Halloween at Warwick Castle

I got to have a lie in at Saturday before going over to see Kerry and Craigs new house, which is very nice. We went out to a charity shop called New Life, which gets donations from shops and sells them on cheap and managed to get a few new things (my winter wardrobe is a bit shabby and in some cases falling apart). 

And then we drove over to Warwick castle. Kerry and Craig had got us all tickets for the Halloween evening at the castle.

Warwick castle.

Inside the court yard

After getting in, the first priority for all was food. There were a lot of people for only a few food places so it took some time. We were all so much happier once we had eaten.

We headed to a decorated path thing (not entirely sure what it was).

Headed in.

Romantic skeletons.

ghosts

vomiting gargoyle.

While I was taking the photo above, my sister decided to try to scare me. She walked in front of her husband and when she passed on of the bales of hay around, ducked behind it to jump out and scare me. But I had paused to take a photo and a young boy (about 9 yrs old) jumped in front. I am not sure who was most shocked when she leaped out at him. I was right behind and the looks on both their faces was priceless. That is Karma! (And that's the last time he jumps the queue!)

Spooky skies.

Heading back into the castle

We had a dungeons tour (which wasn't in the dungeon). They had rooms set out with witches and torturers etc. The last one was impressive. It went completely dark and the actor managed to move around without any light and making no sound. When the lights came back, he was standing right in front of you. Luckily I was pretty sure (and right) when he was in front of me, due to the process of elimination - he had been everywhere else but there at that point. I was not a great fan of that. Doing a lot of self-defence classes has taught me to react loudly and with violence when someone startles me when backed into a corner and gets in my face. Thankfully I managed not to hit anyone (though I did punch the wall when something moved behind me - it was just the seat moving but it felt like someone trying to grab my ass).

I was really looking forward to seeing the fire jousting. I wish I could explain it but I can't. As we couldn't see it. There were way too many people around so we headed back so the others could finally get their donuts. (We had been in the queue a few times but it never moved so we gave up. But everyone was now trying to watch the jousting so we succeeded.)

It was a long trip back, though Craig's impressive driving through the car park meant we managed to skip most of the queues getting out!

Warwick Castle

On Wednesday, Matt, El, Clare and I went to Warwick Castle.

Warwick Castle

Stockades

By the time we got our tickets, we had missed the raising of the portcullis and the Arthur thing, and had to rush over to see the firing of the trebuchet. This is basically a huge slingshot, used to fire rocks and burning tar over the walls of the castles so that the walls themselves aren't damaged. It makes it easier to defend the castle after you have taken it (likely from the people you have just taken it from!). This trebuchet was 18m high and weight 22 tonnes. There are two human hamster wheels, one on each side, where "volunteers" walk and wind up a rope around the axis between the wheels. This pulls down an arm with a counterweight (about 5 tonnes) attached to the other end. When they release the rope (after securing the arm and unwinding rope or the result is very bad!), the counter weight falls and throws the rocks etc. They didn't have anything attached (not safe I guess)but it was cool nevertheless. And they used to do the whole thing in 6 mins. Impressive.

Trebuchet

While waiting for the trebuchet to launch, Matt and I went closer to the front near the river to get some better photos. And got chased by one of the biggest swans I have seen. No way was I messing with that!

evil swan

After lunch (16yrs working on for the summer so it took forever), we went to Merlin's dragon tower, which was rubbish. The technology used was good but just not thought out.

Matt, El and Clare outside Merlin's Tower

We also wondered around the state rooms, which were very impressive.

Swords in the State rooms

Henry VIII and some of his wives

Marie Antoinette's clock

They also had the Empty Chair exhibit on display. Each of the chairs is for the empty chair left in someone's home due to the death of a solider in the recent Iraq and Afghanistan war. As of the beginning of it's stay in Warwick, there are 416 chairs.

Empty Chairs exhibit

After cooling down indoors, we went up the towers and to the ramparts. The views were lovely, though the 520 steps... not so much. Though the views from the top of the towers were worth it.

Through the Archer's window

View across Warwick from one of the towers

From the Tower, across the court yard and State rooms

By the time we got down from the ramparts (and got some very nice mini pancakes), the weapons display with some huge swords and axes was just starting. In the 11th Century, a Christian could not kill another Christian with a sharp edged weapon. So they created the "Knobbler", a stick with a metal ball on the end (like a mace). Bashing someone's head in is fine, just don't stab them. The guys doing the display demonstrated the efficiency of the Knobbler with a cabbage. It makes a really big mess!

Showing off the Knobbler!

We had to get make to Brum early for a house survey and Clare had a hankering for a good Indian (not available in London). Birmingham and the Black Country still have the best!