Cross country wander

After receiving a telephone call advising a registered package addressed to us had been delivered to Rugby this morning I made the journey from Leamington to Rugby using my bus pass.  The location of the bus stop in Leamington Spa wasn’t all that obvious from the information on the bus timetable but with the help of Google Earth I eventually worked out its position.  It was located outside All Saints Church.

This is a parish church and appears to be larger than some cathedrals.  It’s not all that old with construction commencing in the mid 18th century.  I rather like the three carved statues to the left of the main entrance.

It must have taken a high level of skill to carve them from stone.  There wasn’t any time to look inside because the No 63 bus to Rugby arrived. 

I had an interesting one hours ride to Rugby as the route was rather indirect passing through numerous small villages and crossing over the canal several times.  I even saw some of the public footpaths I’ve previously walked.  Rugby is now very familiar ground so it was a very quick trip to collect my registered package before walking back to the bus stop and catching the next returning bus to Leamington Spa.

This time I was able to take a photo of the building that caught my eye yesterday when the camera battery went flat.

My initial thoughts were that this was a former public bath house.  Pre WW2 many homes didn’t have bathrooms and a significant portion of the population would go to their local bath house for a good scrub.  But then I remembered it was in Royal Leamington Spa.  The Victorians went to spa towns to partake of the spa waters for their medicinal properties.  So the building probably contained upmarket baths.  Well I got that all wrong!  The exterior is Art Deco and the building has the date 1926 on the front.  It’s was a dance hall.  The website I found states:

“Built in 1926, the venue was originally named The Bath Assembly Hall. Its Art-Deco interior, indicative of the period, was the setting for balls and dances where the Foxtrot, Waltz and Quickstep were the moves of the moment. It was later named The Palais de Danse where local dancer, Robert Creelman, was master of ceremonies and music was provided by resident players, The Jack Southern Band. During this time, the venue was known for its own dance step; The Palais Glide and the building continued to host dances throughout the 30s and 40s when it was popular with locally-based American servicemen. Renamed again in 1952 as The Embassy Ballroom (later to inspire the Embassy Days events!), it continued to hold dances and local events until it became a bingo hall.”

Once I was back at Waiouru we made a decision to move whilst the weather was fine.  After 2.5 hours we decided to moor above Fosse Top Lock before it got dark.  This time I managed to take a photo of the bridge we passed under a few days ago.

There was a slight panic after mooring when I lit the Refleks stove by dropping a small piece of firelighter down it and then realised I’d failed to fit the flue extension on the roof.  A mad dash out onto the muddy towpath in the dark wearing my new slippers resolved one problem but created another when the slippers then had to be cleaned! 

Jan baked a ginger cake whilst we were on the move using a recipe she made up.  Apparently she isn’t satisfied with the resulting product but that hasn’t stopped me eating it!  There is also half a lemon cake left to eat. <burp>