Up Hill Down Dale

Thursday 12th July
The warm and dry weather continues and, following the disappointment of the night before seeing England leave the world cup, we were up early to continue our journey along the Grand Union.
Traversing the edge of the low Shuckburgh Hills overlooking the plateau stretching to the north we progressed westwards towards Napton junction, the canal twists and turns here through pleasant countryside, with the now straw coloured  crop fields below us and the grass fields on the hillside now also straw coloured with sheep and cattle scratching around looking for green grass.
The maturing of the crops seems to have come early this year and we saw our first combine in action fading behind a cloud of dust.

Early harvest

Arriving at the junction, overlooked by Napton on the Hill, we turned left into Wigrams Turn marina to take on fuel, the chap operating the pump inquired as to our destination and having being informed that we were heading for Stratford via Warwick he gave that sharp intake of breath of regret, saying we had got our work cut out.
Leaving the marina behind we headed straight up the canal opposite the entrance, the Grand Union effectively takes a sharp left hand turn away from the Oxford Canal but as we had left the marina it was straight on for us.

Napton Junction

A mile or so brought us to the start of the descent into the valley of the river Leam, a tributary of the river Avon.
The first locks we arrived at were the short flight of three at Calcutt, as we approached we noticed a boat entering the top lock so we hastened to join them in the descent. Our partner boat was a hotel boat call Jamesons Irish Whiskey, I enquired about the name and the owner informed me that they liked the colours of the box the whiskey came in so painted the boat in those colours and, being unable to think of another name they used the name on the box! The boat operates as a self catering operation, the owners turn up to move the boat during the day but otherwise leave their guests to themselves on board. The two current guests were a couple of ladies from Seattle, they enjoyed helping doing the locks too.
The locks from here on used to be narrow locks, they were rebuilt in 1934 and widened  in the process, whilst the building work was being undertaken the old narrow locks were kept in operation, the chambers are still evident at the side of the newer locks but are now used as a by wash.
the locks have unique paddle gear with large sluices making for a quick passage through.
We were soon through the flight and on our way traversing the plateau we had previously seen to our right. The level pound was short lived, however, because we soon arrived at the next flight at Stockton consisting of a further 10 of the large locks. We were following our partner boat down to the flight and just before the locks another boat pulled out in front of us, they then took on the role of partnering the hotel boat leaving us to descend on our own and doubling the work load.
This is just one of those things that happens and, as there was nobody else behind, we had no alternative to proceed making for a long hot afternoon and I was beginning to sympathise with the fuel pump operators view of the work ahead.
We soldiered on and were relieved to finally arrive at the bottom of the flight and found a mooring at Long Itchington. We moored just outside the Two Boats pub on moorings that could probably take eight boats!
We had a walk around the village finding the reasonably large Co-op. Like a lot of the villages we have visited, this had the air of a dormitory village but could boast five pubs and some lovely old buildings, particularly the large medieval building as you arrive at the village green. We were surprised to see a large widebeam boat standing in the yard of a factory, as we passed by we discovered this was the home of Cole Craft, a famous boat builder.

Long Itchington

Long Itchington

Long Itchington Church

All the pubs in the village appeared to be closed during the day so we retraced our steps back to the moorings deciding to call into the Two Boats for a drink, as we had had a hard day working down the locks we decided to explore the menu, quite extensive but typical pub fayre we made our choice and settled back outside on the canal bank and watched the world pass slowly by.

Friday 13th July
The fine weather continues, and having received a notification from CRT that the Leeds Liverpool canal will be closed along the 30 mile summit section at the end of the month, thoughts began to turn to the impact the long dry spell may have on our journey, so far apart from a few low pounds here and there, little effect had been noted and in this part of the world things were still, thankfully, ok.
We got underway reaching the four locks of the Bascote flight after a mile or so, amazingly we arrived just as our friends aboard Jamesons were preparing the top lock so we joined forces again to continue down to Leamington Spa.

The Staircase pair at Bascote on the GU

The first two locks of the flight were a staircase pair making an interesting change from the normal single configuration. We soon got through the flight and made steady progress down to Leamington through the remaining six locks before reaching the town.
Jamesons carried onto Warwick but we opted to stop at the long moorings just to the Warwick side of the town near the large Morrisons supermarket.
We decided to stay put on Saturday and go and explore the town, it has a split personality, the old, original town close to the canal and the newer Spa on the banks of the river Leam. Like most spa towns there is a lot of regency architecture and the town has a very relaxed atmosphere. We explored the old town first passing the original town hall, now a Polish Centre.
We made our way down to the river and on into the large park and gardens situated along the river bank, these are the Jephson, named after the Victorian physician Dr Henry Jephson who promoted the healing properties of the Spa waters as well as providing housing for the poor of the town.
The park boasts a boating lake and a large tropical house, all very busy in the warm sunshine. Leaving the park we explored the spa side of the town, the main street contains many shops as well as the large new town hall and church, the many side streets have the samller and often more interesting shops. Making our way back to the boat we passed through the park on the other side of the road from the gardens, there was a street food and music festival underway overlooked by a large funfair and stage, the beer tents were doing a roaring trade in the heat and a good crowd were enjoying the entertainment on stage.

Scenes of Leamington Spa

Sunday 15th July
We decided to move up a couple of miles to Warwick, the two towns virtually merge together here, divided only by the railway and the river Avon, now a much larger affair than the trickling brook we crossed at Welford.

River Avon approaching Warwick

We moored on the visitor moorings close to Kate Boats hire base and they kindly allowed us to use the facilities there.

Warwick is a lovely town with lots of old buildings, the town centre lies about a twenty minute walk from the canal  and was surprisingly quiet even though it was Sunday, however walking down to the large riverside park, the reason was revealed, the whole of the town and a lot more had gathered there to enjoy the fine weather, the small funfair, paddling pool and other attractions were bursting at the seams.

Warwick

Mill Lane Warwick

Warwick Castle

Warwick Castle, now run by the large corporation responsible for Madame Tussauds and Alton Towers, is a major attraction, however, as they are not dog friendly we did not visit.
The earls of Warwick had played a major role during the wars of the roses, Richard Neville nicknamed the "Kingmaker" was one such who played an instrumental role in the conflict, backing first the Yorkist side before switching his allegiance to the Lancastrians.

Monday morning brought an early start for us as we had 23 of the large locks to climb, the first two, in the town, we did on our own, before arriving at the foot of the daunting 21 locks of the Hatton flight.

Looking down the Hatton flight towards Warwick

Halfway up the Hatton

As we approached the bottom lock one of the boats moored there shouted over asking if they could join us through the locks, this was an offer we gratefully accepted, and we were soon ascending the flight with Lucia and the lady off the other boat getting into a efficient routine bringing  us to the summit in three hours. Our partner boat moored at the top as they had planned to turn round and descend back down the following morning (madness!!), we continued onto the lovely moorings at Turners Green and the very welcome Tom O The Wood pub.

Great Pub - Tom o' The Wood

Farmhouse at Turners Green

Tuesday 17th July
We had a choice this morning, do we carry on up the Grand Union to the centre of Birmingham, turn onto the Stratford canal and head up to Birmingham that way or turn left down the Stratford to is terminus on the river Avon. We opted for the third choice mainly because there had been a stoppage on the Grand Union, this was supposed to have been reopened at the beginning of the week, but there hadn't been a confirmation so we played safe and left that for another day.

Approaching Kingswood |Junction

We very soon arrived at the picturesque Kingswood Junction, situated partway down the Lapworth locks, here we immediately began our descent down towards Stratford upon Avon, we passed through the seventeen narrow locks, before arriving at the long pound at Wootton Wawen.

A typical bridge on the Stratford with a gap for the ropes to pass through

During our trip down we took a break at Lowsonford to visit the Finwood Hill farm shop up the road from bridge 40. It is well worth the walk up the hill from the canal, their beef products are from their own herd of grass fed Dexters and the pork is from the Gloucester Old Spot pigs roaming around the farm, they also sell duck and hen eggs from their free range birds. You could really tell the difference from the normal supermarket stuff. Just below the bridge is the large Fleur De Lys pub however we resisted the temptation and carried on past.

Bearley Lock

The trip down passes through some beautiful countryside with the unique lock keepers cottages with their unusual rounded roofs, and at lock 34 (Bucket Lock) we crossed the first of three impressive aqueducts. This one , Yarningdale, leads straight into the lock so that the abutment for the aqueduct forms part of the lock structure an amazing feat for early 19th century civil engineering.

Yarningdale Lock and Aqueduct

The canal scenery becomes more and more magical as you descend  down the frequent locks before entering the level pound below Preston Bagot. Here the trees diminish and views open out across fields of wheat and barley, as we went by the farmers were busy gathering in the crops.

Field of Gold

We arrived at Wootton Wawen to find space on the long moorings just before the hire base and marina.

We took a stroll down into the village noting the small shopping village and the two pubs, The Navigation and The Bulls Head. 

The Bulls Head

The latter is a 10 minute stroll to the opposite end of the village to the canal it is situated on the small green and is as typical an English village pub as you could find anywhere. We called into the small bar to the rear of the pub and enjoyed an evening chatting to Steve and Dave, a couple of locals from the village, among the may facts they told us about their home was regarding the famous Fleur De Lys Pies that used to be made and sold at the pub we had past earlier in the day, apparently they were so popular hoards used to descend from Birmingham to sample them, the name was bought out and is now part of the Pukka Pie brand, I had noticed when passing the pub that they still sell what are now know as Lowsonford Pies.We chatted on until late in the evening and had to walk back in semi darkness.

The following morning we got chatting to Geoff and Lynn on the boat in front of us, Geoff suggested we should do a spot of fishing as he had landed some good fish the night before.
We spent the day exploring the village and its many offerings, our first port of call was to look at the second of the aqueducts, this crosses the Stratford road and is a classic cast iron trunk aqueduct, unusually though the tow path follows the bottom of the tank rather than the level of the water.

Wootton Wawen Aqueduct

We then visited the shops, mostly craft and antiques as well as a farm shop and cafe, before walking past the large hall, this is now owned by Allens Caravans who specialise in up market static caravan parks, one of which is situated behind the hall. There is a useful post office as well as a small grocery store all available to the general public.

Wootton Hall

We continued on through the village before arriving at St Peters church some of which dates back to 1035 with Norman additions. It is a fascinating building and has a Saxon Sanctuary exhibition.

St Peters at Wootton Wawen

We continued past the Bulls Head again resisting the temptation to visit and followed the waymarked walk along to the river Alne, the river was quite low but slowly meandered its way down to its confluence with the river Avon.

That evening our fishing match wasn't particularly successful, I only managed to land a couple of small Roach but it was enough for me to be declared the winner of our impromptu match.

Thursday 19th July 
We awoke early to get an early start for our trip down to Stratford we had been warned that the town basin was very busy so we planned to get there early. Our trip down was 7 miles and a further 17 locks.

We made use of the Elsan disposal at the hire base before crossing over the aqueduct, the canal appeared quite shallow and we scrapped the bottom for a few miles before arriving at the very impressive Edstone aqueduct, again this is a cast iron tank with the same arrangement for the towpath, on the non towpath side there is just the 2 inch thick side of the trunk between the boat and a drop of getting on for 100 feet. The aqueduct straddles a small valley  passing over two roads a railway and river, the views as you cross are amazing.

Crossing the Edstone Aqueduct

We pressed on through a pretty wooded section noting that the water seemed shallower as we descended, we also noted, and this is a warning to other boaters doing this route, ensure all fenders are stowed away as the tail gates in a number of the locks do not open fully, we got stuck two or three times and had to enlist the muscle of a couple of passing cyclists, at one lock, to push the gate hard so we could get through!
We had another struggle through the last lock into Stratford however, we finally arrived in the basin to find there were only three other boats in giving us plenty of choice as to where to moor.
Stratford Upon Avon
There is not much I need to add here about this lovely medieval town, with its timber framed buildings and of course its famous resident one William Shakespeare. Whilst in town we visited the Rohan shop on Sheep Street, the owner of the shop, Samantha, couldn't have been more helpful in assisting us to buy some gear we need for later in the year, she prides herself on being more than a shop and they kindly let Scruff park herself in the middle of the floor under the air conditioning she sprawled out across the floor grateful for the opportunity to cool off.

We stayed in the marina for our allotted two days before purchasing our licence for the river Avon,  £50 for 7 days or £60 for 14, this navigation is run by the Avon Navigation Trust and CRT licenses are not valid on the river.
The basin provides a safe if busy mooring but you do have to be prepared to be examined closely by crowds of overseas visitors who seem fascinated by the concept of a narrowboat.
Rain was forecast for the evening on Friday but it didn't amount to much, a shame as it is beginning to look very parched around here.
On Saturday we descended the town lock onto the river turning upstream to visit the facilities at the area known as the  old bathing place, this used to have an outdoor swimming pool before its closure due to fears of Polio, the reason many of our old outdoor pools closed.
We winded here to retrace our steps to the extensive moorings opposite the RSC theatre, we intend to stay here until Monday morning when we will commence our trip downstream towards Tewkesbury.

Scenes of Stratford