Warwick Castle Wall Walk, England

A fun and slightly scary thing to do at Warwick Castle is to go on their wall walk. Starting at one tower, visitors can climb up to the top and walk from tower to tower on the curtain walls of the castle. J and I did this on our visit.

We climbed the first tower and were able to look down on the moat and see the next tower, Guy's Tower.

View from tower of the exterior walls

Guy's Tower is named after Guy de Beauchamp, a medieval earl who fought alongside Edward I in Scotland.

Entering Guy's Tower

Tight stairs, scarier for me than J

The narrow winding staircases were made in the late 1300s. People must have been shorter then! J had no trouble on the stairs but my big feet made me want to walk on the widest part of each step. The view from the top is worth the effort!

J looks into the castle's interior

The castle courtyard

View of Warwick from the castle

A happily unmanned ballista

J's unflappableness became more flappable after he had a view of the next leg of our journey.

J nervously looks out because...

...the main gate is our next stop!

We had to go down another staircase to cross the curtain wall to the barbican and gate house. As we crossed we smelt the yummy food cooking in the courtyard.

Smoky tents with sweet smelling meats

Approaching the main gate

The entrance to the castle was completed in the 1370s. Since it was the only point in the wall where a hole was intentionally left, defenses for the area are numerous. In addition to the two portcullises (the iron gates that drop down to block the castle's entrance), many murder holes were made in the ceiling of the entrance. These holes allowed defenders to drop boiling oil or water and many other unpleasant projectiles (like the contents of their chamber pots) on attackers. Just beyond, a small passage known as the "killing zone" let defenders from above shoot arrows and bolts (and anything else they had to drop) on the narrow file of attackers entering the castle.

We continued to the next tower, which had nice views of the Warwickshire countryside and the castle's mill, where grains were ground into flour.
 

Rural Warwickshire

The castle's mill

Next up, the birds of prey exhibit!