Sunday 13th August - Waring’s Green to Tom O’ the Wood Moorings
A bright sunny start, so we set off from our mooring, stopped off at Wedge’s Bakery for fresh supplies and continued on our way. We were following a hire boat which appeared to stop in the mouth of a bridge hole, it seems that the boat to our left was straddled across the canal in front of them. It then drifted across to the offside where it stayed as we also managed to pass it.
Another lone duck with just the one duckling this time, hope they stay safe.
One of the many lift bridges along the Stratford Canal, we passed through two today both raised using a standard windlass we would use to operate a lock.
Dave announced that this was his dream house, a lovely looking house beside a canal with space to moor a boat. What more could you ask for? We worked our way down the first set of the Lapworth locks and pulled over in the large pound to decide what to do next. We had our lunch, bought a replacement Pearson guide from the canal shop and then carried on through the last locks. We were fortunate enough to find ourselves a lock keeper who helped us down into Kingswood Junction.
This is the first of the barrel roofed cottages on the south Stratford Canal. One of a series of six lock-keepers cottages on the Canal. The roof was built using form-work similar to that used for canal bridges. We continued past the cottage and moored up for water and rubbish disposal. We then reversed and continued through the opening on the left of the photo, along the short cutting to join the Grand Union Canal where we turned right and headed for Tom O’ the Woods visitor moorings for the night.
6 miles, 19 locks, 2 lift bridges, 5hrs 36mins
Monday 14th August - Tom O’ the Woods Visitor Moorings
Today we are having a rest day, especially as the forecast is for heavy rain most of the morning. We waited until it had stopped raining and went for a walk between the two canals.
We passed a sign on a tree ‘DOG CHASING SHEEP WILL BE SHOT’. It couldn't be much clearer really!
The path came out on the Stratford Canal beside another of the barrel roofed houses. This one has had a lot of parts added to it.
We are facing the turning we took yesterday, there is a boat coming out of the turning and above it is another boat coming down the lock. All very busy all of a sudden. We continued up the canal and along to Lapworth Village before rejoining the Grand Union canal and returning to the boat. We had our supper in the Tom o’ the Wood pub, very pleasant and very quiet, we were the only people in!
Tuesday 15th August - Tom o’ the Wood to Cape of Good Hope
A lovely sunny morning and we made an early start from our mooring. We were meeting nbCornish Navigator at Hatton Railway Station and they were joining us for the descent of the Hatton Locks, 21 double locks so we can go down together. This is Hatton Top Lock.
The boats are similar length, 57ft and 58ft with the same engine power so we were able to enter and leave locks side by side most of the time. There were some Volunteer Lock Keepers and one did help us for a couple of locks but soon disappeared without a word, so we continued on our own. Dave and Susie worked the lock and Drew and I drove the boats.
A larger than life metal dragonfly sits on a metal reed protruding from the pool below, posed as if gazing for its prey in the water. It was commissioned by British waterways in 2006 and made by Gideon Petersen.
One of the times we had to split up, the boatman heading away from us was very nervous and requested we approached in single file, he did have a volunteer helping him, I do hope the volunteer stayed with him!
Looking back up the locks, an awesome sight, and a great sense of achievement, when you know you have just come down those locks.
There are some green fingered volunteers around, this is Hatton Middle Lock, we’ve done 10 and there are 10 more to do. These signs and plant boxes are a welcome addition to the flight of locks.
The original locks on the Warwick and Birmingham canal were built in 1790 by the navigators or ‘navvies’ as they came to be known. The canal was renamed the Grand Union in 1929, and shortly afterwards new wider locks were built of concrete by a workforce of a thousand men. The new locks were opened by the Duke of Kent in 1934; they can take two narrow boats side by side. Some of the original narrow locks can still be seen alongside the new ones. The Hatton flight of locks is known locally as the ‘Stairway to Heaven’ because of the hard work involved in the ascent, but we have descended the locks and this is Hatton Bottom Lock Cottage. It took us 3 hours 10 minutes, a respectable time.
We continued round to the Cape of Good Hope Moorings and moored up for the night, we had our supper at the pub followed by a quiet night on the boat.
7 miles, 21 locks, 5hrs 6mins
Wednesday 16th August - Cape of Good Hope Moorings to Radford Semele
Another bright, sunny day, so we left our mooring and moved onto the water point to fill up with water. Once ready we then went down the two Cape Locks on our own and headed out to Morrisons to stock up on essentials.
We then cruised gently into Leamington Spa, passing a Kate Boats hire base which appeared to be deserted, perhaps all their boats are out! We then stopped in Leamington Spa and went for a stroll around the town centre, picking up bits and pieces as we saw them.
This is Royal Pump Rooms. The sixth Leamington spring was discovered in 1810. Three years later ‘The New Pump Rooms and Baths’ were erected, which effectively put out of business all those which had been built previously. They opened in 1814, and the following year their name was amended to ‘The Royal Baths and Pump Room’. They were reconstructed in 1861 and further altered around 1887, in 1910 and in 1926.
On one of the side roads we saw a lot of activity, this 1980’s red London bus was parked with passengers sitting inside all dressed in 1980 costumes. Along the road were more cars and London taxis of the time.
There were several actors being filmed walking up and down the street. We learnt that it was a ITVX drama series being filmed. It is called ‘Joan’ and stars Sophie Turner and she was filming a short sequence with a co-star.
We returned to the boat and continued on our way out to Radford Semele, moored up and went for a walk along the disused railway and had a BBQ for supper.
Thursday 17th August - Radford Semele to Long Itchington
A lovely warm evening at Radford and then it was time to move on today. A boat going our way passed us so we tagged along behind to share the next two double locks. It was a share boat from Braunston, a lovely family with young adult daughters, boyfriends and nephew. It was really lovely as they did the lion share of the lock work.
This was intriguing, we couldn't stop to investigate, but I couldn't see any sign of nests as I guess they would have fledged by now. Our buddy boat joined another boat further on and we were on our own again, but a couple of the lads stayed behind to help us which was so lovely, they were the politest youngsters I’ve met in a long time.
More examples of HS2 development, it has changed the landscape so much around here, leaving spoil heaps which I hope will be only temporary!
We caught up with a private boat going through the Bascote Staircase locks. NbHoney Rose was heading back to Ventnor Moorings, owned by a South African couple who spend 3 -4 months a year on the boat and the rest of the time back home. The locks were straight forward although the gates were pretty hard to move.
Cruising under the disused railway bridge which is the same disused railway we walked along yesterday and moored up outside Long Itchington for the evening.
The share boat we buddied with passed us and announced they were stopping as well for a well earned pint!
We went for a walk along the railway and ended up in the village where we tried to visit the church which was unfortunately locked. We spent the rest of the day sitting out on the towpath in the afternoon sunshine, wonderful!
5 miles, 10 locks, 3 hours
Friday 18th August - Long Itchington
Today is forecast heavy thundery showers so we have decided to have a rest day.
I realised that I had made a mistake when calculating Toby’s food for the trip, so we needed to make an emergency visit to the Coop to find him something suitable. He is like a pig in clover as he has Pedigree meaty chunks in jelly mixed with his remaining biscuits, he will find it hard to revert back to a dry diet again! This is the church we tried to visit yesterday, still locked!
Once we had taken the food back to the boat, we walked up the canal to the foot of the Stockton locks and the Blue Lias where we stopped for a drink before walking back again. There were further heavy showers on Friday night, but the weather will be better tomorrow.
Saturday 19th August - Long Itchington to Bridge 103
We woke to a lovely morning, so we got ready and set off about 9am. As I was entering the first lock we saw another boat following us, so we waited for them and worked the two locks up to the Blue Lias together. They were heading back to their mooring at Calcutt Marina after having spent 4 months in Shakespeare Marina, Stratford because the lady broke the base of her spine whilst opening a lock gate! A bit scary!
A view of the Stockton Locks, built in the early 19th century. They are a flight of 8 locks, basins and escape channels, which were formerly single locks.
There was a single volunteer lock keeper who was helping boats in all directions, he works every other Saturday, and was certainly working hard today. Here we have just passed another Bourne Boat, nbTincantoo No 49. We didn't get chance to exchange details, but it was good to see them.
Just past the Kate hire boatyard at the top of Stockton Locks we came across a 70ft hire boat struggling to make headway. They had picked the boat up for the weekend, given no instruction, and sent off on their way. We crawled along behind them for an hour before they decided to pull in and let the queue of boats behind them pass. We saw them again later in the day and they were chugging along a lot better, hope they had a good weekend!
Calcutt Locks was also very busy and again we joined a different boat to go up the locks. At the t- junction we turned left to stay on the Grand Union Canal and head towards Braunston. We found a delightful mooring after Bridge 103, open countryside and a decent towpath and moored up for the day.
As the weather was so nice we decided to go for a walk up to Flecknoe, along to Shuckburgh and back along the canal. We are walking through a beautiful meadow of wild flowers and stunning sunflowers. Toby is enjoying a roll in the grass.
Unfortunately I got tangled up with a nasty bramble and instead of patiently untangling, I pulled through ending up with a lacerated leg above the ankle. We cut short the walk and returned to the boat through the village and back down the road.
On the way back we passed a local cricket match, it would have been nice to linger a while but I really wanted to get back in order to clean up my wounds!
8 miles, 13 locks, 4hr 54mins
Today is going to be a lovely day, so have decided to stay on our mooring and have another go at doing the walk. This time we walked along the canal, up to Shuckburgh, along to Flecknoe and back to the boat.
This is Shuckburgh Church, it was built on the grounds of the previous one, in 1864 by John Croft, for Sir Frederick Shuckburgh. It is a Victorian building featured as one of Pevsner’s “England’s Thousand Best Churches”. Its unique exterior and interior Moorish architectural style attracts many visitors.
We climbed up through the village and through the Shuckburgh estate. This is the view back down to the village with church spire just visible in the centre of the picture. Stunning views!
A beacon on the Shuckburgh Estate with the crest hanging beneath it.
Shuckburgh Hall has been the seat of the Shuckburgh family for over a thousand years. The Hall sits within its well established estate of 2,500 acres of beautiful rolling Warwickshire countryside, just over the border from Northamptonshire. It enjoys superb views in all directions, and on a clear day the Black Mountains in Wales can be seen to the West nearly 150 miles away. The grounds are home to a herd of wild Fallow Deer, pheasants and a wide variety of wildlife. It is currently owned by Sir James Rupert Charles Shuckburgh, 14th Baronet.
We spotted the wild fallow deer in the park, it seemed to be quite a reasonably sized herd.
We walked back across a rolling plain of harvested fields after having a picnic lunch followed by a drink at the Olive Bush in Flecknoe. A stunning walk in the sunshine and cooling breeze.
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