Warwickshire – Narrowboat Firecrest

River Avon, from Stratford to Evesham

We bought a 2 week licence to cruise down the Avon. It’s a 42 mile stretch of wiggledy windy rural loveliness, lined with trees and vistas of farmland. And some villages with houses that wouldn’t be out of place gracing the Thame at Marlow or Windsor. Unfortunately for us, the opportunity for wild mooring is virtually non existent with all the official mooring is restricted to 48 hours. And back during the first fortnight of July, the amount of rainfall was making us wonder what had happened to summer. This mean we were at risk of being hit by red warnings for strong flow and high water levels. Needless to say at Stratford, the wildlife was proving noisier than the tourists- or was it just that they started earlier in the day.

Early morning on the Avon opposite the RSC

So we untied the ropes and set off. Holy Trinity Church has one of the stunning skylines in Stratford although when the sky is blue, the reflection on the river is equally as impressive.

Being a river with quite a flow means there is a need for some strong bridges. Sometimes it’s not always clear which archway has been cleared for navigation, the willow tree certainly hadn’t been trimmed so Eric was left guessing which arch to head for

Most of the locks on the Avon are nice wide doubles, but Robert Aickman’s new lock holds 3 narrowboats. Robert Aickman was instrumental in maintaining and preserving the canal network in particular reopening the South Stratford canal and the Avon Navigation. Protocol says you always leave your exit gates open when leaving the lock which makes the locks easier to work.

Most of the available mooring on the Avon is on the locking channels that bypass the weirs. At the Offenham mooring we were treated to several low flying military planes passing by.

We are always intrigued by this structure at Offenham, but it transpires it is simply a monument built by Eric Prichard who was involved with building the locks and weirs.

We were pleased to see blue sky when we woke, but the flow on the river was still very lively. The warning boards, below the lock, weren’t clear, and our impression is that they could be positioned more visibly and better maintained. Above the lock all looked calm, but as we exited, we realised we were now nudging into red but having set off we put on our life jackets and carried on.

Those weirs really add to the speed of the flow

We were confident the boat could handle the flow, it was lively but not scary. But I made the mistake of distracting Eric at the wrong moment. We were on a bend and the current had other ideas about which line we should take. Eric was a moment too late to correct his course. It’s debatable which of us came off worse, us or the overhanging tree. The tree broke a branch and we are now sporting a go faster stripe down the length of the boat.

Lessons learnt, we survived, I guess we could relate the error to skidding on an icy road and we were lucky just to sustain a scratch in the paintwork. Of course 5 minutes downstream the river straightened and you’d never have known how fast the current was. The moral here is NEVER underestimate the power of water. We’re not sure ice on the road was the cause of this car’s demise.

After our scary moment the rest of journey was a real pleasure. And we have to say we love river cruising

Nice mooring at Workman Gardens in Evesham.

Staying in Stratford

We downed a hearty breakfast to fuel us down the last 16 locks towards Stratford.

Fortunately they are all single locks and being a popular destination we met enough boats coming up as going down, some very helpful volockies, and some very pretty lock landings adopted by a local couple.

I think this is the best lockside garden we’ve seen

I have to confess we’re never sure how we’re going to feel arriving in such a busy tourist destination.

Generally we want to run a mile back to the tranquility of the countryside, but occassionally, we arrive just get a sense of, yes, let’s treat this as a holiday and be tourists, and enjoy the atmosphere. I think a lot depends on where we actually get a mooring.

The Stratford canal terminates at Bancroft Basin. The basin is in one of two remaining wharfs. The other was filled in in the 1930s and became Bancroft Gardens. It’s a hub of entertainment for all the visitors with buskers, icecream vendors, and peddlers all willing to lighten your purse.

In the mid 1800s however, I doubt it was quite so pretty. The area was heaving with commercial activity, 50 000 tonnes of coal passed through Statford each year. There were also glass and lead wharfs, a cooperage, a cider press, a skin yard and a timber yard all served by a tram way. Nowadays, Warwickshire can expect well over 6 million tourists per year and I think half of them come to take a ride on the trip boats that now operate from the basin.

Of course Statfords most famous face is the hurdy gurdy playing busker in the town centre.

He confessed to me that his wife was just glad to have him out of the house

closely followed by William Shakespeare.

And there are monuments all over the place

The fabulous Royal Shakespeare Company Theatre dominates the gardens and river. We chose to go to one of the fringe theatres, even closer to Firecrest than the RSC. The Attic, housed in the old wood yard at the end of the basin, we saw Noel Coward’s Private Lives, and thoroughly recommend this little theatre company to anyone passing through Stratford.

Mooring is restricted to 48 hours in the basin, and whilst we got one of the prime linear spots, most of the mooring is on pontoons, which aren’t quite long enough to make for the easiest of mooring venues. Although this is terminus for the Stratford canal, there is a lock which opens out onto the River Avon.

We bought our ANT licence, (£70 for 2 weeks) and spent another night on the River Avon

Leaving the lock and entering the River Avon

With everything in such easy walking distance we could easily have stayed another few nights in Stratford. Good fish and chips from the Kingfisher on Ely Street, worth the extra 10 minutes walk.

Makes a change from Canada Geese, but just as noisy

A brief change of scene

I had an unexpected call from my cousin, whilst we were having our breakfast…… “what are you doing this weekend?…. “
Di lives in Sussex had been given tickets for Glynbourne. It’s not often all our stars align so perfectly. Eric was tinkering with the boat and trainline provided an affordable off peak return, 6 hours later I was sipping something chilled in Di’s back garden.

What a giggle, we were teenagers all over again, and of course ending the day sitting in bed with Chris Martin headline at Glastonbury,

Sunday morning walk along the downs

Di forgot I wasn’t used to climbing hills on the towpath,

Followed by brunch with family and friends before we went to get our glad rags on for the afternoons performance. I have to confess that whilst I enjoy most classical music, opera isn’t anywhere near the top of my musical choices. But experiences rate highly and Glynbourne is certainly an experience.

Everything about Glynbourne is spectacular

I don’t keep a ready supply of evening gowns on-board Firecrest, but that didn’t stop us enjoying our champagne garden picnic in during the interval. Glynbourne really is an experience. The 16th century manor house is impressive in its own rights, but in 1934 the Christie family’s amateur musical soirees became the professional Glynbourne Festival Opera. John Christie added an extension to his home to accommodate a stage, a symphony orchestra and an audience of 300. In 1994 a whole new theatre complex was designed and built. It’s size allows for some truly impressive productions. Di and I were treated to a mind boggling performance of Mozart’s Magic Flute -thankyou Helen. And I can honestly say i thoroughly enjoyed it.

The next day Di and I treated ourselves to a girly trip to Brighton. We saw the sea, played the slot machines on the pier, shopped in the Lanes, drank cocktails and came home and slept soundly.

I promise we did a lot more than pose for selfies with a glass in our hands

Eric came to meet me on Firecrest on my homeward journey back to the canal, as the station at Wilmcote was a little closer to the canal than the station at Wootton Wawen. And what a spectacular station, looks like Agatha Christie might be waiting in the wings

Continuing my theatrical experiences, next stop Stratford….

Wootton Wawen

We found ourselves mooring up at the pretty village of Wootton Wawen- if only because I love the sound of the name Wootton Wawen. So please indulge me if I say Wootton Wawen many times in this post. And with a name like Wootton Wawen, I knew there had to be some history worth reading up on, starting with the toponomy, (study of place names). Wootton Wawen is a combination of the words Wudu, meaning wood, and Tun meaning enclosed piece of land and Wagga, (aka Wagen) who was the original Saxon thane, ruling the settlement. Thus the name is essentially “the farm near a wood belonging to Wagga”.

The oldest records of the settlement date from around 723 when Aethelbald, king of the Mercians gave Earl Aethelric 20 hides of land (about 2000acres) to build a monastery, however within 50 years the Vikings arrived and burnt it all down. Undefeated a stone church was rebuilt and the Doomsday book records Wootton as having 7 hides, land for 9 ploughs, 23 villagers and a priest, and 23 smallholders who have 6 ploughs, 2 Mills at 11s and 8 sticks of eels; woodland 2 leagues long and 1 league wide Value £4. A hide is a unit of measurement roughly equivalent to 120 acres, traditionally considered to be the amount of land to support a household and cover rent and taxes, providing food for the manor house and men to fight wars. The 2021 census show 1400 people now live there and average house prices are around £600,000 I don’t know about the eels those houses would have now. The church is still standing with various additions but is proud to be the oldest church in Warwickshire.

The church had gone to a lot of effort to make it an interesting place to visit, and I suspect it had a thriving congregation.

Just up from our mooring is Yew Tree Farm shopping village with the most amazing craft gallery. If we lived in a house with wall space and window sills I’d have spent a lot of money there. There were several browsing galleries, including a hand made chocolates shop, antiques, clothes, garden stuff and a farm shop that had honey and ginger icecream, although it’s food range was rather limited or high end. (But there’s a well stocked village store as well.)

We ended up enjoying several more days at Wootton, it was sunny and peaceful, and after a week of heavy locking we needed to put our feet up and watch the water flow by.

Mesmerising colours both on the water and in the sunset

South Stratford Canal

This month, it’s exactly 7 years since we were last on the South Stratford canal, and that time we were hurrying to meet a friend in Braunston. Now we know better, and “encourage” our friends to come to us. The Stratford on Avon canal actually starts at King’s Norton, but the little village of Lapworth is is a busy junction on the canal system, with routes going north, south, east and west, and the North Stratford becomes the South Stratford

This is where we left the Grand Union Canal and the Lapworth link to squeeze through the narrow gap to head south,

Lapworth junction turn right for King’s Norton turn left for Stratford

And where our friends James and Caroline who live locally joined us for the day.

It’s an incredibly pretty canal, with a lot of unique features. The bridges were built in two cantilevered halves which allowed the horse drawn boats to be pulled through the gap without having to untie , simple and sensible really

And there are 6 very unusual houses built for the Lengthmen, these were the men who were responsible for maintaining the Lock and their length of the canal. The navvies who built the canals weren’t house builders so they put the skills they did have and constructed the roofs the same way that they did building tunnels, hence the barrel shaped roof

The Lengthmans Barrel cottage, most of these cottages have been extended now,

James and Caroline saw us through several locks so we thought it only fair to make James take the helm

Mmmm another scratch on the paintwork doesn’t matter that much

Yes James they really do fit into that narrow gap

After all that hard work

we moored up at Lowsonford and went for a very enjoyable meal out at the Fleur De Lys.

Sharing the load

Turning right at Wigrams, onto the Warwick and Napton canal section of the Grand Union is a good place to have friends. The next 21 miles has 46 double locks, and pretty though it may be, it’s hard work without a crew, at this time of year, there are usually other boaters to share the load.

We struck lucky, making friends with a party of Australian men who had left their wives back home and come to explore the UK by narrowboat. Our heritage is certainly something to be proud of.

I hope that, if and when HS2 ever gets completed it will mellow into the countryside again just before Radford Semole

It will mellow and the trees will grow again, but I doubt it will last as long as our fabulous canal network. We said goodbye to our aussies who wanted to get to Warwick to visit Castle. We decided to have a few days in Royal Leamington Spa. Leamington is an odd place, you don’t see it at its best from the canal, although there’s some amazing street art

The town itself grew up around its mineral spring, when taking the waters became a fashionable cure all in the early 1800s. (Apparently the waters were actually a mild laxative so no wonder you felt well cleansed) Parks, promenades and bandstands with fabulous floral displays were created to entertain the visitors but despite the arrival of the railway, bringing more wealthy victorians, this prosperous period didn’t last. And nowadays its sadly rundown although the local council seem keen to maintain the gardens now, so it’s still a pretty place to walk around.

A Japanese Lantern flower in the glass house

Leamington and Warwick are so close, they seem to merge into one with only the River Avon between the two.

We’ve moored in Warwick before on the Saltisford Arm, but not this trip

The Saltisford Arm, well worth £10 a night to moor if you want to explore Warwick

We’d had the offer of a helping hand from my friend Jude

who was keen and eager to help us up the Hatton flight, so we set off straight away.

I’m not sure if Jude realised what she’d volunteered for but we never say no to sharing the load.

As we keep reminding ourselves, it’s cheaper than going to the gym

It’s a great sense of satisfaction when you reach the dragonfly pond,

Glad we don’t meet any dragonfly that big for real

Although there’s still 3 more of the 21 locks to go.
The Hatton Flight was opened in 1799 as part of the Warwick and Birmingham canal. Not only did it carry coal but also tea sugar and spices were being brought to Birmingham, it was hard work for the boatmen but it became known as the Stairway to Heaven because they knew that once they reached Camp Hill in Birmingham they would get paid. In the 1930s the unification of the network incorporated as part of the Grand Union canal and the decision was made to improve capacity by widening the single locks to double width. Not only was it unusual for canals to be improved like this, the new locks were unusual because they were built out of that revolutionary new material, concrete. Economic and efficient the new flight might have been, you’d have thought those engineers would have spared a thought for us leisure boaters, who don’t get paid at the top of the flight.

Those fellas don’t look like it’s too much of a struggle

Unless you count the evening view as a reward. Thankyou Jude, your help was very much appreciated, it was lovely to spend time with you and also to meet your family.

Looking down the Hatton flight towards the castle

And just thrown in for good measure, I’ve also squeezed in a flying visit back home to Suffolk to check out the view from my back garden.

29 lock free miles….almost

After completing 71 locks in 33 miles (out of 220 locks in 230 miles on our journey north) we are looking forward to a glorious 29 miles of locks free cruising through Birmingham, to let my achey muscles recover. Hockley Heath was a useful stopping off point with a fantastic, if expensive butchers, a good Coop and providing dreams of a faster mode of transport at the Maclaren garage.

If you cant see the price tag, you cant afford it.

Once we had passed Dickens Heath, a pristine new town created in the 1980s as a dormitory serving Solihul.

We noticed the amount of graffiti and debris in the canal starting to increase. When this fridge sinks its going to be a real hazard to boaters.

But urban areas always have the potential to surprise and interest us. We’re used to seeing Buzzards soaring in the skies but rarely get a chance to see them sitting watching us sail by.

Even more unusual is a Guillotine Lock at the end of the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal.

It wasn’t built to chop off the heads off any boater not paying their toll, but as a Stop lock to conserve water between the Stratford-upon-Avon canal and the Birmingham and Worcester canal. (And as a pinch point to force boaters to stop and pay their tolls.) These space-saving locks were quicker to opperate because they didn’t need paddles opening to alter the water level.

Goodbye Stratford-upon-Avon canal and hello Birmingham and Worcester canal

149 locks in196 miles still to go to reach Liverpool

Packwood House

We don’t take advantage of our National Trust membership as often as we should but Packwood House in Lapworth was a mere 20 minute stroll from our mooring. The sun was shining so off we set.

Moored just below the Drawbridge farm lift bridge

Originally built in the 1500s this grade 1 listed manor house fell into neglect until it was bought and restored by Graham Baron Ash in the 1920s. He donated it to the NT in the 1940s. Baron (his name not a title) continued to live there until he moved out to Wingfield Castle taking a fair bit of the best stuff with him. However, as with a lot of this magnificent old buildings the bathrooms remain and continue to fascinate us.

oh to be able to soak in a bath like that

Baron had been a keen traveller and great collector of things that pleased him. And nowadays the volunteers bubble over with enthusiasm to share their knowledge of the artefacts. We particularly liked this intricate lacquered chest.

And the great hall that had been transformed from the cattle byre into the party annex

But you had better behave yourselves because you were being watched

However Packwood is known most for is the Yew garden.

From the entrance its very imposing and formal , but once you’re inside, its quite surreal, we felt like characters from Alice in wonderland walking through a giant chess game. The oldest trees date back from the 1600’s, but alas they are showing their age and a lot of work is being done to restore and repair the garden.

impossible to capture without swiping a photo from the NT website

But grand though the yew trees were, you can’t beat a field of daffodils

Helping hands at Hatton

With the mighty Hatton Flight looming ahead of us and with the prospect of company we didn’t linger to enjoy the delights of Royal Leamington Spa. For such a historic Georgian spa town, the canal through Leamington is a bit of a perfunctory back water. At one point we wondered if we would actually get through when we saw this leviathan looming ahead. Ok, we knew we’d fit, but there wasn’t clearance for a similar 14foot widebeam to pass. We really don’t know how they would have handled that situation.

Nice to live in, just not ideal to cruise in

The mile or so between Leamington and Warwick is a gift for boaters with Morrisons, Lidl and Tesco all having mooring right outside. We languished at Lidl whilst the passing storm clouds attempted to deal with the water shortages

myton visitor mooring, (aka outside Lidl)

We cruised through Warwick only stopping one night. Another place where the canal is not valued as an asset to the town if the state of the towpath is anything to go by. Until you get to the Hatton Flight, which is a real gem for gongoozlers and historians. Although boaters know it as the Stairway to Heaven because 21 double locks is such hard work. We struck lucky, no rain and finding ourselves a lock buddy to start the day.

We’d planned to moor up on the armco after the fourth lock so our family could join us, but the lock keeper told us to moor after the eleventh, on the bollards at Asylum Wharf. We were a bit reluctant because it was the lock landing, and it’s not good etiquette, but he assured us traffic was light and he’d make sure the gates were open so if anyone came through they wouldn’t need to stop. And a spectacular view

Heather and Ant were just passing through so they stayed for breakfast and we were on our way an hour later

I cant think why, but they didn’t offer to crew for us up the remaining 10 locks but we had another secret weapon. Friends who live locally. Ironically because of how well maintained the flight is, and the willing volunteer lockies, we flew up the remaining locks in super fast time

and James only arrived in time to do the last 3 locks, but never the less, we set him to work.

As his reward, he was allowed to take the helm as we cruised

on through the haunted Shrewley tunnel.

All in all we’d had a fantastic day, all our stars aligned

5 miles, 21 double locks, 1 tunnel and 2 lots of visitors- we slept well that night.

Sharing the load

There’s a lorra lorra locks between us and Liverpool, which is our summer goal. From Norton Junction, its 228 miles and 229 locks into Salthouse dock . We’re not planning the most direct route, this way we can call in on friends and experience a new canal on the journey.

So far we’ve done about 20 miles and 29 locks But thanks to delays with overrunning maintenance its already taken us just over 2 weeks, Perhaps we need to make some friends in Long Itchingham, who seem to have learnt something we haven’t.

However we have enjoyed our journey so far, sharing every single one of these heavy double locks. The Cheeky Pig did the Stockton flight with us.

and the guys who had been repairing the locks were happy to take a break from clearing up their equipment to help us on our way.

I doubt they’re going to sort the tow path out though.

We moored up by the Two Boats at Long Itchingham,

home to Colecraft boat builder, and a pretty village. Of course we’d rather not have the need for these, but its nice to see a contempory war memorial remembering our fallen.

Snatching a gap in the wind and the rain we completed our journey into Leamington under the watchful eye of Rudi and his crew on The Vicount.

Happily trundling slowly along the canals, preserving this gentle way of life, as HS2 looms large at Longhole, by Bridge 31

next stop Hatton Flight, anyone want to come along for the ride, we’ll be going up in the world. (And I have a plentiful supply of bacon butties)