Leamington A town of two halves.

 Royal Leamington Spa sounds pretty grand don't you think?  Well some of it is, but if you cruise through it on the canal you wouldn't think so as the Grand Union  follows a pretty straight line through the more industrial area some way south of the old town centre.  Nevertheless there are one or two interesting sights like this:

Anyhow, enough of that and back to the story.  A year ago as we were boating through Leamington I stopped and bought a car (like you do).  It wasn't totally an impulse buy, I had been looking for a low mileage particular model for a while and I saw on line that a dealer in Leamington had just the right one.  The car when we bought it came with two years free servicing so last week we returned for that very thing.  It's a long way from our home but only 25 mins by car from Ventnor marina where we moor Herbie.  So we dropped the car off and took a bus into Leamington centre to kill time while the service and MoT was being done.

The bus wound through what you might politely call some 'affordable' areas, then broke through into the grand old spa town area with splendid halls, churches, gardens and a very wide main drag featuring what once were grand hotels, but now alas converted into shopping arcades featuring more than a couple of empty shops.

It seems times are not what they were in the lovely old Spa town. It was all pretty quiet.  Nevertheless I recommend a visit if you are passing through on the canal.  You'll need to take a bus or walk quite a long way from the canal to get to the Georgian splendour, but splendour there is.  

Having dashed into Wetherspoons to avoid a heavy shower and had a light lunch there, we thought we ought to do something rather more civilised and later on popped into the Pump Room for tea.  Sadly, I have to report that it had no more ambience than Wetherspoons.  We might have expected pretty china cups and saucers and a tea pot and perhaps a cake trolley, but no such luck.  Glass tea cups (I hate them), a tea bag and water from an urn served by a bored looking counter lass, and modern bench like tables.  The only thing posh was the price.  They did have some cakes but at over £3 a mouthful we decided against it.

In Regent street we did find a fab whole food shop where you could buy all sorts of lovely stuff from hoppers and big glass jars so that's one to look out for if you're that way inclined.

Next time we go to Leamington (we get another free car service next year), as long as it's not raining, we'll explore the gardens which look lovely and the huge parish church which looks promising. If we're lucky or clever we might manage to be there for one of their regular organ recitals.

So it was back to the car dealer to pay absolutely nothing for the service, the MoT, and a car wash which made the effort of going there well worthwhile, saving well over £200.  Then back to spend the night on Herbie at the marina.

Talking of the marina, I did have a wry grumble to Steve the Harbourmaster.  "One thing I might complain about,"quoth I, "is that this marina is too quiet."  There's hardly a soul about during the week.  If you want peace and quiet, Ventnor marina has it in spades.

I had warned Steve that we're likely to move on to pastures new later this year, merely because we want a change of cruising area.  If you could lift up Ventnor marina and put it somewhere else on the network, we'd be there like a shot because as a marina it's easily the best and most attractive we've stayed in. Our alternatives top choices at the moment are either back to dear old Cropredy or further away up to Kings Bromley not far from Fradley junction.  Decisions descisions.  Either way , as they are both Aquavista marinas like Ventnor, we can transfer our contract fairly easily without needing to give months of notice ( assuming they have space).

We may cruise up to Kings Bromley later this summer to explore the area a bit before making up our minds.