Woke up to pouring rain but decided to go to Warwick Castle anyway. Dressed in some of Sam's Aston Martin waterproof gear which was just as well! Had to park a fair way from the Castle, although still in the grounds, then squelched our way along the path with what seemed to be half the population! We had thought (naively) that not many people would brave the weather but we forgot about the hardy Poms!! Anyway, we still enjoyed the tour - magnificent armour, including two life-sized model horses in full battle armour. The dungeons were very gruesome with things such as a cage where felons (and some innocents) were put and just left to rot, a body cage in which a person was put and then suspended from the ceiling and again left, literally, to rot - no food, drink or contact. Man's inhumanity to man doesn't begin to cover it!!
After we left the Castle we had lunch and then wended our way to Northampton, to visit our niece Jenny and her husband Chris. They have a lovely home, full of things Jenny has brought back from her travels as cabin crew with BA. Our other niece, Jenny's sister Laura and her son Alex were there, as well as Ron's sister Jean and husband Chris (with whom we had been staying near London and where we'll return tomorrow). Rob, Laura's husband, had a tummy bug so stayed at home. We had a lovely indoor BBQ (in view of the weather) and then stayed up talking until midnight, before all going to bed.
Today (Monday) was a Bank Holiday and we went from Jenny's to Laura's, in Hereford near the Welsh border. Rob is a sergeant in the SAS and they live in an army house - brand new and very roomy. They had some army friends over for a BBQ (again indoors because of the weather) - we never seem to stop eating!! Laura and Rob have given us a car (a Rover 400 turbo diesel)and we just have to have a "wobble" fixed - hopefully just a wheel bearing and renew the registration. Ron drove it back from Hereford to Leamington with no problems (apart from a disconcerting wobble when we went around right-hand bends) so we shouldn't have any trouble and it will be cheaper than buying or hiring a car anyway.
We have driven through some beautiful countryside and many counties and are fascinated by the weird and wonderful names of some of the small towns and villages - just today we passed North Piddle, Stoke Edith, Hampton Lucy, to name a few!
Tomorrow we head back to Crowthorne to continue our stay with Jean and Chris after (hopefully) having had the car fixed.
