Iain Cameron's Diary
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2005-06-04 - 12:08 a.m.

I drove back from Loughboro down the M1 and the M69 and then I got to the A5 which is the Roman road from London to Holy head - one of the boundaries to the Forest of Arden - so I decided to follow that south until the Fosse Way - which is another boundary of the FoA. The two meet at a point called High Cross and I was hoping there would be something to mark the ancient intersection. I didn�t see it.

The Fosse Way gradually descend to its crossing with the Avon after which there is an interesting moment where the FW crosses the Oxford Canalmaking its way carefully up to Coventry by a flanking move - I wonder how it gets across the Avon?|. I kept on down the Fosse Way until I got to a sign for Leamington and I ended up (I think) quite near the source of the Leam. In fact this point turned out to be Off church - traditionally the home of King Offa - he of the dyke.

There were some good views down the valley of the Leam. There is a block of high land that separates the Leam from the Avon and that�s the basis of Leamington - the high land makes one side of the valley of the Leam - the other side is a ridge just north of the one that Harbury is on - where Steve lives. The Harbury ridge and the lower bank of the Leam form another parallel valley which the Fosse Way uses. There was a plan to stick an airport out here but there was great opposition - as currently its rather deserted countryside.

A bit of further digging reveals that the source of the Leam is a mile from the source of the Cherwell beneath Hellidon Hill. The interesting point is that the Cherwell flows into the Thames at Oxford while the Leam flows into the Avon and then the Severn a few hundred miles away. Apparently that particular watershed is an ironstone ridge . You don�t have to go far to the east from there until you get to streams which drain into the Wash - and not that far to the north before you find streams draining into the Humber.

Nice name Hellidon

As I drove across Offa�s land I was listening to some of the Bernstein fest on BBC3 - discovered about Mass. It looks as if B has suffered from his timing - he flourished just as the cultural elite was changing guard and he looked liked the old money.

Knocked out a vid about Deleuze Plath and Kant - title Making and Forgetting. I seem to have a lot I want to get off my chest - that J Martyn vid is having an effect. Interesting chat to Prof Williams about the arms trade in 17C Birmingham. Apart from that the meeting at Loughboro was a bit strange - I think DTI is waiting to see what the new Minister will do. He has set the Companies Act inspectors onto bad doggie Rover. This puts BDR in the same class as Barlow Clowes and Lohnro - dear o dear. Disgrace indeed. Shameful woofer - all those bones buried in the garden.

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