Who ate all the pies ?

We leave our mooring this greyish morning and turn straight on to a new canal, the Stratford on Avon canal, twenty five and a half mile long stretching from Kings Norton Junction to Stratford on Avon with fifty four locks, we join it half way at lock twenty two.

We are straight away into locks and tackle eight of the today, the canal is a pretty canal and not very busy which is a blessing and a curse as all the locks need emptying before we can use them. A few oddity of this canal are the bridges with a gap in the middle so that in the old days the horse drawn boats didn't have to undo the horse to bypass the bridge as the rope was allowed to go through the slot in the bridge making the passage a lot quicker, also the lock houses have a barrel roof which is odd.

We then moored up by the Fleur de lys pub which were originally 13C century cottages incorporating a bakehouse where the famous Fleur de lys pies were once cooked here but unfortunately is now mass cooked in a factory. But they still have a good pie menu which we sampled and was very nice indeed mmmmmm. http://www.fleurdelys-lowsonford.com/

Speak to you tomorrow

 

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Little moves

After a night of rain we a greeted to a lovely sunny morning, we say goodbye to our last night neighbours and off we set again. The canal is high on its embankment giving us lovely view over farmland and soon we are at Turners Green with its lovely beamed house adjacent to the canal and its not long before we turn off the Grand union and on to the spur that links to the Stratford On Avon canal. Here we moor up for the night, just as a down pour breaks over our heads, which doesn't last for long as the blue sky's reappear.

The story of idle women, was that during the Second World War women took up the challenge of moving cargo in the narrowboats and on there uniforms were the letters I W which became the nick name Idle Woman, but really was the initials for Inland Waterways.

And her is someone with too much time on her hands .

 

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No locks today

We woke to a strange sound this morning, so we got up to investigate and found it was omitting from the boat behind where its occupant was playing a squeeze box, I say playing in a sarcastic tone as no tune that I know was being extracted from this instrument..........

So we had breakfast and set off, we are not planning to go far today as we are in no rush, the sun is shining again but a crisp chilly morning greets us. Trees and bushes line both sides of the canal before we reach the cutting that's the approach to the 433 yards Shrewley tunnel which was opened in 1799, with its village perched above. We moor temporary before the tunnel and pay a visit to the shop in the village for milk and bread then its through the tunnel, and a umbrella is needed as the roof lets in the ground water and sometimes its feels like is raining inside.

Once we are through the tunnel the canal opens up,with hills on both sides a little further on the canal sit on top of a embankment and its by here that we notice a boat that's familiar to us. The boat " Dolceblue" is owned by Chis and Sarah and Della their dog whom we first met in the Wharf inn on the Shropshire canal a year ago, and our paths has crossed a few times since, so we stop and have a chat and decide to stay the night as its an idyllic spot over looking farmland.

So not a really a lot to write about today so speak to you tomorrow.

 

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Stairways to Heaven

Firstly, I forgot to mention that while on our visit. Yesterday to the Dungeons in Warwick castle, Denise was sent to court and convicted of witchcraft, so that's the reason why I always have toads in my sandwich.

Anyway on to today, another beautiful sunny morning, so after breakfast we leave our mooring of two nights behind, a lovely setting and a five min walk to the twin and castle, the Saltisford Canal trust keep this part of the canal lovely and clean a great place to moor overnight.

So its back on to the main part of the canal and its not long before we encounter our first lock, one of twenty one today one after another, and we are unlucky on most of them as they are full as we approach and need to be emptied before we can use them.These locks are named Hatton locks or as the locals call them Stairways to Heaven http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatton_Locks

 

This is the procedure it is drop Denise off onto the canal towpath then open paddle let water out, gate open, cruise in, shut gate, shut paddle walk to other gate, open paddle, fill up lock with water open gate move boat out of lock, shut gate and repeat for another twenty times.

 

Denise and fellow lock operators ..

It wasn't to bad as a lock keeper named Paul, helped us on most of the locks and after three hours we had completed them,and the weather is fantastic so its a joy to be out in the countryside.A little bit further on we moor up and unfortunately for us not by a pub so no shandy today, speak to you tomorrow.

 

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Onward to Warwick Castle

Hi

As said yesterday we decided to spend an extra night in Warwick, and so it was up this morning and the sun has decided to shine so its a glorious morning. After having a bit of breakfast we set off to visit the castle, I bought our tickets on line for the sum of £56.00 the price for two of us, and like you I thought that these were expensive, but in reflection after returning from a good day out I thought that it was worth the money.

https://www.warwick-castle.com/

These tickets included entry into the castle its self,Merlins dragon tower an experience based on the television family drama and The Castle Dungeons which with the help of live actors and special effects you are sent back to 1345 festering and miserable as a prisoner sent to the dungeons which will send shivers down your spine.

In the castle itself actors portrayed people from the medieval times and tell the history of the castle and the folk that worked and lived in it. Also a show that showed birds of preys,and another the skills of a longbow archer, all in all very well put together.

The castle also houses more collections of castle life, well worth the visit, back off on the boat tomorrow so speak to you tomorrow.

 

 

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A new canal "Salisford"

As predicted last night we did visit the local pub the Blue Lias, and must say its a very nice pub, and the flower display in the garden was beautiful even though the flower were now dying back, they also do food and have a caravan park attached to the pub, well worth a visit if you were ever up this way.

So another grey morning but no rain today we leave our mooring and then stop to take on water, after topping up we have a two locks to operate by the village of Cuttle with its two pubs either side of the canal, open arable land backed by hills now greet us, as we went through these locks we teamed up with another boat, who we stayed with till we left them in Leamington Spa.

At Boscote locks we encounter a staircase lock, and then under Welsh Road Bridge,onwards to Leamington, the canal courses through a wooded cutting before emerging to join the main road int to the town for a short while and then into another steep cutting hiding the road so that one would never know its there. Morrisons supermarket and other shops a reachable from bridge 40 if needed, but we have already topped up with provision so its not needed.

We travel through Lemington and our impressions from the canal isn't a very good one,as we spot a few people with cans in hands at 11.00 clock so we decide not to moor up and carry on towards Warwick.

The boat we have been sharing locks with moored up on the other side of Leamington and we carry on without them,then we have another two locks to get through, where the top lock has a pub called "the cape of good hope" and looks like a decent canal side pub. We then turn off on to the  Salford Canal, a small arm that heads towards Warwick and here we find a lovely mooring, where the first night is free and then a charge for the next night, as this canal is looked after by a trust.

http://www.saltisfordcanal.co.uk/Saltisford_Canal/Saltisford_Canal_Trust.html

So that's our trip for today,tomorrow we are going stay put and visit Warwick castle so speak to you tomorrow.

 

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A new adventure

Hello Boaters

We are on our travels again after a few weeks back in sunny Cardiff, whilst home unfortunately we had to have a cat "Firkin" put to sleep. she had not been right since her brother died, but whilst home she stopped eating and was generally not interested in much around her so we took her to the vets and now she joined her brother Cooking in catty heaven.

 

Every thing else at home was fine, we saw my mum a few times and she was in good spirit and health even though she moans about her aches and pains, but she not alone their. So yesterday we drove up to the marina and loaded the boat with provisions, topped up with water and had a night in front of the telly.

For the last few weeks whilst we were home the weather has been great for the time of year, with a lot of sunshine and warmth, we get ready to set of today and guess what it's grey and raining,typical, but not to worry we set off and leave the marina,not turning right or left but straight, under a bridge and on to the grand union heading toward Birmingham,we pass Napton reservoir and the big marinas of Calcutt and Venta the latter belongs to the same chain as ours which is Castle Marinas Here is the start of our locks which are of a different operating system to the ones we have used previously, but same principal though, we have a flight of three to operate before we are off again in open farmland.

It's not long till we reach the top lock of the Stockton flight where eight locks drop us down to the village of Long Itchington with its six pubs and one shop,around this area are a lot of quarries which produce Blue Lias which is used in the production of cement, which a lot was used in the construction of the Thames Embankment. We moor at the bottom of the flight by a pub named the Blue Lias where we might sample a few shandies later on.

In one of the quarries whist excavating a huge fossil of a Ichthyosaurus was found in the lowest layer of the Jurassic period, its now displayed in a museum in London.

These disused quarries have been the subject of controversy in the area for many years ad in the summer of 1995 it was invaded by New Age travellers. The night before they were due to be evicted they held an all-night rave which could be heard as far away as Long Itchington. The publicity surrounding this event caused an increase in trespass in the main larger quarries, which had long been fenced off, and this led to several accidents. Rugby Cement, who owned the site, built a substantial galvanised steel paling fence round a large part of the former quarries at a cost of roughly £70,000

So that's us moored and settled for the night so speak to you tomorrow.

 

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