Heading towards Stratford 30 May

The first lock of the morning ready for when Andrew gets here. The weather mild but grey, pleasant for working locks, although Andrew standing at the tiller needed his fleece. 

Having scoped out the services yesterday, it was annoying that the CRT pumpout didn't appear to be working. Apparently they do sometimes and not others... At least we were able to top up with water, and the Black water situation is not yet critical. We will just have to use shore facilities as much as possible, yes I do mean pubs.

A steady line of locks, some easier than others, none awful.
Through pretty countryside and the ever present, though mostly invisible,  company of the M42.
Oh, lunch? Don't mind if we do!

We last stopped here umpteen years ago and the pies are still terrific, and the chips even more so. 
Opposite the lock at the foot of the beer garden was this cottage:
Now owned by the Landmark Trust as a holiday let, it's typical of the 'barrel' cottages along the Stratford. The builders knew about building bridges, so they adapted what they knew best to build lengthman's cottages.

Back to tootle about the boat and watch telly, holding on every now and again as a boat in a hurry surged past. People say the Llangollen is the busiest, today the Stratford was challenging for the title.

Tuesday and off again, and our next attempt at a pumpout  will be 10 locks further down. In contrast to yesterday, no boats moving at all.
The bridges are a really tight fit! The channel is the same as elsewhere, but there's no towpath. This is because the bridges have a gap in the middle to allow the towrope to pass through.. no need for the horse to negotiate the bridgehole.

Andrew took over the tiller having worked the locks and took us in to the services at Wooton Wawen with a totally impressive slow motion handbrake turn in to the wharf edge. We did pumpout,  diesel top up, and replaced a gas bottle. Expiring this morning,  it had lasted since October 2021!

Immediately on leaving, we crossed a small aqueduct over a busy road.
Not a patch on the Pontcysyllte, the Edstone aqueduct is the longest in England, crossing a shallow valley with road and railway. The towpath is at the level of the bottom of the channel instead of the water, allowing a duck's eye view of Vegvisir. 
Spring is in full flow now, as I found myself thinking about the weddings of May blossom and bees, with confetti a few hours later:
Good that the towpath has dried out after the drenching at the start of the month.
The damselflies are starting to appear.
Snugly moored at Wilmcote, we caught a bus into Stratford on Thursday to get the laundry done.
Plaque at our mooring.
 
While the machine was doing its thing, we had a walk around town. Lots of charity shops, quite a variety of pricing: lots of pubs and other eateries. Lunch at Pizza Express, and ice cream at the Bancroft Basin, where the canal joins the river Avon. So we walked along the Riverside, enjoyed the mayhem at the Chain Ferry, as two trip boats, a rowboat, and a small motor boat all tried to pass the ferry at once, while another rowboat had moored up where the ferry needed to go.. Marvellous.
Then picked up our stuff and back on the bus.

Friday and still at Wilmcote. Alison doing housework and Andrew giving the now refurbished bike a proper run of 8 miles there and back, along the towpath to Stratford.
It works!
Sausages tonight, then taking the boat into town for the weekend.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

On the move!

Image
Thursday 21st, and an ideal morning for a hike; mild, cloud cover but no rain expected, and a cool breeze. So I packed my lunch and headed off following a tour suggested by a hiking app on my phone. It mostly worked well, except where a so called path met an impenetrable hedge; there were a couple of detours required. But lovely countryside And loads of butterflies about. Here's the next generation: lots of striped caterpillars: In one village I came across a telephone box repurposed as a library. There was a bit more road walking than I really like, but when it's a quiet one, I should not moan too much.. certainly easier to walk on than stubble fields etc. Soon into more congenial territory: and then out the other side, what looked very much like a bit of Stourport basin, but on top of a hill in a cornfield. Turns out it was the stable block for a big Manor house. Now, it's a Franciscan mon...
Read more

Calor Gas crisis averted

There is currently a major supply issue ref Calor gas bottles in the UK. It's being going on for some time and there is some confusion over what has caused it. Some blame has been pointed at people buying patio heaters during the Covid-19 pandemic. Certainly Calor do not seem to be making much progress in sorting the problem.  Marinas and fuel boats seem to have been particularly badly hit with Calor either not delivering at all or only delivering a fraction of what was ordered. There have been many social media posts from canal liveaboards who are reliant on gas for cooking & heating and also from the fuel boats trying to supply them. So, when I was at the boat and tried in vain to light the oven to cook my half-baked baguette for lunch and then found that the spare was empty too, my heart sank. Quickly discovered that the marina had no gas available and could not even put us on a waiting list as they did not know when they might receive any... Luckily a recommendation from th...
Read more

Run for Home 11th to 14th June

During the trip to and from Froghall, Andrew became overwhelmed with the need to get home. He'd had it with trees and birds and being outside, and could not rest until we were back at our mooring in Nantwich.  So we were champing at the bit for the first passage of the day through Harecastle Tunnel. We did manage to get to the Italian restaurant, La Barchetta at Wheelock, after many occasions either not stopping there or the place not being open, and it was lovely.  Disappointed that both our pudding choices were unavailable,  Andrew in his unsettled state especially so. However, where we had diaried 5 days to cover the 35 miles and 31 locks back to Nantwich, we did it in 3 1/2, not even pausing at Middlewich (except at the King's Lock Chippy, obviously). And then we were home and I was not even sure at that point if he would ever go back to the boat again. However, it certainly was good to watch the election night on our big telly, Andrew in his comfy chair and me in the...
Read more