The Cotswolds Pt. 11 - Chipping Camden

Chipping Campden is one of the loveliest small towns(it's not a village) in the Cotswolds and a gilded masterpiece of limestone and craftmanship.The main street curves in a shallow arc lined with a succession of ancient houses each grafted to the next but each with it's own distinctive embellishments.
As the name suggests (Chipping means market) and Chipping Campden was one of the most important of the medieval wool towns and famous throughout Europe. This legacy of fame and prosperity is everything that gives the town it's character.
Chipping Campden's church at the north end of the town, is perhaps, the finest 'wool' church in the Cotswolds, with a magnificent 120ft (36 metre) tower and a very spacious interior. The church is famed for having one of the oldest altar tapestries (pre-reformation) in England.

The Church - tourist board photo

The Market Hall 1627 AD

now owned by The National Trust

The Pub

the tearooms sold delicious cakes

Cotswolds Pt 10 - Evesham

A few more Cotswolds posts before I have finished

This is the town of Evesham, gateway to the Vale of Evesham

not strictly the Cotswolds but just about 3 miles over the border so as we visited while staying in the Cotswolds I will include it here

Ye Olde Red Horse Pub

The Almonry - medieval home of the Benedictine Almoner who was responsible for the distribution of alms to the poor pilgrims and inhabitants of Evesham during the 850 year lifetime of Evesham's Abbey

It now houses a remarkable collection which takes the visitor from the earliest days of the Vale, when hippos roamed through swamps, up to the second World War.

Medieval houses and shops in the town

There are 3 ancient churches on this site

Legend tells of the swineherd Eof seeing a vision which led to the founding of a great Abbey around the year 700 A.D.

The Benedictine Abbey of Evesham which was subsequently founded, grew to be one of the largest and wealthiest in England before it's dramatic closure in January 1540 by

Henry VIII

All that remains now is the Bell Tower

I used to be a Campanologist (Bell ringer) so this is me being allowed to ring one of the bells

in this Medieval Tower

Some facts about bells

The clapper hits the bell at around 600mph...

English bell ringing is older than cricket...

1350 First Diatonic bells cast (Doh Re Me Fa Soh La Te Doh)..

1590 Simple "changes" first rung and still rung today..

Full Wheel - the modern way of ringing - the bells are rung from and upside down position at the top of the wheel

This is unique to the UK

A bell quadruples its weight by centrifugal force when rung

A collection of bells being rung is called

a "Ring of Bells"

A "Peal of Bells" must exceed 5,000 changes

The largest bell is at Liverpool cathedral - 82 cwt.

Heaviest bell is always the Tenor

Lightest bell is always the Treble

Total weight of bells in this tower - 8 tons 10 cwt.

MY STORY Chapter 8 - Life on the Ocean - Pt. 4 - Ports of Call

What’s left to relate about my time at sea – some highlights of ports of call I guess. Linden, New Jersey was a particularly good port to visit as it is so close to New York City. I can still remember the excitement of waiting, in sight of the Statue of Liberty, for the pilot to come on board and take us in. Also the enormously thick New York broadsheet newspapers brought onto the ship by the pilot. We visited this port every month and it was always scheduled that we would arrive on Friday as the docks closed so that we would be berthed all weekend, waiting for the unloading of the ship’s cargo to begin on Monday. This always gave us a long weekend ashore. This was particularly beneficial to Alan and me because the second mate had an Aunt and Uncle living in Bronxville, New York State. They had emigrated from Scotland when they were young and as soon as they heard that the Chief had his wife on board, they immediately offered us hospitality in their home for every visit. One would have to experience the basic living conditions on board the ship to appreciate what this meant to me.

As soon as we arrived at the house a beautiful bathroom was put at our disposal complete with stacks of large fluffy white towels, bath essences and lots of hot water. We certainly took our time soaking in this luxury. The food was good too, and the company. Before taking advantage of this wonderful hospitality we would spend time in New York City. A company agent would collect us from the ship in a limousine and we would be given complimentary tickets to Broadway shows. One I remember particularly was ‘My Fair Lady’ with Rex Harrison. So, having spent the day wandering around Macy’s, taking in the sights, and seeing a show, we would head out on a train to Bronxville, just south of White Plains.

On one visit to New York there was so much security and we soon found out that a ship carrying Kruchev, the Russian President, was berthed not too far from us. Another interesting visit, we took in a Broadway show at the end of our visit which meant we needed to find our own way back to the ship late at night. We trawled around Grand Central Station but were unable to get a train near enough to where we wanted to go. As it was so late at night, or possibly early morning, we decided to look for a taxi to get us back. We found one, settled in the back only later to find that the driver refused to cross the state border into New Jersey. He dropped us at a deserted bus station in the early hours of the morning. Neither Alan nor I have any recollection of how we got back to the ship. Isn’t memory strange how it leaves blanks at times. It’s probably worth mentioning our experience in shops in the town of Linden. We were quite a novelty with some people as they asked us things like, “Do you have washing machines in England, Do you have strawberries, is that right you have to be off the streets by 10 pm?” Did they think we had come from another planet!

I don’t overall have good memories of taxi rides in NYC. Many years later in 1988 while staying at the Mayfair Regent (it no longer exists), the concierge hailed me a cab to take me to Newark airport for a flight back to the UK. As I was travelling alone he negotiated a fare with the driver. I think it was $35. When I got to the drop off point at the airport the driver refused to open the boot/trunk to retrieve my luggage until I had paid him double this amount saying I had to pay his fare back to NYC. What could I do, a middle aged woman travelling alone and it was dark.

My first visit to New Orleans was exciting. The long 120 mile steam up the Mississippi River with the sea plane gas stations, coupled with scenes of swamps along the way was particularly interesting. Also the Mississippi river boats. I will always remember my first experience of being very cold in air conditioned shops and the contrast of the steamy hot air outside. It was here that I also experienced my first watermelon. When just one slice arrived, it was so large I hardly knew what to do with it. Alan just laughed his head off when he saw the expression on my face. Alan had been to New Orleans many times before so he enjoyed showing me around the French quarters. He plays the trumpet and on one previous visit he had the pleasure of sitting in with a Jazz band in one of the many Jazz clubs. He is an avid Jazz fan, owning every record that Lois Armstrong had made, even his first one so you can imagine what this meant to him. The downside was that I could not understand the separate drinking taps for whites and blacks and equally the separate toilets and restrooms. This was 1960.

Lake Charles, Louisiana was the port where I was almost detained on board. On my first visit when being asked by immigration if I had ever had contact with the Communist party, not realising how serious this was, I joked and said “Yes, I used to be a member of the party”. A deathly silence all round was broken by the immigration officer telling me he would have me detained on board. He eventually relented after I had received a lecture on how serious this was and showed that I was truly sorry and realised how naive I had been. This was the place we were stopped by the Police when out walking. They wanted to know where we were going and why we were walking. Once we explained we were walking and looking for a shop, they took us in their police car, saying it was far too hot to walk.

We became quite used to the culture in Mexico as we visited every month. We would berth in Coatzacoalcos or Minatitlan on the Gulf of Campeche. The cargo we collected in Mexico was powdered sulphur. It was a truly unpleasant cargo to be carrying. When it was being loaded, in no time at all, the whole ship would be coated in it and our eyes would be sore and streaming. Even face washing did not help very much as the powder would be washed into our eyes. The smell wasn’t nice either. However we would walk into town and be amazed at the contrast of wealth and poverty in such proximity to each other. Smart homes right next to corrugated iron shacks. The opposite side of the river was just villages of straw and mud huts..

Sunday afternoon in the town square we observed the ritual of promenading. All the young men walking around the square in one direction, and all the young ladies in the opposite direction, smiling and giggling and eyeing each other up. Very sweet. Once when visiting the office of the shipping agent I needed to use the loo/bathroom. This was situated in a cupboard with a tiny three foot high door right next to one of the occupied desks. Very embarrassing. There was a silver mine not too far away and the owner visited the ship bringing with him a gift for me, a silver and moonstone bracelet, the silver having been mined and beaten right there.

Coupled with the whole chapter on our time berthed in Nova Scotia, these are some of the highlights of the ports visited on this voyage. When we eventually sailed back across the Atlantic, much further south I might add, the ocean was like a millpond, so calm it seemed we were just on a lake. Such a blessing and relief after our voyage over.

It only remains to recall our stops over in Southern Ireland on the way home. Before berthing in Cork we encountered some sudden very severe storms and had to stay outside the harbour for a day until it was safe to make our way in. While berthed in Cork we got to visit the Blarney stone and yes we did do what everyone else did and kissed it, I have no idea why. While berthed in Dublin it was funny to see some of the locals coming out with buckets and shovels to help themselves to the coal that had been loaded on the quayside for the ships boilers. Before leaving for home we armed ourselves with the local bounty, sheepskin lined coats and mittens and Aran sweaters, Southern Ireland being renowned for these.

All that remains to be said is that it was such a wonderful feeling to be on the home stretch as we sailed away from Ireland and north through the Western Isles of Scotland before eventually berthing and disembarking on the North East coast of England. For me that was the end but even though Alan had decided to leave the sea for good he had to stay on the ship a little while longer until a new Chief Engineer was found. I had experienced a wonderful and at times traumatic adventure and was now desiring some stability in my life. Did I find it? All will be revealed as I continue with this story.

The dear couple who gave us such hospitality



The silver and moonstone bracelet
Sorry I did not clean it for the photo!

Mexican suberbs

In the garden at Bronxville

MY SECOND GIVEAWAY

I am soon coming up to my 200th post and as Christmas is coming too

I thought I would do another giveaway

I am giving away this funky scarf made by my own fair hands

I will draw it on Sunday 25th November

So if you wish to be entered then let me know in the comments section

I will continue to publish my story as I am able to get it written and typed

It is encouraging to have such positive comments about it

There is still a long way to go so stay tuned

I should also be able to continue with finishing my posts on the Cotswolds

which seem to have taken a back seat lately

and I have also promised the posts on Winston Churchill's homes

so I appreciate your visits - keep coming back

MY STORY - Chapter 7 - Life on the Ocean Pt 3.

Nova Scotia to the Gulf

On leaving Nova Scotia we did a round trip each month stopping every time in either New Orleans or Lake Charles, Louisiana. From there we would sail to Coatzacolcoz or Minatitlan on the Veracruz River in Southern Mexico and back up to New York, berthing at Linden New Jersey. We visited other ports such as Philadelphia and Hopewell, Virginia on a less regular basis on each direction of the journey.

One of my first impressions of sailing down the American coast was of hearing Billy Graham on the radio. Knowing he had been to England and reading and hearing so much about his ministry, it was amazing to me at the time to be able to listen to him preaching every day on the radio while I was on the ship. I would also listen to Oral Roberts. I actually worked for Oral Roberts Ministries in England when I was 16.

Having this spiritual contact meant so much to me as I began to reconnect with the faith that had been such a sustaining influence in my life. My own relationship with God took on a new dimension as a result and I was becoming spiritually active again. I longed for fellowship with other believers but this wasn’t going to happen for quite some time. It was just me and God which is all any of us really have in the end. I didn’t have the spiritual maturity that would make a noticeable difference in my life, but I was on my way and trusting God.

We also could keep up with the election debates between Kennedy and Nixon.

As the ship plodded through the waves, there was always a heavy swell down the East coast which caused the ship to roll heavily, I settled again into the routine of a less traumatic life on the ocean than had been my experience crossing the Atlantic. Sea life certainly had its ups and downs and I don’t want to give the impression that it was all excitement and activity. Not so, some days were totally boring and repetitive when time hung heavy and dragged.

Interspersed with the monotony, moments of interest and excitement arose. Apart from visiting ports which I will tell you about later, at this point I am trying to project a picture of my daily life at sea. As mentioned in the last chapter there was always my daily visit to the bridge, meals in the salon, afternoon siestas, sunbathing, reading, knitting, embroidery and Scrabble, but now that the weather was mostly good I would spend quite a lot of time on deck.

I enjoyed leaning over the front bow, not quite as dramatically as Kate Winslet in the film Titanic, watching the dolphins jump and play as they followed the ship. A school of dolphins can stay with a ship for days. It was also quite something to see flying fish landing on deck. We had an Indian 4th engineer and he used to cook them.

Then there was the day when the great liner of the time, the Queen Mary passed us. Not to be forgotten were the times when we needed to dodge hurricanes. Nor the time when we were actually directly in the path of a hurricane and had to shelter behind Cuba until it passed over. Being in the eye of a hurricane was spectacular, absolute calm and quiet with nothing but birds and insects flying around, but with a great sense of foreboding for what was to come. There was also the time we saw the beginning of a storm in the form of a large waterspout in the Mexican gulf.

A rather unpleasant and recurring non-natural event was the presence on the ship of an alcoholic seaman. When his supply of alcohol ran out and further supplies were prohibited by the Captain, he would sneak into guy’s cabins and steal their shave lotion to drink. This was a serious problem and it ended up with cabins and cupboards having to be locked. The resulting cold turkey that this guy suffered was not pleasant for those around him. His first trip ashore after that ended with him being so drunk that he lay on the deck all night and by morning was a very sorry sight when he was found absolutely covered in mosquito bites. I guess there would have been more than a few tipsy mosquitoes that night.

Another serious and unpleasant episode was when the second mate put his fingers into the gears of the steering cogs, something he never should have done. When Alan was called to investigate why the steering had jammed up, he found the second mate on the floor and the steering cogs jammed up with bits of bone and flesh. We were passing Florida at the time and had to sail towards to Key West where a pilot boat came out to take the casualty to hospital. It was very hard for us to understand why the pilot insisted on knowing who was paying before he would take the injured man on board his boat. This would never have happened in England.

Looking back, the trip couldn’t have been easy for Alan. He was the only one on board with a wife to take care of and there were so many extra things he needed to do to make life at sea, on such a small ship, more comfortable for me. Away from the galley which was at the other end of the ship, the only drinking water available was from a tap some distance away. As this water came from a storage tank I was not at ease just drinking it so he would go to the galley and have it boiled for me. It was not so easy for me to do this as it entailed negotiating a ladder between decks which might be rolling and pitching with the seas coming right over the side. I was only 21 and at times quite nervous of being left alone and I sometimes got fearful and weepy when I realised how long I was going to be on the ship. During Alan’s previous years at sea he had been used to the companionship of the other guys and with nowhere to go and nothing to do; leisure time at sea was usually spent drinking. After one episode early on in the trip when I had to put Alan to bed fully clothed as he was so drunk, he began to realise that he was now married and even more that his new bride was on the ship with him. From that time on he made every effort to be with me and limit his drinking, so it must have been somewhat lonely for him too at times. We were still getting to know each other having only met about five months before we embarked on this voyage, not an easy start to any marriage in many people’s eyes but it became normal to us and by God’s Grace we did survive it. At the time of writing we have clocked up 48 years in a few weeks.

I guess overall for me it was a roller coaster of romance, trauma, fun, excitement, fear and panic and learning. Also an experience I would never want to have missed and probably would never wanted to have repeated. In the next chapter we will be revisiting the various ports as we continue on the voyage.

Alan - The Chief
Sunbathing in a lifeboat

Dolphins

The Queen Mary

Taking a sight of the sun

Mississippi River boat

Mexican Beach

Where are we going

Bahamas in the background

Happy Birthday Alan

Only 30 years old here

Today he is young and fit and celebrating his 76th

Happy Birthday to my dear husband Alan

What do you buy for the man who always says he does not need anything

I guess I will end up buying him something computer related

if only he will tell me what

At least I could make him a funky card

different to any he has had before

Tuesday I took photos of the most spectacular Autumn colours I have ever seen

I will post them tomorrow

so do come back and enjoy

London Colney Lakes

London Colney lies just off the M25 London Orbital Motorway, the junction we use when we visit Janie. We get onto the M25 at junction 28 so we only have to travel 6 exits

and if the traffic is good the journey can be done in 50 minutes

If the traffic is bad - well anyone's guess

So Friday, being our last full day at Janie's we decided to explore this area a little

instead of always passing it by

It was late afternoon and quite misty

Jane's cleaning lady was on holiday so we came here after spending the day taking care of the household chores

The mist actually gave an artistic atmosphere

Gosh! We didn't bring any bread!



This lady did

We found a mixture of inter locking lakes and footpaths

The mistiness and reflections seem to merge

As we continue we pass this red carpeted bank We are looking back behind us here

We have now retraced our steps having walked as far as the fishing lakes

and are about to walk underneath the arches of the road bridge

We have come under the bridge and here is a place for refreshment

We don't stop

Further along from the other side of the bridge

the River Colne that will take us to a quite extensive set of lakes This was the wild side of the road

Kingfishers, Herons and an Otter have been seen here

We just saw Water Voles

We did not continue any further as we needed to get home and start dinner so we turned around and made our way back to the car.

One never knows what one is passing when sitting in the car