Yippee! We made it safely all the way down the Stratford Canal
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| "That" lock |
(no problems squeezing through the dreaded Lock 47 at Wilmcote) and spent a lovely week moored right in the Bancroft Basin,
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| Washing (foreground) RSC (background) |
opposite the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford - lowering the tone somewhat by hanging our washing out to dry, to the amazement of various passers-by who thought we were just a tourist attraction! Normally boats can only moor for 48 hours, but since one of the locks was closed for repair, we had some buckshee extra days. We had a succession of visitors, taking advantage of our being in an easy spot to locate: Jenny and family;
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| Jenny and Joseph |
Peter and Di; Caroline; Sheila and Denise; midwives Sue and Carole;
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| Sue, Jean and Carole |
Jill, plus dogs (to Benny's surprise/displeasure)
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| Jill, Bandit and Shadow |
Andrew D. On our first night Roger was woken at 3am by strange gurgling sounds (no, not Jean snoring....) and on investigation found that some wag had opened the paddles on the lock gates leading from the canal basin to the River Avon, which had drained most of the water away, so Vincent Joseph was resting at a 30 degree angle on mud! Fortunately the CRT were quickly on the case, and by morning we were afloat again.
We've had some minor technical problems - a persistent diesel leak,a sticky accelerator cable and finally the dismay of discovering water beneath a cupboard base, from a leaking pump, which had to be replaced.
On 26th March we set off back up the locks,
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| Bearley Aqueduct |
joined by Sue and Dave for the Bearley/Edstone Aqueduct, a reminder of the mighty Pontcysyllte last summer. The South Stratford is a lovely stretch of canal,
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| Tee-hee! |
and we enjoyed retracing our steps.
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| Weathervane - the resident is presumably a biker not a boater |
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| Bottoms up |
In Lapworth we met up with Biddy and Bill,
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| Biddy and Bill |
over from Colorado USA for a quick spot of boating before dashing off to Wales. Then we had Hatton Locks to face again,
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| Roger P testing his strength |
and were very grateful to Roger P (R2) who came to help us down the last half.
Now we're heading southwards, our aim being to reach London by mid-May, and cruise the tidal Thames, under Tower Bridge, past Big Ben etc. A scary but exciting prospect......
