Another lock-free day, but goodness me the North Stratford is slow going! As we were preparing to leave this morning a boat passed, going the other way, and asked if we lived near Kingley Vale. It turned out they were from Chichester, so knew the area our boat was named after. It was very chilly and a bit breezy when we set off a bit before 9.45. Just round the corner I saw the first goslings of the year.
The canal is often in wooded cuttings, but the water is shallow and there are numerous branches hiding below the surface making lots of clunking noises. At Dickens Heath the flats have the water feature working again, and it seems to have been given a Trump-style blue paint job. I like what Debby on Chuffed calls the development: Spookytown!
We passed a few boats going the other way, most of them in fairly sensible places. The only problem was at the permanent moorings at Warings Green. There’s room for two boats to pass, but he ran aground on the towpath side, and we ran aground in the middle of the canal, presumably on silt up against the moored boats. Shortly after that we went under the M42. When driving along here between the M40 and the M6, I always used to look out for this sheet fencing that’s supposed to protect the canal from the noise.
We plodded on, seemingly making very little headway. At least the batteries got back up to 100 per cent in spite of doing a load of washing and drying. There’s room was a slalom course round moored boats at Hockley Heath, and then the lift bridge, which Adrian said was very easy, needing only about 15 turns to raise.
We moored up just past Swallow Cruisers, although depth is still an issue. The stern is at least a foot out from the bank and we’re still at a slight angle. The second lift bridge and the Lapworth Locks are just around the corner. And the sun had come out.
Whenever we’re in this area we see whether our friends Bob and June are free, and today they came to see the boat and meet Macc. They left their current guide dog puppy at home as he’s a bit full on, but June brought one of her delicious Victoria sponges. We had plenty to catch up on and lots of dog stories to exchange, and it was really lovely to see them again.
6 miles, 0 locks. (28 miles, 50 locks)