Thursday 5th February 2026

It was Thursday. I laid in until nearly eight, snoozing and dozing.

I leap up, have a shower and get dressed. Despite the dreadful weather forecast, I would go out.

And after Col and Aidan mentioned their trips on buses, I thought I would take the X18 to Warwick.

One left at 09:52, giving me just enough time to walk to Wood Street, find a place to eat and be ready.

It was indeed raining, but it was just five minutes to Wood Street, and opposite the bus stop was an independent bakery. I go in, order a tea and a cheese and salsa or something toastie.

Both were good, but I realised I had ten minutes before the bus, even though there was another in half an hour.

I go out, cross the road and soon a bus with Warwick on the destination board pulled in. I didn't notice the route number, but instead of the express service, I was on the slow, calling at all villages services.

But it was fine, I was in no hurry.

So the bus roared and bounced its way down narrow roads in housing estates, short bursts of full speed, before pulling off into a village.

The rain still came down, running down the windows, but they were all condensated, so you couldn't see out of them anyway.

All trips on buses in the county cost just £3, so was a bargain.

After an hour we arrived in Warwick, pulling in at the small bus station. We all thanked the driver as we got off, as its what Brits do.

A map and signpost showed the way to the town centre, so I walked up the street until it opened up into a square with the town hall in the centre.

If only I knew where the church was. I looked round and saw the four pinnacles of the tower over the roofs of the shops.

I walked towards it.

St Mary was open. Col had checked that it would be. It was due to open at 11, it was ten to, but the door swung open, and the warmth inside hit me like a woolly blanket.

I received a warm welcome too. A guide showed me to the Beauchamp Chapel, down some steps where Elizabeth I's beau is buried with his higher born wife, so in eternity, she lays slightly above him to remind Dudley he didn't marry Good Queen Bess.

The church is huge, and full of delights. I was inside for nearly 90 minutes, and still missed things to photograph and admire. There was some ancient glass, and some good Victorian glass too.

At quarter past twelve I was done, or churched out. I walked outside, and into the Rose and Crown opposite, where I ordered a pint of Timothy Taylor Boltmaker, which was so good I had a second, and an Indonesian curry with sambal.

Delicious.

One last thing to see and snap, was the Westgate with Lord Leycester Hospital beside it. The latter sadly closed until March, so I made do with shots of the gate, with chapel above and the timber framed buildings of the hospital, timbers and walls all at different angles.

Rain began to fall. And it looked set in, so I checked with the bus timetable, and it seemed a bus was due in ten minutes, so I walked back to the bus station, to shelter A.

And waited.

And waited some more.

It was twenty five minutes late, so not sure if it was the next one early, or the previous nearly half an hour late.

Whatever, it was the express service, and it made good time. I sat on the upper deck, because its the law on a double decker, so the trees being shaken in the strong wind, scratched down the roof.

It was still raining in Stratford, so I went into Tesco for supplies of pop, crisps and biscuits before walking back to the hotel for a feast of dirty food.

I read more of Cameron Crowe's book as rain hammered down outside. It grew dark and so I climbed into bed to read, so to keep warm.