Lapworth Junction

Today's Canals - Stratford, Grand Union

We drove up from Cornwall yesterday. We were able to make a good start, just before 8.30, leaving Joanna and the three grand daughters using our house for their holiday. We were mostly ahead of the worst of the usual Friday jams with only one delay resulting from drivers slowing down to see what two police cars with flashing lights were doing. Nothing obvious!

As a result we arrived at Wilmcote by 1pm, even having allowed ourselves a good coffee break along the way. Mike reversed the boat from where we had moored it and was able to take a spot right beside the road bridge, just a few metres from the car! Unloading was complete in just an hour after arrival.

As planned, Mike then set off to do the car shuffle - not really anywhere here to leave the car and, unusually, we know where we need to be at the end of the trip. The boat is booked in for paint work at Oxfordshire Narrowboats on 1st September. Although it took only 45 minutes to drive there, the train journey back was well over two hours. The three legs were each very quick but a mismatch of times meant an hour's wait at Leamington Spa.

Wilmcote Station

When Mike alighted from the train at Wilmcote, he was surprised to see that Christine, having long since completed the unpacking, had walked to the station to meet him.

Today we awoke early and, even allowing time for Mike to walk to the village shop for a newspaper, we were away well before 9 am. It was somewhat chilly at first - our outdoor thermometer reading 8C - but still quite pleasant and with sunny spells. Later, the sky became more overcast but with better times in between!

Not long after casting off we reached Edstone (or Brearley) Aqueduct. Christine navigated the boat across leaving Mike to take photos from various angles, including from the field below.

There was a steady flow of boats coming south for the first part of the day but by lunch time the canal became much quieter. With nothing much moving north almost all of the locks were set for us. The main problem was encountering boats at bridges - in this case quickly followed by a couple of day boats!

We have had no really hot, dry spells this summer as yet and so the trees and shrubs all looked very green and there was plenty of water coming down the bywashes to keep the canal topped up.

Wootton Wawen viaduct heralded our arrival at the Anglo Welsh hire base. By now all the boats had arrived back and were being serviced with the departing crews on their way home in their cars!

Preston Bagot Bottom Lock

After two and a half hours level cruising, with only the single Brearley Lock to break up the morning, we reached Preston Bagot which marked the climb of a further 17 locks up to Lapworth Junction.

With the canal remarkably quiet and only a gentle stream of boats coming the other way, we made easy and good progress.

By lunch time we were at Lowsonford where we took on water. Whilst waiting for the tank to fill (OK so we turned the tap down to give us longer!) we had our lunch break but no-one passed us the whole hour. Only after we had almost completed the lock above the water point did another boat stop for the services.

Most of the way we were able to work the locks with Christine going ahead to prepare the lock, leaving Mike to bring the boat out and close the top gate behind him. His did occasionally do the walking with Christine steering into the lock.

Shortest of the three today, Yarningdale Aqueduct is almost attached to Bucket Lock.

We passed Warwick, Harry New's boat from which he sells an assortment of ropes, fenders and other chandlery. We saw him at the end of our previous trip when he too moored near Wilmcote bridge and we bought a couple of ropes from him as the two we bought earlier in the summer when on the Kennet and Avon have not worn well at all.

Some locks still have plaques that are a reminder that the Southern Stratford was owned at one time by the National Trust when it was first restored.

Although the works just above Lock 28 looked initially a bit alarming from a distance, a closer look suggested that they are re-building an overflow weir rather than repairing an imminent breach.

Lock 25 proved to be the only exception to an otherwise reasonably easy set of locks. The top gate opened as normal but, after Christine had set off to take the boat to the next lock, Mike struggled to close the gate. Even with the help of a passer-by, it refused to shift very far. eventually, with the help of drawing water down through the lock, we made it but did not envy the next boat through. The helper lives close by and offered to report the problem at the maintenance yard above the junction - he knows the staff there.

We had brief stop at the sani station above the top lock before turning onto the link to the Grand Union. There is no mooring allowed in the junction basin - this did not stop a boat arriving just as we left the lock tying up on the lock landing for the night!

Christine meanwhile checked out the Visitor Moorings on the short link and reported plenty of space - so we did not have to reverse back down through the lock to the moorings below. However, we went onto the Grand Union to turn but then Christine suggested that we reverse down a short distance in case we might want to find a satellite tv signal! Not sure if there is anything much to watch tonight . . .

9.4 miles - 18 locks