Hatton

Today's Canal - Grand Union

Our plan for today included working up the famous Hatton flight of 21 locks. As a result and because we also needed to find a supermarket, Mike set off in good time, leaving the other two to sort themselves out slowly. they had a good excuse: we had not charged the batteries properly yesterday and we also watched television, the hot water had failed to come on with the timer early morning. However, starting the engine soon produced enough for a couple of showers.

It was another sunny day, although late afternoon it clouded over a little but remained fairly hot throughout.

Just as he cast off, Mike noticed that the field opposite had quite a sprinkling of poppies which he attempted to photo - only just!

The section of the canal through Leamington Spa is generally pleasant. Some of the adjacent housing is older terraces whilst others are more modern. Although the former were probably originally quite primitive and today may well house those who came to this country in search of work (various signs including pub food lists suggest quite a cultural mix) the new houses, well probably 1960's or 70's, have not worn as well. Further on we passed several industrial and trading estates. The centre of the town is well to the north on the other side of the main railway line.

We were heading for Morrisons which is alongside the canal to the west of the town and easy to moor within a very short walking distance. It is a recent store and a change from the large Tesco a little later which we have used several times. This time we found the Morrisons range of foods, roomier layout and pricing to be very much the better option. We returned to the boat stocked up again for the next few days.

River Avon

Our next target was to reach at least the bottom of the Hatton flight before stopping for lunch. So, we set off as soon as we returned with our shopping and a little later crossed over the River Avon. Perhaps one day, may be not in our cruising lifetime(!), we may be able to lock down from the Grand Union here to the river and be able to visit Stratford via a circular route. (See Stratford and Warwick Waterways Trust for their ambitious plans to restore what was first made navigable 350 years ago!

Cape Bottom Lock

Before we could tackle the Hatton flight we had a little warm-up at the two Cape Locks. Interestingly, the book Maiden's Trip, only a small set of books that describe life in the times when canals carried freight traffic, calls these two locks the Hatton Two, distinguished from the Hatton 21.

As we came through the second lock, Alice spotted some more juicy blackberries and added to those we picked last night.

Saltisford Arm

Just after Budbrooke Junction with the Saltisford arm and within sight of Hatton Bottom Lock, Mike was all for stopping for lunch, But in a reversal of yesterday, he was out-voted and we worked through the first two locks before stopping.

Hatton Bottom Lock

This flight, like several others, has the lower locks spread out but the pounds get shorter and shorter towards the summit.

Christine's 'cunning plan' was to stay here until 3 o'clock so that it would be a bit cooler as we toiled our way up the hill. Meanwhile, Mike and Alice were set to prepare the blackberries and crumble for a pudding tonight. (The curious might like to compare this with a similar photo in our blog for summer 2011)

Then Christine chatted up two men on nb Ambience that pulled in just ahead of us. They were only stopping for about half an hour to have a quick lunch break before continuing on up to the top. Christine's even more cunning plan saw them happily agreeing to join forces through the flight. They offered to let us know when they were ready to set off.

As it happened another boat also arrived but Richard and Charlie kindly suggested that they go on so that they could work with us as promised! Aren't some people on the canal really friendly!

In any event,it was around half past two when they were ready and as the crumble was also prepared we were happy to get going again.

We worked the first few locks conventionally with Charlie and Christine one ahead of the other into each lock. With Alice opening and shutting gates we made good progress.

Christine then wanted to swap places with Mike and soon after Charlie suggested that we strap the two boats together - the pounds were by now much shorter. He also invited Mike to do the steering which freed him up also to help with the locks. Progress became even smoother.

Lock followed lock and before long we could look back down a long stretch of the flight to the valley below.

Mike had to concentrate quite hard when steering the two boats between locks with the result that we ended up with a lot fewer pictures than usual! We even failed to snap the top lock as we left it . . .

Three locks from the top: Christine and Alice walked ahead to the cafe just below the top lock where they were able to buy ice creams and cold drinks all round!

After a brief stop above the flight to dispose of rubbish and use the sani station, we moved on only a short distance until we were away from the long line of moored boats - but no chance along here for a tv signal. Still, with oven chips and blackberry crumble yet to come, that was a small price to pay for being able to rest our weary limbs, nevertheless feeling once again that working Hatton feels quite an achievement.

This time, the experience of working two boats breasted up made it different from previous occasions! That's the thing about canals, there is always something different wherever you go.

8.0 miles - 23 locks