Lurking In Lowsonford
We had already turned the boat round to clean the other side and brought most of the gear over on Monday. On Wednesday, first June, we headed over to the boat club and set off heading north on the Grand Union. At least it was going to be easy to keep track of how many days we had been out!
A slightly threatening start to the day came to nothing and we had a straightforward run up to the Lapworth Link and across to the Stratford Upon Avon Canal. Emerging into the basin and turning south we had nine locks to work through to reach the moorings opposite the Fleur De Lys in Lowsonford.
Heading for the first lock we passed "Gipsy Rose" moored at the water point there and being given a good wash. We didn't need to stop this time but her owner would have been happy to move if we had needed water. He gave us the good news that the Customer Service Facilities there had been put back into operation that morning. It seems to us that blockages and other issues are becoming increasingly frequent on the network and this closure had been going on for several weeks, supposedly because of 'drainage issues'. For owners who live aboard and have a permanent CRT mooring there, like "Gipsy Rose", this must make life particularly difficult. He did say that all that had been required was for the contractors to empty the septic tank. We've no idea if that is true but if it was the case it would be even more frustrating for them.
The nine narrow locks down to Lowsonford were fairly straightforward, although Rowington Top Lock had so much water gushing out of the bottom that it was nearly impossible to fill it enough to get the gate open.
Leaky Rowington Top Lock
Just before Rowington Bottom Lock, the last of the day, we passed the little site by the disused railway bridge where someone had been recreating Lowsonford Halt. It is always nice to see how this has progressed and on this trip it looks almost complete, although someone this obsessive will never truly declare it complete.
Lowsonford Halt
Arriving at Lowsonford there was plenty of space among the trees but the nice sunny part of the mooring was pretty full. There was a space and we went for it, just squeezing in with a foot or so to spare at either end. Only after we had moored did we realise that we were right behind "Lyra", a boat from the same club that had left quite a few days before us. We had a chat with them and then Sue got busy with the bunting and the fairy lights for the Jubilee weekend.
Bunting By Day
Fairy Lights By Night
This wasn't a bad base for a couple of days and we booked in for a meal at the Fleur De Lys the following evening. A nice pub, busy and popular, with a very large canal side garden. Their pies are famous, meeting all of the famous Fielding criteria: an individual pie, shortcrust pastry, gravy on the side. All of their food is good but so many of their tables are reserved for dining that it is very difficult, in the busy periods, to find space inside to just have a drink. Those not eating get shoved into the draughty far corners as far away from the cosy bar area as possible.
We enjoyed some good walks from here over the Bank Holidays, across to Preston Bagot one day and in the other direction via Claverdon and Yarningale Common the next. The Green in Claverdon was ready for jubilee action
The Green In Claverdon
and one of the houses there had set up an elaborate display of items from all the decades of the Queen's reign that was really impressive.
Seven Decades At Claverdon
Crossing Bucket Lock by Yarningale Aqueduct we got a good look at one of the cast iron plaques created in 2003-4 by Stella Carr, in collaboration with a local Youth Club, as a commission from British Waterways for each of the three restored, cast iron aqueducts on this canal; Yarningale, Wootton Wawen and Edstone.
Cast Iron Plaques At Yarningale Aqueduct
This one features aspects of the canal around Bridge 44 with bats, barrel-roofed cottages, a turnover bridge and an aqueduct.
One thing we particularly noticed now, in early June, was the number of fields that appeared to be uncultivated and ungrazed. It made for some lovely picturesque wildflower meadows and seas of buttercups and dandelions that don't really come across on a camera phone.
Wildflower Meadows In Abundance
Maybe it is always like this at this time of year but we did wonder if it was an indicator that fewer livestock were out to pasture this year, given all we hear about the difficulties farmers are having with labour, abattoirs and Brexit.
We also worked out what we would do for the rest of the weekend and where we would be on Monday. We had arranged for some repair work on our pram hood and cratch covers but had the usual trouble pinning them down to actually get hold of the covers to work on. It had taken so long that we were now a moving target and so had agreed to send them our exact location for Monday over the weekend, in exchange for a firm commitment to come and get them that day. We determined that Wootton Wawen would be a good place for them to get to and as close to their base as we were likely to come.
Wootton Wawen And Back
We'd had some grey days but it had stayed dry until Friday evening. On Saturday morning it had stopped before we set off but during the morning we had just enough occasional drizzle to be irritating and a harder shower around lunchtime before it finally dried up for the afternoon.
At Lock thirty-three I made another of my classic boating errors by letting the windlass slip off the spindle as a I was winding up the paddle. Suddenly freed up it span round and hit me in the mouth, exactly as we had always been warned could happen if you were careless. I got away with a bit of blood, a swollen lip and a slightly loose tooth for a day or so. Hopefully, that is a lesson learned but it is very easy to get complacent with familiar routines.
We had no other issues and got down to the bottom lock at Preston Bagot in a couple of hours to cruise down the long pound to Wootton Wawen. We passed our intended mooring and carried on to the next winding hole above Brearley Lock where we turned and headed back, so that we could stop off at the Anglo Welsh base and empty the cassette, before mooring up at Wootton Wawen just beside a track leading up from the Shopping Village there. With the rain passed we were able to go for a walk down into the village and explore a bit further than we had before.
Along the busy main road, on the north side, we were familiar with the Wootton Wawen Weir,
Wootton Wawen Weir
as well as the very impressive looking Wootton Hall, no longer the grand stately home it appears but instead the headquarters of Allen's Caravans and hosting a large number of static residential homes and amenities for their residents.
Wootton Hall Or Caravan Park
The village stores are on the other side of the main road and as that bends sharply to the north a small street carries on, into the more peaceful Wootton Wawen itself. We found the local pub
The Bull's Head
and the village hall but we also came across this animated figure, presumably erected to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee. More adventurous than most of the efforts we had seen, to be fair (click on the photo below to get the full effect).
Wootton Wawen's Moving Tribute
Heavy rain overnight continued into Sunday morning but finally stopped about ten-thirty. It was cooler and rather grey but dry for the rest of the day. The rain had certainly left its mark. After weeks of dry weather we had become used to the towpath and tracks being mainly dry and clean with good footing wherever we went. One night of rain and they were suddenly wet and muddy with running streams down them in places and any crops or undergrowth we walked through was soaking wet. For Archie, particularly, it was something of a revelation. In his short life he had hardly seen rain or its effects so it was all new to him.
A little way north of our mooring the Monarch's Way runs up alongside Austy Woods on the other side of the canal. We walked up the towpath to cross over and climb up as far as the woods to pick up a footpath back down to the main road and across to Hill Farm Marina, recently completed a little way south of Wootton Wawen. As well as the marina basin there is a huge café / restaurant called 'The View' erected on the hillside above it with a new drive running into it from the main road.
The View has started to get quite a reputation as a really nice restaurant and of course Sunday Lunch was a big thing. We walked up the driveway from the road and couldn't help wondering why the right speed limit for the new marina was not five or ten miles an hour but eight.
An Unusual Compromise
We imagined this as the outcome of a long meeting among the developers, with strong views on either side resulting in this rather eccentric compromise, as five o'clock loomed and people's interest in the topic waned in favour of concerns about their homeward commute and childcare arrangements.
The View - Substantial Café / Restaurant at Hill Farm Marina
The café is really nice with plenty of seating outside and a great view.
The Actual View
It is quite smart but caters for casual passers by as well and we had a late coffee break there before heading down to the canal and following the towpath back to the boat.
The View From The Tow Path
D-Day dawned, Monday sixth June, overcast but dry and still. Today we had said we would stay where we were all day so that the people who had to collect the covers could find us whenever they were ready. In the event, they had been and gone by ten-thirty so we decided we could get going, head back up towards Lapworth and see how far we got.
As the weather stayed dry, if not sunny, we made good time and kept going for a six hour trip that took us all the way up to the junction and round the Lapworth Link again, to moor up back at the Tom O' The Wood in Rowington. Only six and a half miles but seventeen locks with two stops for water and services on the way made for a long, tiring day and earned a couple of pints at the end of it. We walked in almost unnoticed but Archie got a very warm welcome and was ushered to the best seat in the house. Once seen never forgotten!
Archie - Relaxing In His Spiritual home
Leaving Home
Monday had turned into an unexpectedly long cruise but Tuesday, seventh June was positively epic. We set out from Rowington on a bright, sunny morning and headed straight down to Hatton Locks again. Pausing at the top for water and a couple of bacon rolls from the café there, we set off down the twenty one lock flight. At first we seemed to be on our own but on the second lock we started to get help from the volunteer lock keepers who were setting each lock ahead of us. They told us Tuesday was the best day if you want an easier passage as they tend to have more volunteers on that day than any other time.
It still took us just under three hours to get through and we were down at the bottom at about a quarter to two. We had ordered something to collect from Amazon and it was delivered to a locker at Warwick Parkway Station. It only took fifteen minutes to get across, collect the package and get back on board, so quite handy. There had been another locker suggested at the Shell Station on the Birmingham Road but we hadn't been sure if we could stop there. On the way down we realised that the petrol station backs right onto the canal and there is a mooring, with mooring rings provided, right beside it. A note for the future.
The next stop after two more locks by the Cape Of Good Hope, was intended to be Tesco at Warwick, where there is a short twenty-four hour mooring just beside it, with room for three or four boats. When we got there all the space had been taken up with a selection of floating sheds that looked as though they had not moved in a long time. We decided to scrap that and moor up opposite Morrison at Leamington Spa instead. It wouldn't be much further to walk and there is plenty of mooring there.
Archie Goes Shopping
While Sue went over to the supermarket I took Archie over to Pets At Home for urgent supplies and then dug out the trolley and took it over the road to meet her and bring back the shopping bags.
Archie got a lot of attention from some passing teenagers who suddenly stopped trying to be sophisticated girls and intimidating boys and magically became kids with puppies.
Our final leg for the day was through Leamington Spa and out into the countryside opposite Radford Semele. We had planned to have a barbecue this evening but the clouds were so black and threatening, clearly headed our way, that we decided to cook inside instead. In the end the expected storm completely passed us by so we could have had the barbecue after all. Does that count as good news or bad news?
Ideally, our next step would have taken us up around ten locks to Long Itchington, where we would have moored up and gone home. At the moment, however, CRT and Sustrans have got together to improve the towpath at Long Itchington, from the point where the old railway line meets the canal right up to the Two Boats Inn below Stockton Locks. As part of this improvement they had closed all the mooring along this stretch for a couple of months, which had the knock-on effect of ensuring that any other available mooring close to the village was fully occupied. We were aware of this so we had decided that we would go right through to moor up beyond Stockton Locks, somewhere near Birdingbury Wharf and the Boat Inn. This gave us twenty locks to get through, so another uncomfortably long day.
We followed a hire boat that passed us just as we were setting off and watched as they crashed open the lower gates on the first lock, which happened to be empty. We joined them in the double lock a little more cautiously and determined to ensure that they went first in any other locks we shared on the way up. In the end we were only with them for a couple of locks before we found an excuse to stop and let them go on. We immediately picked up more convivial company in the shape of a boat called "Hector". a very small historic tugboat style, about thirty-two feet long, hired from Armada, a small outfit on the North Oxford Canal at Newbold near Rugby. The boat was unusual, also, in having a separate engine room at the front of the boat. They seemed a nice couple and we waited for them to join us to travel up with them all the way to The Blue Lias, beyond Long Itchington. They had come down the Oxford and the Grand Union as far as Leamington and were now heading back up to finish their holiday. It became clear that it was the distaff side who knew exactly what she was doing, apparently because her dad had had a narrowboat for years, while her male companion had no idea but was quite happy to follow her instructions working the locks.
We did the rest of the Stockton Flight on our own, under an increasingly threatening sky. Coming out of the top lock at three o'clock we were just able to get tied up on the rings of what is, officially, mooring for long term permit holders only, before the heavens opened for the next half hour. A heavy storm, followed by blue skies and sunshine again. Once it passed we only had a very short way to go to The Boat. We carried on a few hundred yards farther, past the Willow Wren training headquarters, where Sue had done her helmsman course, to find a spot where we could get a decent internet signal, something that is quite tricky in this area. We were still quite close enough to the pub to walk down and have a drink. It was a surprise to find that they had no wi-fi available for patrons, especially as the pub has had some quite heavy investment over the COVID years and is trying to move up market in a fairly big way. Apparently, they did have a service for guests set up but it interfered with the card machine so they had to close it down!
The walk from our house up to The Boat Inn and back down the towpath is a regular route for us and takes about one and a half hours. We needed to collect some items of post from the house so we walked down there and back on Thursday morning. It was a bit of stretch for Archie, though. One reason for wanting to get to this point on Wednesday was to be able to meet Archie's trainer face to face, while we had that opportunity. We had expected to be back in time for him to have a bit of a rest but on the towpath we ran into a guy called Gary who had a lot to tell us about his life and times. Normally we rather enjoy these unplanned encounters with characters on the cut. On this occasion, Gary wasn't open to any hints about time pressure and we didn't want to be rude so by the time we had extricated ourselves it was already time for Archie's session. These are always quite tiring for him anyway so by the afternoon he was exhausted and had a very quiet time catching up on his sleep. Which was just as well as the rain set in after lunch.
Friday turned out to be dry, mainly sunny and very windy. We had three locks at Calcutt before the Napton Junction but needed to get diesel and other services at Calcutt Boats, halfway through the locks and then had to stop again for water at the CRT water point above the top lock. It is always an awkward stop at Calcutt as you have to manoeuvre in the small basin between two locks to reverse in among their hire boats. Today, as luck would have it, another boat coming down the locks also wanted to stop there so we let them go in first, which made it a bit tighter still. The wind decided to play its part in repeatedly pushing the bow in the wrong direction as we tried to turn and in the end we could only get into position by driving forward against their very unfriendly concrete bank and scraping a foot long strip of the new blacking off the stem.
Leaving was a bit more straightforward but the locks were extremely busy in both directions. We had more luck coming out of the top lock and reversing onto the water point there but still found ourselves in a queue.
Finally, we were on our way. Rounding the junction at Napton to join the South Oxford Canal we headed up to one of our favourite moorings at Flecknoe and were moored up in the sunshine by two-thirty. In the evening we walked up to the Old Olive Bush to meet friends for dinner. We had the same slightly chaotic but very warm welcome from the landlady, a nice meal and a good catch-up and a lift back to the boat to round off the evening.
Ten days into our cruise we were well within walking distance of the house so I suppose it is fair to ask: "Does it really count?"