A PRETTY CANAL. WEEK 6, MISSED THIS ONE, SORRY

Avon Barrel Cottage

Week 6 Stratford upon Avon to Warwick 21 Miles 55 Locks 1 Tunnel and 2 canals.

The Stratford upon Avon canal, is a lovely rural canal with small villages dotted along its route, the barrel roofed cottages are unique to this canal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratford-upon-Avon_Canal

We started this part of our cruise by doing the 4 narrow locks out of Stratford and mooring outside the Premier Inn. On the way up we met a CRT worker who was dredging behind the lock gates to make sure the gates would open fully, we encountered this problem last time we travelled this way and it caused much fun and games. I chatted with him for a while and found out we had a mutual acquaintance, I won’t bore you with the details but its a small world.

We moored here because there is a Lidl 5mins walk away, and I needed a ‘big’ shop, so both granny trolleys came out. £100 later and everything put away we got chatting to the guy off the hire boat that was moored behind us.

He was an old hand at boating. Unfortunately he didn’t tell a happy story, as one of his crew had had an accident at the last lock they had done, and he was in A&E with a broken wrist. He did say they had been drinking. Now I am very much live and let live, but we have a rule on the good ship Avalon Two, no beer (or wine) until the locks are done, and usually until we are moored up, and this is the reason, a trip or fall could ruin our plans. But like I say each to their own.

It was an earlyish start next day and we did 12 locks and 5 miles. 11 of the locks were the Wilmcote flight. We met a lone Volunteer lockee coming down with a boat, and then never saw him again. Then 3 locks to go, and praise be 2 more Volunteers appeared, great a bit of help for me. But they walked by only wishing me good afternoon, and advice on how a crack a paddle to help with shutting the bottom gate. No help at all. All I can assume is that they were heading to get their ‘snap’, a Derbyshire miners term for dinner, or if you’re posh lunch.

So without any help at all, we made it to the top and headed off for a mooring in the MONW for the night.

After an early start again we crossed the Edstone Aqueduct, quite an amazing feat of engineering, it is a trough aqueduct which basically means the boat is in an iron trough raised above the towpath. The views are stunning but its not great if you don’t like heights.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edstone_Aqueduct

9 locks and 6 miles later and we reached the Fleur-de-Lys pub at Lowsonford. Our first attempt at mooring was not very successful, as we were about 4ft to long for the gap, there was a little git gap going on but hey ho, nothing we could do about it. The Captain poddled off to check out the mooring further up, and found a great spot. As the afternoon wore on, the moorings filled up, as more boats turned up, maybe to try the pub who knows. We didn’t bother, gasp of horror, we had been before and wasn’t overly impressed, but don’t be put off by us, give it a try. We were both tired from the early starts and the locks, so had an early night.

https://www.thefleur.co.uk/

We set off next day after a lie in with a definite goal, the Tom O’ the Wood at Rowington. The Captain had booked us a table for date night, it was Friday after all. With 9 locks and 4miles ahead of us we set off. There was a boat in front, which meant we had to reset each and ever lock, we were going up and no boat came down the lock. We also had a boat behind us. Being the friendly boaters we are, we did our best to help the crew by opening the bottom paddles to empty the lock, meaning it was in their favour. We were always careful to make sure no boat was coming towards us, and that we could see the boat behind, just in case they decided to stop between locks, which had happened to us in the past. At the very last lock the Captain needed a minute to himself (the loo) so I stayed at the lock and helped them through. The lady crew was very thankful.

We had reached Kingswood Junction, and here we were turning off the Stratford canal and on to a branch of the Grand Union.

That was the end of the locks for the day, and we were soon moored outside the pub.

The meal at the Tom O’ the Woods was amazing, and I would highly recommend giving it a try.

https://www.tomothewood.co.uk/index

The Captain took pity on me next day and delayed doing the Hatton flight of 21 locks in 2 miles until Sunday. We cruised to the top of the locks in the beautiful weather, and then took a walk to the Hatton Arms, which was doing a roaring trade in the sunshine. No darks on but he found a palatable bitter to quench his thirst.

https://hattonarms.com/

The Grand Union is a wide canal, so the locks are double lock, which means you can get 2 boats in side by side. I was really hoping another boat would come and join us, and there would be volunteer lock keepers to help us too. But neither of my wishes came true.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatton_Locks

The flight was surprisingly quiet, and we only saw 4 boats, and all going the other way, this helped me and I didn’t need to reset every lock. But the bottom gates were leaking, so I had to top most of them up to get the gate to open. Now these locks have the paddles I hate, as they take many turns with my windlass to raise them, 22 to be exact, and they were very stiff. The gates are quite heavy too. The Captain helped out as much as he could, but by lock 17 I was seriously struggling and we changed roles. I stayed on the boat and took it out of the lock, whilst the Captain worked us through. I did really well, and was very proud of myself, and the Captain was too. It took us 4 ¼ hours to get to the bottom, and not long after that we were moored at the Cape of Good Hope.

We met many gongoozlers on the way down, and even asked a group of Ozzies if they would like a ride down the lock, we made their day.

And of course we had to go to the pub, the Captain was really really happy they had a milk stout on from the Bristol Beer Factory.

https://www.thecapeofgoodhopepub.com/

Because the beer was so good we decided to stay for an extra drink, and for a change I had a pink gin with frozen mixed berries. It looked and tasted really nice. An American lady from a group of 4 came over and asked what I was drinking, so I offered her a sip, she was impressed. As we left I asked if she had tried it for herself, and apparently they had had 3 doubles between them, they were a merry bunch.

We had made it to Warwick, but decided not to visit the town, as we had an engagement at Hawksbury Junction the following weekend to get to.