The weather forecast for today was not good for the morning, but when we were ready to go at about 8.30 and it wasn’t raining, we thought we’d go for it. Adrian walked along to the lift bridge and found a couple of guys working on the hydraulics. They said they’d open the bridge, which was good as it’s one that takes a lot of turns of the windlass.
We worked down the first couple of Lapworth Locks, and then as we did the next couple it began to rain. There’s a long pound between those locks and the main body of the flight, so we decided we’d moor up and sit out the rain, which the Met Office radar and forecast suggested might be very heavy. We found a bit of piling to moor against and came in to warm up and have a cuppa; Macc also decided to get up, and had great fun destroying a little cardboard box which had had some treats put inside it.
There was a bit of rain, but not as much as we’d expected, and the heavy stuff lasted for only a few minutes. So at about 11 we decided we’d set off again. A couple of locks down and a posse of volunteer lock keepers arrived to offer their assistance. We had help from a lockie and someone who was still training, while another couple helped a boat they’d spotted coming down behind us. The Lapworth flight is where I take back all the things I’ve said about the Stratford Canal, because it’s a very pretty flight.
There are some very tight turns between some of the locks though, and the pounds are really short and have fierce by-washes; at least we didn’t meet people in those places. At times we wondered whether our helpers were actually helping us much, but they were both very pleasant and were interested in the boat. When we got to Lock 17 there was a boat coming up 18 so we swapped with him, and there was another one waiting below. We’d planned to get water at the tap below that lock, but there was yet another boat coming up so we thought we might as well use the lock they’d left for us.
After this lock, there are two locks to choose from. One on the left takes you down to the link to the Grand Union, while one on the right is for if you want to go to Stratford. We needed the left hand one, which was full and open ready.
Below the lock there’s a little cut through to the Stratford, which was only opened up again in the 1990s. Until then, to get from the GU to the South Stratford you had to go up the lock we’d just come down, and down the neighbouring one.
Our original plan had been to go out onto the GU and reverse onto the moorings just back from the junction. But Adrian went to have a look and it would have meant a lot of reversing. And it just so happened that there was a space on the link right next to a rather unkempt picnic area, which we thought would be ideal for Macc. Fortunately I’d been going very slowly along the link, but we still had a bit of reversing past a moored boat to get back to the space. Were much closer to the railway line here, but it has a great variety of trains on it: West Midlands, Chiltern chuggers, Cross Country, and freight (which are by far the noisiest).
After lunch we went for a little walk which took in the rubbish bins which are across the car park back by the locks. Then we went up to the road bridge and down into the village where there’s a little shop. Then we came back along the GU. As well as the boats we passed in the flight, there have been many more going by since we moored — some heading up the locks towards Birmingham and some turning south towards Stratford.
2 miles, 19 locks. (30 miles, 69 locks)