Kingswood Junction to Warwick and Leamington

Thu 20th Sep  Tom o’ the Wood

A wet day doing a few chores.  We had a walk in between showers to Lapworth Village Stores to buy some milk.

The access from the towpath to the road near the Navigation Inn brings you out straight onto the busy road on the inside of a bend where the view is restricted. We waited for cars to go past and then Hazel started across in an attempt to reach the safety of the pavement the other side. A car coming very fast from the left had to jam on brakes. It is 30 mph here but he was doing probably 50.

The silly thing is that there is a path from the other side of the bridge, across the canal from the pub, that brings you up safely onto the pavement, but the gate across is padlocked. Why is this not made the right of way instead of the dangerous access provided at present?

Road and Canal layout

We came back a different route and subsequently sent an email to CRT.

Very few boats were moving.

No boating today

Fri 21st Sep  Tom o’ the Wood to Warwick

Moored near Tom o’ the Wood

We had the second of the two storms. This one was called Bronagh. The bow well was full of blown leaves, and there were sticks and branches along the towpath.

Blown leaves

Ancient roof

Wooden boat project

We passed through Shrewley Tunnel, with its adjacent horse tunnel. It is wet in places inside, and we were prepared.

Shrewley Tunnel

Fallen tree

It was sunny, and the canal was deep, unlike the Stratford Canal.  We said good morning to a lady on the tow path, and had no eye contact. Instead she was shaking her head. “Too fast” she muttered as we passed her. We were on a section where the banks were lined in stone, and we were not making a breaking wash. There were no boats moored, and no fishermen, and we were doing a moderate cruising speed of about 3mph. We were not going too fast. Soon after that there were moored boats and we were down to tickover again.

We stopped on the visitor moorings before the Hatton Locks, and used the bins and elsan point. 

We visited the cafe for a cooked breakfast. It was very civilised, and seemed to be the convention centre for dog walkers.

Hatton Locks plaque in the cafe

As we left the cafe a boat was just going into the top lock. 

“Would you like to share the locks?” we asked. “We are just about to leave.”

“With all due respect,” he said, “I’d rather not. I don’t want religious arguments all the way down  21 locks.”  He had obviously seen our boat and James’ shirt, and had formed a very prejudiced opinion.  How sad. He may have had a previous bad experience.  At that point another boat came in view, so he said he would share with them instead.

As we reached our boat, a hire boat came along, so we shared with them. They were from Belgium, and were very pleasant.

Sharing Hatton Locks with a threatening sky behind

The rain came

We stopped four locks up from the bottom, where there is some piling.  We noticed that Cygnet was also moored there. We had some more rain soon after.

Later, a boat called Blue Iris came past going up, and James helped him through the next lock as he was on his own. It was Richard, a BCF member.

17 locks, 5 miles

Sat 22nd Sep  Warwick to Leamington Spa

When we got up this morning we were going to suggest to the people on Cygnet that we share locks. Then we discovered that they had gone already. It must have been very early.

The last four locks on our own

We saw some swallows. Are these the last this year? It is much more difficult to spot the last swallow than it is to spot the first.

We met two boats coming up, travelling separately.  It is usually worth waiting 15 minutes or so for another boat when you have 21 locks to do.

Saltisford Arm

We stopped for water opposite the Cape of Good Hope pub, and we met a guy called Ian who was giving instructions to the people who had hired the day boat from the Saltisford Arm.  We have met him before when we moored overnight in the arm.

The day boat was a wide beam so we couldn’t share with them. So we were on our own for the two Cape Locks. We had some help at the bottom one from a guy who was on the locks bollards using the other water tap.

Cape Locks

We skirted Warwick, and as we approached Bridge 49 it looked as though there were wall to wall boats blocking the bridge, but it was Kate Boats hire fleet, and there was more room that it had seemed.

Boats in the bridge hole

Kate Boats

We crossed the Warwick Avon on an aqueduct. This goes down to Stratford, and then via Evesham and Pershore to Tewkesbury where it joins the Severn.  There is a proposal to make the Upper Avon Navigable from Warwick down to Stratford, connecting to the Grand Union via the River Leam at Leamington Spa. That would be brilliant, saving the many locks up the Stratford Canal to Kingswood Junction, and the 21 locks of the Hatton flight down again.

Avon Aqueduct

The Avon

We also crossed the railway on another aqueduct. Where the railway goes we don’t know, and if the passengers saw a boat crossing the aqueduct they probably wouldn’t know which canal it is or where it goes either.  Separate worlds.

Railway aqueduct

Crossing the railway

We had already passed Tesco, and now we passed Lidl, Sainsbury, Aldi, and Morrison.

We moored after bridge 40 where we noticed a tap which is not marked on the Nicholson map.  It started raining.

Later we went shopping locally for some bits and pieces.

6 locks, 4 miles

Sun 23rd Sep  Leamington Spa

We were disturbed in the night by something like a motorbike, chainsaw or strimmer. Someone was revving the engine for at least 20 minutes at 2.20am. We couldn’t see anything on the towpath, so we guessed it was from the road near the bridge ahead.

Rain had been forecast, and we needed brollies as we walked to Life Community Church.

We met Peter and Anne Gale, who used to be members of BCF, living on a boat in the Saltisford Arm.  It was an all age service, so we had “Our God is a great big God”  The worship was excellent, enthusiastically led by a lady with a guitar. The talk was a clear gospel message entitled “A Successful Life”, with sub headings Faith, Follow, and Future.  There was also a dedication of a new baby.

Dedication at Life Community Church

The rain had stopped, and we caught a bus into Leamington Town centre.

Apart from shopping, we visited Wetherspoons for a drink, then more shopping, then a lovely  Indian restaurant.

Indian Thali

We walked back down to the boat.

No boating today

Mon 24th Sep  Leamington Spa back to Warwick Tesco

It was sunny this morning. Thankfully we did not have a repeat of the revving engine noise, but there were other factory noises around as it was a weekday.

Moored in Leamington Spa

We set for a half mile cruise to the first winding hole. This was a bit silted up, so we struggled to turn the boat, but finally managed it. Thankfully no other boats had been past.

Pigeon party

We returned past last night’s mooring, went across the railway aqueduct and the Avon to Tesco, where we could moor on bollards with bushes shielding us from the car park. Hugo thought this was wonderful for some reason, and was very playful, and pleased with the mooring choice.

We caught a bus into Warwick, and wandered round shops and explored streets of old buildings.

Warwick

We had proper leaf tea with proper china in a quaint tea shop near Warwick Castle, called Oken’s House.

Tea Shop

Oken’s House

We walked from there to the Racehorse pub where we had an early evening meal, and stayed for the folk club.  Norman was in charge, and he found us a lift back with some regulars. We also met Geoff Phipps, who lives in Banbury and knows Peter and Fran Braybrook, and Caroline Watsham.  It was a concert night, so there were no floor singers. The guests were called “Harp and a Monkey” and they were very good.

Harp and a Monkey

Back at the boat we found that Gabriel had been joined by a cruiser and a hire boat.

0 locks, 2 miles

Next: Heading South-East through Long Itchington and up the Stockton and Calcutt Locks towards Napton and Braunston.

Hopwood to Kingswood Junction

Mon 17th Sep  Hopwood to Dickens Heath

We had a fairly late morning. There had been rain in the night.

We reversed to the water tap and found it broken!  A few years ago British Waterways decided to replace many of the cast iron housings for their water points with flimsy aluminium things that are quite sharp at the edges, and it can be difficult to connect the hose to the tap. It must have cost a lot of money for very little gain. However, in this case the tap itself had been broken off.

The unusable water point

James placed the coloured stone outside the pub for someone to find. We will never know the outcome. Then we set off through Wast Hill Tunnel, which took 30 minutes.

Wast Hill Tunnel

The middle

The other end

As we emerged from the tunnel we were in a different world. Gone were the fields and woods, replaced by housing, graffiti and litter. Every bridge had rubbish which had been thrown from above. We stopped at the water tap at Kings Norton. Two boats were just leaving so we filled up.

Litter chucked from the bridges

The water point

We passed Betty D just before the junction, where we turned to the right into the Stratford Canal.  Almost immediately comes the old guillotine lock, not used now, but there to protect water supplies and to slow craft down to collect tolls.  It is now covered with graffiti.

Kings Norton Junction

Guillotine Lock

We passed through Brandwood Tunnel where we saw bats. The canal was very shallow and therefore we made slow progress, stirring up all the muck on the bottom.

Brandwood Tunnel

We spotted a lifeboat, which was wider than a narrowboat, so it must have been craned in. Shirley Drawbridge (Unusual surname!) soon followed. Hazel operated it with a key.

Lifeboat

Shirley Drawbridge

It felt as though we had something on the prop, so James went down the weed hatch, but it was clear. It seems we were just on the bottom.  As we were trying to leave, but struggling to make way, a family came out of the pub and started up the engine of their hire boat, and pulled out behind us. At the same time another boat (Cygnet) arrived from behind and operated the lift bridge. So there were now three in a row with us in front.

Convoy

The progress was very slow, almost stopping at times. Fortunately we did not have far to go. We tried to moor at Dickens Heath but could not get in. We let the two boats pass us and then we couldn’t get out again. 

Look, no ropes

Eventually we did, and travelled very slowly to the far end of Dickens Heath where we found we could moor, with Cygnet. They have the same draught as Gabriel and were also having difficulty.

Moored near Dickens Heath

We checked the restaurant reviews and decided to go for either Italian or Indian in the new village of Dickens Heath. When we got there we decided that the Italian was a bit pricey, and the Indian was nothing special. We went instead to a new Turkish establishment doing kebabs and similar. It was very nice.

Dickens Heath is a new development, and the streets are narrow and the buildings are tall, making it feel very cramped. There are also huge concrete balls on the pavements to stop cars parking there, which makes the pavements restrictive for pedestrians. Outside the Turkish restaurant these have been attractively yarn bombed.

Yarn bombing

We called in at the very well stocked Tesco Express before returning to the boat.

We had brought a torch and we needed it on the way back to the boat as the path was uneven. We discovered that poor Hugo was locked out as we had not undone his cat flap.

0 locks, 10 miles, 1 lift bridge

Tue 18th Sep  Dickens Heath to Bridge 31 (near Packwood House)

Cygnet left before we did. There were no locks to begin with, so there was no rush. We had had rain in the night and a strong wind. We discovered that one of our pots of marigolds had blown over, almost into the canal, and was lying precariously on the edge of the roof.

The most memorable feature of today’s cruising was that it was like crawling. It was very shallow and we were stirring up all the sticks, stones and mud as we went along very slowly. If we tried to speed up, the stern would sink down further and it made things worse. There was one point when two hire boats were coming towards us, and they went out of control, one colliding into the other, while we got stuck in the mud alongside them.

Ditch crawling

We stopped at Wedges Bakery by bridge 20. This time we were disappointed.  They no longer sell fresh vegetables as they have turned that area into a tea room. We came away with a pasty and a samosa.

We passed under the M42 before skirting Hockley Heath without stopping, despite the good Indian Restaurant and the One-Stop.

M42 Bridge

The Wharf Tavern at Hockley heath

There are two lift bridges just after Hockley heath. For some reason one is called a draw bridge and the other is called a lift bridge. They both require a windlass and some effort.

Lift bridge

Just after the second one we passed Cygnet moored up, and then we reached the top lock of the Lapworth Flight. The first of these locks is called Lock 2, because way back at Kings Norton Junction is Lock 1, the guillotine lock that is now permanently open.

Lapworth Top Lock

Old bricks on the locks.

Wood and Ivery was a firm of brick makers at the Albion Blue Brick and Tile Works in West Bromwich in around 1876.

We stopped after four locks, soon after bridge 31, just before the locks begin in earnest.

It was all peaceful until a lady returned to her boat in front of us and started shouting and swearing about something, really loudly, for about 15 minutes. Her dog looked terrified. We guessed she had had a few drinks. It quietened down soon afterwards, and we thought she had probably gone to sleep.

Everything felt a bit damp so we lit the fire.

4 locks, 5 miles, 2 lift bridges

Wed 19th Sep  Bridge 31 to Tom o’ the Wood

We made an early start as bad weather was forecast for later in the day. There were three other boats on the moorings that were pointing in our direction, but we were the first away and into the flight of locks.

Leaving the mooring past the angry lady of yesterday

Lock 6, the first of the day

A low pound at Lock 7

A split bridge, typical of the Stratford Canal.

Despite a very low pound between locks 6 and 7, there was a lot of water coming down the flight. Most of the locks had side ponds. We met no boats at all on the locks, although we saw another boat coming down behind us about six locks back. They had extra crew, and so could set the locks in advance.

Side ponds

Mile post

Looking back up the flight

Some of the paddle gear was very rickety, and needed a longer reach windlass to operate it. At one point the paddles had a hydraulic mechanism. These take ages, and require just as much effort to lower the paddles as they do to raise them. They would be on our list for Room 101.

Hydraulic paddle gear

When we arrived at the triangular canal junction known as the Lapworth Link, Lock 20 was out of action, so we used lock 21, and went round two sides of the triangle. We paused at the facilities to empty two cassettes. Then three boats appeared from the direction of the Grand Union, one of which (Eliza) wanted the facilities, and the other two were going up the locks we had just come down. We went through to the Grand Union and turned right towards Warwick.

Eliza going to the facilities

The Lapworth Link

Kingswood Junction

Signpost to Warwick

We went a mile further and moored on rings near Tom o’ the Wood pub, where we intend to sit out the forecast rain and wind tomorrow. The first place we stopped had a wasp nest so we moved on a short distance. The wind was very strong as we moored, and it caused us a few problems getting into the side. This was the remnants of storm Ali.

Tom o’ the Wood moorings.

High wind

We went for a meal at the pub. They had Orchard Pig Explorer cider which was a great start. The food was more than just pub grub – a fairly limited menu but everything we saw or tried was very good. The scotch eggs as a starter were lovely, and the swordfish steak was perfectly cooked. Hazel’s veal chop was also good. We had no room for desserts.

15 locks, 2 miles

Next: Sitting out a rainy day tomorrow, then on Friday tackling the 21 locks of the Hatton Flight into Warwick and Leamington Spa.