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.