Sunday 21 September 2008

September Cruise - Day Nine

Saturday 20 September

A slightly later start today, partly because I made some bread dough after breakfast. It was gone 9am by the time we set off, only to find ourselves behind two girls with a motor and butty. Consequently, our progress down the Lapworth flight was a bit slower than expected. They moored up below Lock 14, so we were on our own.

However, it was a lovely sunny day, and it was so warm we had to change into our shorts. (It also helped the dough rise, sitting on the roof). It was nearly noon by the time we got to the water point below Lock 18, and while the tank was filling I walked down to the shop. Then it was down to the junction, where there were boats coming in all directions. We stopped for a lunch of freshly baked rolls just after Lock 23. We were passed by Matilda Rose who asked us if we had a blog! We then continued south, with quite a lot of traffic in both directions.

The locks seemed very slow to fill and empty, and the gates were very heavy. The towpath was busy with walkers, and everyone was happy with the sunshine. By Lock 20, five white geese were making their presence felt!


We passed through Lowsonford, past the pub where we ate after the National a few weeks ago. The canal side garden was busy.As it was such a nice afternoon, we carried on until gone 5pm, when we moored up in a very quiet spot between Locks 35 and 36. This is proving to be a fantastically beautiful canal. We’ve done one very tiny aqueduct (Yarningale), and we’ve got two more to go tomorrow, as we head into Stratford.

5 miles, 29 locks. (Totals: 93 miles, 125 locks)

1 comment:

Nb Yarwood said...

Hello Boys
The Stratford is a wonderful canal, I know it left a lasting impression on Joe and me on only our second canal boat holiday a million years ago. The weather is with you, so enjoy.