Freedom At Last!!!

"Freedom is never given; it is won." ~ A. Phillip Randolph,  U,S, labor organizer, civil rights leader, 1917-1979

   Last Tuesday was the beginning of week eight post-op for my Left knee replacement. It was also my fourth physiotherapy class at Warwick hospital, and Les had an appointment at the Royal Free Hospital in London for a scan and blood tests. We left Radford Hill Farm moorings Monday mid-day--which after four months of being stuck here in the five mile prison--we've come to think of as our country estate.
   We cruised back into town, stopping at Tesco to top up our groceries. I decided it was a good time to try shopping on my own so I took one crutch and our personal shopping trolley and went on my way while Les headed out across the street to buy diesel and top up the boat. My list wasn't long but it took me awhile to pull out a shopping cart, hang our shopping trolley on it so it wasn't in my way and steer the shopping cart with one hand while I stumped along with a crutch on my right arm. About forty five minutes later--job done! I was back at the boat with our trolley full of groceries and no one was maimed or endangered in the process.
   We continued on to moor up at the Warwick Hospital moorings--just near the footbridge over the canal about 850 feet before the bottom of Cape Locks and the water point. We set the alarm for 6:30 a.m. and both of us had a restless night's sleep. While my left knee doesn't hurt anymore, I am still keenly aware of the artificial part of it, and after a long day it is difficult to relax, let go of that awareness and fall into sleep. So Les and I tossed and turned...
   Up with the alarm and Les was out the door at 7:30 to catch three trains and one bus to arrive at the RFH by 11 am. He started the engine before he left and I washed a load of clothes and did some work before pulling myself together and heading off for the fifteen minute walk over the footbridge, up a short side street and through Warwick Hospital to the physiotherapy department to wait for my class to begin. I decided it was also a good time to try making this walk without any crutches at all.
   Physio class for the five of us women with knee replacements, consists of twelve stations in a circuit; sitting in a chair with a small ball tucked between one's ankles and lifting one's legs, standing on a balance board, sitting in a chair and getting up and sitting down repeatedly without using one's hands (bends the knee), peddling a mini set of pedals while sitting in a chair, up and down stairs, sitting in a chair with one's leg resting on another chair just across the way and a set of three pound weights draped over the replaced knee to make the leg completely straight, bicycling on a BIG bike, standing on a trampoline and doing deep knee bends, and other assorted tortures. Each exercise must be done for one minute and forty five seconds. Rock ballads from the 1950's provide background music: Why Do Fools Fall in Love, Wake up Little Suzy, There Goes My Baby, Kansas City--you get the drift.
   After completing the circuit we take a five minute break, drink water, have our incisions inspected, our knee circumference measured, along with demonstrating one's ability to straighten the leg, lift and hold it for ten seconds and offer a general report of how we're doing. Then we five spread out around a set of parallel bars for the "dance" portion of our show. 
   To a bit more rousing music we walk heel and toe, march with knees

Morecambe & Wise Dance

high, do football kicks (bring a leg back and bend it, swing it forward and high like kicking a ball), back flicks (bend a leg, bring it back and try and tap your bum with your foot), Morecambe and Wise come on, singing Bring Me Sunshine and we "do" the M & C dance to their anthem.
   Americans will probably not have a clue who these guys are or what the dance looks like. The still picture of the duo will give you an idea--a sort of alternating skip with arms back and forward. Just picture five women with recent knee replacements ranging in age from 58 to 76, dancing around in a circle like the guys in the picture. Les got such a kick out of the idea he wanted to come video us but it isn't allowed. 
   Finally we finish up to Sinatra belting out "New York, New York" while we do alternating high kicks, held for three seconds and then really high kicks with jazz hands.  TA-DAH!!! Are you knackered yet?? Well the upshot of all this is....all my hard work has paid off and I was released to go a week earlier than planned. WOOT!!
      Wednesday morning we slept in. I rose first, and jumped out of bed, and while my Best Beloved remained wrapped in the warmth of the duvet, I threw on my bathrobe and some flip flops, climbed out of the boat and started the engine--all without giving my knee or leg a single thought! I swept out the bow and the stairs, emptied the ash out of the stove and brought the fire up, and we sat grinning at each other like mad cats while we ate breakfast and talked about the power of suggestion. I wondered if it was merely the fact the Physiotherapist said, "Great Jaqueline! You are discharged. See you in September," that suddenly made me feel like Tigger on my new knee.

Manually turning a boat involves pulling it around from the stern.

   We cruised to the bottom of Cape locks, where Les turned the boat manually with the stern rope, tied up, we filled with water and off we went with me on the back beside him, coffee cups in hand. The weather was calm and windless but the air had a wet, cold, clammy feel to it. Who cares? We are cruising--and we are not turning around and coming back!!
   I've spend four months in Warwick and the nearby smaller towns and I've seen virtually none of it other than a couple of restaurants and the hospital. Good friends dropping by kept us sane as did our ability to move albeit only five miles total. So Les stopped and moored up in Royal Leamington Spa and we walked into town to see the Sights!

A view of the Royal Pump Rooms as it was originally in 1814 when it was first built by the River Leam,courtesy of warwickdc.gov.uk.

A photograph courtesy of the BBC.co.uk, of The Pump Room Baths on the right, in 1914.

Current picture of the Royal Pump Rooms looking back to St. Nicholas Parish

Once the Royal Spa where wealthy folks came to take the waters, this is now a lovely museum  offering a glimpse into the town of Royal Leamington Spa, the spa itself, and an art gallery with a  nice small collection of paintings, several of which date back to the 17th century.  There was also a fascinating exhibition  titled through the Shop Window, offering a glimpse at what shopping in town was like from 1880-1980.

This is part of the museum's bit about Taking the Cure which was so popular Queen Victoria visited the spa as a young woman--hence the title "Royal" added to the town's name.

Outside and across the street from the Pump Rooms is Jephson Gardens and grass park where the well-to-do took the air to see and be seen. Originally farmland, the owner set aside 10 acres for public access to locals from 7-10 a.m. and paying patrons of the spa and bath house for the remainder of the day. In 1836 the site was expanded to a total of 18.5 acres and a right of way was sunk through the middle to provide access to anyone who wanted to walk through the lush and lovely scenery without trampling the gardens. Over the decades the boating lake, the fountains, a tea room and an aviary were added. The later two are now gone. The Gardens were named after Dr. Jephson who promoted the town's healing waters and built homes for the poor.

The right of way today. I have to tell you the air was magnificent! Although it was cold, clammy and overcast, the air smelled divine with a base note of fresh moving water, green grass, spring flowers, finishing off with a sweet top note of licorice from some Sweet Cicely growing in the wilder corners.I call it Parfum for the spirit!

The lake now sports a fountain in the middle. Once upon a time visitors played croquet, practiced archery, oohed and aahhed over fireworks displays, and sailed model boats here. I love how many benches there are everywhere! This is a park that invites one to step out into a bit of human contrived nature to relax and enjoy one's self.

Children frolic along the edge of the lake with the spires of All Saints Parish church rising across the way. While the church in its present form dates from the 1800's there has been a church here since the 12th century-back when the tiny hamlet was called Lamintone. In 1349 The Black Death visited the village and three successive vicars were laid to rest due to the plague. Today the church is a thriving and vital presence in the center of town. NighLight is a weekly project offering free hot drinks and a listening ear to those out and about at night. It's based at All Saints' and runs every Friday night from 10.00 pm, closing normally by 2.00am on Saturday.

The Glasshouse is a conservatory or hot house as we say in the States. What awaits us inside?

Fantastic Bird of Paradise flowers greet us as we enter.

Airy walkways wander amongst coffee, banana and other exotic trees and ferns.

I don't know what species this is but I was captivated by the white flowers.

Bright Clivia stand near a hidden waterfall.

A goldfish pond offers tantalizing views of the bright fish along with reflections of the glass plated ceiling and the sky. 

The black pipe is a bee portal! It is blocked in winter and opened in late spring so bees can come and go, pollinating the plants and carrying some back to their hive to make honey. What a brilliant idea!

This is the doorstep for the bees on the outside of the building, leading into the black pipe along the wall inside. I wonder what the bee dance offering instructions to this little paradise looks like!

There are outdoor walkways and all kinds of fascinating places to walk, bike, rollerskate, jog, climb, and discover.

The Mill Bridge over the River Leam. The glass house is directly behind me as I took this picture. the gardens are out of sight off to the right.Below is an inlet allowing river water to flow unimpeded. Great for fish and other wildlife.

The view across the river from the Mill Bridge.  One can just see the boat ramp in the foreground on the left immediately past the closest house .

Noted Leamington artist Fred Whitehead painted this scene in 1844 from the bank of the river Leam. The garden is in its infancy on the right, only created a decade previously. The Mill Bridge would be behind the artist. The three arched bridge and the Royal Pump Room spa is in the background on the right upper side. Courtesy of Leamington History Group.

The church tower from my short perspective.

Looking up at a vaulted window.

Gothic spires were added in the late 19th century

...but the original square tower is still there.

This is an 1810 water color of All Saints in the town of Lymington Prior as it was then known. The house in the back ground backs on to the river Leam. Courtesy of Leamington History Group.

The Five Mile Prison

With Jaq`s upcoming knee replacement surgery we put in a request to the Canal River Trust to overstay the usual 14 days mooring allowed in the area of the hospital.
There has, as boaters will be aware, been many discussions on canal forums and in any place boaters congregate with the British Waterways act of 1995 being the talking point. Section 17 is the part that causes a lot of rows and in particular the words I have underlined below.

(ii)the applicant for the relevant consent satisfies the Board that the vessel to which the application relates will be used bona fide for navigation throughout the period for which the consent is valid without remaining continuously in any one place for more than 14 days or such longer period as is reasonable in the circumstances. 

CRT have issued the following guidelines as to reasonable but none of the reasons are in the act and this is the centre of nearly all discussions with some boaters declaring they(crt) have no legal right to stop people mooring for over 14 days.

 “14 days or such longer period as is reasonable in the circumstances”
Circumstances where it is reasonable to stay in one neighbourhood or locality for longer than 14 days
are where further movement is prevented by causes outside the reasonable control of the boater.
Examples include temporary mechanical breakdown preventing cruising until repairs are complete,
emergency navigation stoppage, impassable ice or serious illness (for which medical evidence may
be required).
Such reasons should be made known immediately to local Trust enforcement staff with a request to
authorise a longer stay at the mooring site or nearby.

Now our way of looking at all this is that our normal lifestyle is to cruise all over the canal/river system but medically this has been a problem for two years now. 
So rather than get involved in legal squabbles with CRT we follow their guidelines and inform them of our need to stay longer than 14 days. Attaching the admission letter to the e mail request just makes their decision both easier and quicker. In the past on one occasion we offered no paperwork and still got overstay permission.

We have in the past had nothing but help from CRT and once again permission has been granted to overstay. 
The three places we have been allowed to overstay are spread over 110 miles- in case anyone thinks we are always in the same area for the overstays. Also our cruising has extended further during the healthy periods.

Our cruising area for the next eight weeks is a five mile stretch between the Saltisford arm at Warwick and Radford Semele,  about two miles east of Leamington Spa. On the map I have marked Red lines along the canal so as not to get confused with the rivers Avon and Leam that run nearby.


 At both ends of our 5 miles the canal is closed for maintenance of locks. Yes that`s right we couldn`t go anywhere so why bother to tell CRT. I suppose we could have stayed two weeks at Radford then two at Leamington etc. you get the picture. 
Problem with that is we need to get water that is only available at one end of the 5 mile prison. Shopping and fuel will have to be purchased from the centre part of our prison and the best moorings amongst fields is at Radford the other end of the prison complex.
So much easier to tell CRT we will be seen within the prison walls on a regular basis.

As enforced confinements go this one is not going to be too bad as we have everything we need in most cases canal side. We have a choice of four food supermarkets canal side and one (Asda) within half a mile of the Radford mooring.

The town centre of Leamington Spa is within half a mile of the canal.

 Two stations Leamington Spa and Warwick for trains to London if I need hospital appointments. 

The GP Jaq has attached herself to is a half mile from the canal and best of all the Hospital for Jaq`s surgery is canal side.

All sounds good so what`s the downside I hear you thinking. The only downer is that there are no diesel supplies. Two yards Kate Boats and Delta Marine do not sell diesel during winter and with the lock maintenance no fuel boat can get through. 

All is not lost though as we have two 20 litre Jerry cans and a 25 litre drum. Everything including the tank was filled about two weeks ago. We have a petrol generator that we can use to eke out our diesel stocks. Three of the supermarkets sell fuel with the closest being Tesco. Our plan is to fill a Jerry can and add it to the main tank each week or so as we pass by to get water or food supplies.

This will keep us with good stocks in case the canal freezes. We have a decent stock of logs having found some in the last few days and our coal stocks on the roof are good. The Saltisford Arm Trust in the canal arm at the extreme end of our 5 miles sells coal and Propane but not diesel. The trust also offers winter moorings with electricity and services but they were fully booked when we tried before Christmas. It seems boaters book a year in advance and I can understand why with it being not part of the main towpath, decent walkways and a lack of mud underfoot.

Let me show you around our prison.

Radford Semele is the rural and preferred part of our five mile stretch. Just two miles east of Leamington Spa. No boats in either direction.

Across the canal is a farmers house and St. Nicholas church. The field is usually the feeding ground for a lot of Pheasant.

Just a quarter mile from the Radford moorings and the same distance through a housing estate/sub division this bridge gives access to our nearest food supermarket Asda. That`s Walmart to our U.S. readers.

Across the towpath just fields leading down to the River Leam.

This is bridge 40 leading up to the old high street and within half a mile of the town centre, with all the usual high street names, of Leamington Spa. We are 1.5 miles from our start at Radford Semele

No sooner having left Leamington central we come to our first canal side food supermarket Morrissons. Adjacent is a Costa coffee handy if that`s your daily fix. A hundred yards to the right is Leamington Spa station.

Not sure who these campers are but they seem settled in and not just passing through. I guess these might be homeless folk who find themselves in luxury accommodation, just above cardboard box level.

Just across from the camp site is the Leamington Shires retail park. In addition to the usual retail outlets we have our second food supermarket, Sainsbury`s. Immediately adjacent to the shops we have an industrial area that has amongst others a Screwfix and Toolstation plus our third food supermarket Aldi. We are 2 miles from Radford Semele.

Within half a mile yet more food in the shape of our fourth supermarket Lidl.

Tesco is our fifth supermarket with 24 hour moorings outside, out of picture to the left, but you will find the same few boats seem to be shopping 24/7. Nice to see those fuel prices for those of you still in the grind of getting to work and school runs. We have now traveled three miles from Radford Semele.

This is the hospital where Jaq will have the surgery. We have seen a boat moored here but with the road so close we prefer further along on the towpath side. There is a footbridge leading over to the hospital and Jaq`s GP is just a half mile from the canal. We have stayed here for a few nights and it has been very quiet. Being close to a children's playground so I guess noise might be higher in the summer months. Warwick rail station is very close to here.

This is the first of the two Cape locks and just out of picture on the right the only water point in our five miles. To be 100% accurate there is another just above the second lock some 400 yards away. The end of our five miles is just a half mile past the locks at the junction of the Saltisford arm. Now venturing this half mile entails four locks -two each way- so not a lot of point. Jaq and I decided after much deliberation that given a calm day we might try to turn the boat below the locks and save ourselves a lot of work. The canal is wider than is normal at the locks along here because of the old single locks (extreme left of picture) that are still in place although not working.

So having pushed the bow out I left things in the capable hands of Jaq to walk the stern along the bank. Very little effort is needed. Two things to remember here. You need a boat no longer than 58 feet and you need a calm day with any wind blowing from the direction of the lock. Using the engine is likely to get you in a lot of trouble so best to walk it. If the bow should ground the boat is moving so slowly it won`t be serious and the maneuver can be easily reversed. This point is four an a quarter miles from Radford and just a quarter mile past the hospital.

So as you can see we have food, retail shopping, DIY, train stations, hospital, fuel and doctors. The only thing we haven`t got is our freedom to cruise more than five miles.