The Spitfire Experience

We woke up to another foggy grey morning - I think this is the norm for Autumn in the Midlands! After emptying and filling our tanks we rolled down the hill to the field gate without getting stuck and made it safely to the car park.

This morning we’re heading to Enstone airfield because I have a Spitfire Experience! This was a birthday present from a couple of years ago that I have only just been able to use. The Spitfire Club is a group of enthusiasts who are attempting to build a squadron (12 planes) of replica Spitfires. These are new machines which have modern components and controls so that amateurs can maintain and fly them.

We spent a pleasant couple of hours with the owner of the flying school who explained the background and history of the project before showing us around one of their planes. It’s great to see that this group are keeping the spirit of the Spitfire alive.

After lunch we drove to Warwick where we’re parked in the racecourse car park. The entrance has a 2m height barrier but we phoned the ranger before we left Enstone and he was there waiting to open the barrier for us. We parked up, paid our very reasonable £2 for 24hrs (other councils could learn from Warwick!) and went for a walk around the town.

We wandered around the old part of the town looking at the houses, some of which had very wonky walls. We walked down to the river Avon to get some pictures of the impressive castle. Following the river through St Nicholas park and out the other end we discovered a riverside path. After about a mile we came to the canal viaduct, the middle of which was leaking into the river. We climbed up onto the towpath and followed it back to Kiki.

When we got back “home” we were surprised to find that we had walked over 5.5 miles! We had our evening meal before settling down for the evening.