Monday 4th May - Long Itchington to Radford Semele
Toby and I walked from Long Itchington to the top of Bascote Locks stopping at Bascote Wharf to top up with water. We met a hire boat heading towards Warwick and shared the staircase locks and all the other locks with them as far as Radford Semele where we stopped for the night.
This boat used to be moored on the offside of the canal just below Radford Bottom lock. It is now in a very sorry state and gradually sinking into the canal.
After mooring up we went for a walk back up to the lock and across to follow a footpath into the village of Radford Semele, a delightful walk through the woods along the disused railway.
Radford Semele Manor House has an iconic turret, the structure has a 16th century timber-framed core and was used as a hunting lodge in the 1800’s.
As we walked back along the canal we came across our friends Carine and Dimitrios on NbGalene. We spent a lovely evening together sampling Greek ouzo and wine accompanied by a delicious meze. They are on their way to Cambridge and hopefully we shall meet up with them again before they return to Brussels later in the year.
5.25 miles, 10 locks, 3hrs 5mins.
Tuesday 5th May - Radford Semele to Cape of Good Hope Moorings
A fox in the field opposite our mooring, below Radford Semele church. It seemed very happy to stand and have the photo taken before trotting off up the field towards the village.
Waved at Carine and Dimitrios as they cruised past us this morning. Today they are going to visit friends at Nelson Wharf, Bon Voyage!
Cruising into Leamington Spa I spotted some new art work on the canal bridge wall, a beautiful depiction of a damselfly.
Carine had recommended a couple of good shops in the town, we found Aubrey Allen a butcher and delicatessen, opened in 1933 and still going strong.
Toby was treated as royalty, allowed into the shop and given the tastiest titbits from the home cooked ham by Helen who has worked there for over 30 years!
The next recommendation was The Corner Cottage Bakery, again all very friendly and welcoming to Toby who was also given treats. The most wonderful sourdough bread, pastries and cakes. We would highly recommend both shops if you are ever in Leamington Spa.
On the way back to the boat I spotted another mural on the side of a building just beyond the railway bridge, this is ‘Future Synth’ by Void One, part of the Leamington Spa Street Art Trail. We called into the Portuguese cafe for some Pastel de nata before returning to the boat and carrying on to the moorings at Cape of Good Hope. Fortunately we shared the two locks with a hireboat and then moored up for the night.
4.25 miles, 2 locks, 2hrs 24mins
Wednesday 6th May - Cape of Good Hope to Rowington Bridge 62
Toby and I walked round to the locks from our mooring and then worked the first 5 locks together. We were joined by a volunteer lock keeper after the 3rd lock and he stayed with us all the way to the top. This is the lock cottage at the bottom of the flight and the little building to the left is the ‘hovel’ where the lock keepers come to collect their equipment for their shift on the locks.
The first part of the flight has locks separated by fairly long pounds, then you get to this part where the locks are much closer together and the pounds are much shorter. I love this shot of the locks - staircase to heaven!
Just before the last 4 locks is the Canal and River Trust yard, where the personnel for this area work. On the other side of the lock is the bin compound where we got rid of our rubbish. Toby and I worked 16 out of the 21 locks, a distance of 2.2 miles, at the end of it all, poor Toby was exhausted!
Dave bringing the boat into the top lock where he had to wait for another boat coming down. Throughout the whole journey we only passed 3 boats, and all the lock keepers were saying how quiet it is.
This is John our friendly lock keeper, he has been volunteering for 4 years and enjoys working the whole flight of locks. Many thanks go to John and all the volunteers who were out to assist boaters through this wonderful set of locks.We stopped for water at the top of the flight and saw these ducklings. Dave bought a breakfast roll at the Hatton Locks Cafe, a delightful place for food and drink watching the boats going about their business.
We continued on to a mooring looking down over Rowington Village and moored up for the night. Very quiet and peaceful, several other boats moored nearby but generally a lovely spot.
6.25 miles, 21 locks, 1 tunnel, 4hr 54 mins
Thursday 7th May - Rowington Bridge 62
Today we have spent the day cleaning the outside of the boat, so when you look at her, she is clean on half the roof and down one side. We also washed the centre line ropes, they are much cleaner and softer to work with now! This is the clean side.
I used the stunning outside space for my outdoor gym, ably assisted by Toby!
Friday 8th May - Rowington Bridge 62 to Lapworth
Today we moved onto the bottom of the Lapworth Locks, turned left off the Grand Union Canal and then right to join the North Stratford canal. As we moved towards the first of the line of locks we met a solo boater who kindly let us go ahead of him so long as we helped reset the lock for him.
As we worked our way up the locks we came across another solo boater coming down the locks. He had 4 volunteers helping him, none of whom seemed keen to help the solo boater coming up behind us and certainly weren’t interested in helping us. So after resting a while on the lock gate, Colin continued down the locks with their solo boater. To say the least, Dave and I were flabbergasted!
Passing the solo boater in the pound between the locks, with the army of volunteers preparing the lock we had just left. Amazing!
We stopped for the night before the last 2 locks and moored up just past Lapworth Cricket pitch. After lunch we went for a delightful walk across the fields to Lapworth Village. The photo doesn’t really do the scene justice but this field was covered in a mass of buttercups stretching as far as the eye could see, it was stunning!
St Mary the Virgin church is unusual in that it has a detached tower built in 1380. It also has a porch on the side, the room above the passageway has been known as the West Chantry Chapel since 1373 and was once used as a place to display holy relics.
Returning to the canal we passed a field of cows and calfs, the farmer thoughtfully keeping them separate from the footpath with a strategically placed electric fence. We thoroughly enjoyed exploring Lapworth, very much a country village although it is only 13 miles from Birmingham and acts as a commuter village for the surrounding towns.
3.5 miles, 16 locks, 4hrs 18mins
Saturday 9th May - Lapworth to Warings Green Wharf
A beautiful sunny day as we made our way towards the final 2 locks on our journey to Birmingham. At the first of the locks we passed a pair of hotel boats, a powered boat and a butty which was being pulled through the locks. As we approached the second lock we were surprised to see that a whole crew of girl guides were busy turning the lock so they could come down without checking to see that we were coming up. I guess they were on a mission!
Dave worked the next lift bridge, a manual bridge operated with a windlass…
…and walked on to operate the next one only to find it was already open!
The tree canopy as we approached Warings Green was quite beautiful.
We found a mooring opposite the permanent moorings at Warings Green Wharf and after shuffling backwards and forwards managed to find a spot which wasn’t too shallow and we could get closer in to the side. A lovely family of ducklings floated past as we had our lunch and then we went for a walk round to the Bulls Head where we sat in the sunshine with our drinks.
3.25 miles, 2 locks, 2 lift bridges, 2hrs 42mins
Sunday 10th May - Warings Green Wharf
Today we are staying on our mooring and are going to spend the day cleaning the other side of the boat. This is the roof finished now, certainly looks a whole lot better! We also went for a walk back along the canal to Wedge's Bakery, they do the most amazing bread, filled rolls and sandwiches, and various cakes and pastries. Well worth a visit!
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