Warwick is the county town of Warwickshire, and has been inhabited since the sixth century, although earlier habitation evidence has been found dating back to the Neolithic. Eastgate and Westgate are the surving parts of the old town wall; the castle was built following the Norman conquest.

Beautiful views from the top of the tower of the Collegiate Church of St Mary were promised, and it was true. I was also the only person up there, I think many people go to the castle and ignore the church, even though it is a lot higher and can look down on the castle and grounds.

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A spiral access staircase to the tower changes direction partway up, from a right hand spiral to a left hand one … one is easier to negotiate for a right-handed person, the other for a left-handed one in my experience, so the tower climb is ‘even-handed’.

In the chancel is one of the very few examples of flying ribs in the vaulted ceiling. Flying buttresses are quite common in church buildings around the world, but flying ribs are not.

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The guide on duty in the Beauchamp Chapel the day that I visited was very knowledgeable, and had an easy way of talking to visitors and encouraging questions. As he was widely travelled and had been to Australia on numerous occasions we ended up chatting about Australian politics, as you do!

The older part of the city contains many interesting buildings, the Lord Leycester hospital near the west gate is a retired servicemans’ home now, and was never actually a hospital.

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There is a canal running near Warwick and I had intended to visit that, and perhaps walk back along it to Leamington, but a bike race (that had part of the city centre blocked off) and a flat phone battery, thus no maps, made me settle for a walk beside the Avon River back to Leamington.