interesting design and shows what happens when you apply ‘modern’ ideas to something that has been around for centuries. Although it looks okay, it doesn’t quite work and doesn’t convey the feeling that it is much like a cathedral – maybe just a generic modern religious building. They did have this giant stained glass window section that looked pretty impressive.

New Coventry Cathedral – view down the nave

The biggest stained glass window thing I’ve ever seen before

At the time we arrived to the new cathedral, Coventry Cathedral Choir Girls were practicing for evening song which would start in 20-minutes or so. Only Nav and I were in the building at the time; Nav saying that it would be odd for them to conduct a service to nobody, and me saying that people will probably turn up later maybe especially the elderly who would have more time. This was because the service would start at 5:15pm which is about the time when most would be travelling home from work.

Evening song began and only there was only one other person, who left soon after the first song began. I, too, decided to leave after this song, leaving Nav to his own devices. The nave was deserted, the girls singing more to themselves than for anyone else. I left and walked about town and the university grounds. The cathedrals are placed within (or next to) Coventry University grounds – come out of the new cathedral and look left and you will find the main reception to the university. From there, it provided a good view of the two cathedrals juxtaposed:

Which one do you prefer?

I sat between the two edifices deciding where we should camp for the night. Every so often I would look to the cathedral entrance but nobody seemed interested in going in – only on a few occasions did anyone go in but exited soon after. It started to spit and became breezy. Next a tour bus of tourists came into the area and out came 20 or so people with cameras and camcorders, taking shots of the cathedral (the old one had closed at 5pm) – family members and partners standing around to get photos taken. As soon as they had arrived, the had left again, and I was left with spitting rain. It died off and Nav came out after about 30-minutes. He told me how strange it was, that a service would be held even if there was nobody there – I jokily suggested that they probably would sit around and then sudden start singing if someone approached the cathedral.

We got lost trying to find the car; Nav hoping that there was still a car to find, me saying to look out for the plumes of smoke (that would direct us). We eventually found it safe and sound, and drove off south to a campsite near to the final destinations. It was quite unbelievable; that we would complete this journey around England in three weeks – we say that Morton didn’t do much in the north of England as the density of places to distance travelled got less during the course of the trip.

During the Hadrian’s Wall walk, we discussed about the trip; Nav saying that it’s a shame that we didn’t spend more time on the better places. I agreed, but changed my manner about the trip half way, from wanting to see England to finding places to visit further in the future. I’ve certainly got a list of places that I would like to visit again and spend at least a whole day there, but that’s for another time.

We found the campsite easily and set up tent. Tomorrow would be the final day of the trip – Warwick and Kenilworth, finishing with the latter just like Morton did 70-odd years ago.


-- steven