Monday 22nd April
2019
We had so enjoyed Stratford-upon-Avon, a lovely vibrant place. But we
had been here for five days and it was time to move on. Rather reluctantly.
I brought the anchor out from the bow locker and deployed it and
fitted longer bow and stern ropes for the river, so we left the mooring later
than we had intended. We had not seen one boat on the river with a deployed
anchor. Not only is it a condition of any boats insurance but I regard it as
very irresponsible, boarding on endangering life and the boat. No matter how
slow a river seems to flow, there is a flow on it. Should anything happen to
the engine or steering then an anchor would be used, especially around weirs.
The anchor sits on top of the bow locker connected by chain and rope to the
boat. Should it need releasing it is merely a case of sliding the anchor off
and the chain and rope are positioned such that they would freely run out.
As soon as we left the mooring we were immediately caught up with all
the rowing boats, motorboats and trip boats and it was a real challenge at
times, negotiating a route through them all. Great fun though.
We headed upstream for as far as we could get. The arches under the
Tramway Bridge are very low, all the raised things on our roof had been removed
but we easily made it. There was then an awkward bend before reaching the
arches under Clopton Bridge with many small boats surrounding us on all sides.
The speed just had to be kept very slow. Almost immediately we seemed to be out
of Stratford and into beautiful countryside. The river twisted and turned until
we had gone almost a mile before deciding it was becoming too narrow and we
winded at a point called The Old Bathing Place. The river is supposedly
navigable for a further mile to Avoncliffe for boats of our length, and to
Alveston Wier, another mile for shorter boats, however, we had been warned
against going much beyond the Old Bathing Place.
The Old Bathing Place is a lovely, grassed area that is obviously
popular with the locals and is away from all the tourists. There is a sanitary
station here but the water point was too far from the boat for our hose and the
toilet disposal was full of a McDonalds takeaway leftovers, including the
packaging, and disposable nappies.
This was to be the head of the River Avon for us and so the start of
our passage. We first encountered the river at Welford in Northamptonshire in
October last year, close to its source. The Avon runs from its confluence with
the Severn at Tewkesbury and is navigable for 45 miles passing through 17
locks. The navigation is split between the Upper and Lower Avon with the
dividing point being Evesham.
The river was made navigable in 1639 when a series of locks and weirs
made it possible to reach Stratford and to within 4 miles of Warwick. Railway
competition in the 19th century led to gradual disuse and decay. All
traffic had ceased on the Upper Avon by 1875 but, although deteriorating
gradually, the Lower Avon did remain navigable to Pershore before being bought
in 1950 with a view to restoration. Restoration of the lower river
as a navigable waterway began in 1950, and was completed in 1962. The upper
river was a more daunting task, as most of the locks and weirs were no longer
existent. Work began in 1965 on the construction of nine new locks and 17 miles
of river, using mainly volunteer labour, and was completed in 1974. It was one
of the first major waterway restoration schemes. There are plans to extend the
navigation to Warwick but at present it does not seem they will ever reach
fruition.
We returned to Stratford amidst all the small boats. There are many
gorgeous properties along this stretch of river, many on stilts because of
flooding. Once under the two bridges the scene became even busier with this
being the most popular area for the small boats, between the bridges and the
first lock about ½ mile away.
It is always advisable on a river to moor facing upstream and so we
winded to take on water, doing a wash at the same time. While on the water
point a woman asked us about the boat and life on it. We showed her through the
boat as we have done many times with people.
Once watered up we again turned for the short run to the first lock.
The locks are all wide-beam so able to accommodate two narrowboats. We had a
conflab with a woman off a boat behind us. The boat was manoeuvring for the
lock and so I waved him in. At first he approached the lock but then held back
and the woman said that there were two boats travelling together. Fair enough.
But then a fourth boat arrived and so I put it to her that one of their boats
came in the lock with us and the other with this fourth boat. She refused, so I
put it to her that they let the fourth boat in the lock with us but again, she
refused to allow this as the fourth boat would then “jump” them. Stupid woman.
A complete waste of water and a waste of time and effort when it would take
three lock operations to allow four boats through the lock instead of two. I
really felt sorry for the fourth boat. There was no room for him on the lock
landing and he was having to hold his boat in the middle of the river amidst
all the small boats and no doubt being pulled by the weir.
Colin P. Witter Lock and the Weirs at
Lucy’s Mill
This first lock, the Colin P. Witter Lock, is reinforced by a series
of rectangular steel girders frames to overcome the high ground pressures.
There were lots of people watching at this lock. On the Avon you are advised to
leave the exit gates from a lock, be it uphill or down, open. Can’t think of
any good reason for this. Just after the lock the weirs were on the right,
three separate weirs at the site of the long gone Lucy’s Mill, now replaced
with flats.
Beyond the weirs we passed under the A4390 road bridge, leaving
Stratford, and the hordes, behind and entering countryside again. We quickly
came upon the second lock, with no sign of any boats behind us. With this lock
behind us we entered a beautiful stretch of river, absolutely gorgeous,
especially with the sunshine and an escort of two dippers that kept
leapfrogging us, skimming the water.
Beyond the Stratford-upon-Avon steeplechase course and a disused
railway bridge there were some obscenely large houses with enormous gardens
that came down to the river’s edge. All had boat houses and summer houses that
could have comfortably housed a family of 6. More beautiful countryside and the
River Stour joins the Avon along this section.
We passed, alone, through the Stan Glover lock at Luddington heading
for Welford-on-Avon where we hoped to moor. All the locks on the Avon are named
after significant people involved in the restoration and all have an
arrangement of counter weights on the paddles to assist their operation that we
have never encountered before. After this lock the river became very narrow and
twisting for a while but very scenic.
At Welford we passed under the bridge through the narrow, marked arch
but were very disappointed to find all the moorings full with no room to breast
up against another boat. There were many private moorings beyond, many empty, and
a small marina. We learnt afterwards that we could have easily moored on these moorings.
Moorings places on the river, we found, are few and far between and each only holds
a small number of boats, many of them just a single boat. We also found that a
lot of small cabin cruisers will leave their home marinas for the day, moor up
for lunch or the afternoon and then return to the marina in the late afternoon,
thus freeing up the mooring but long after most people would wish to stop.
One of the many obscenely large houses
alongside the river
And so we carried on, passed more obscenely large houses and beautiful
countryside to the next lock a mile further on, wondering how much further
before we found a mooring. We were lucky at this lock, to be able to just
squeeze between two cabin cruisers with no room to spare. Unfortunately, the moorings
were located on an island formed by the lock and weirs with no access to
Welford and no opportunity to explore.
We spoke and had a few drinks with the couple on the cruiser behind who
were out for the day. They gave us lots of local information about the river, moorings,
pubs and restaurants. She was originally from West Kirkby, as was Brenda, and
he went to the sea school on the River Thames that I used to go to for rowing and
sailing when I did my apprenticeship in London. Small world.
Weather: hot and sunny.
Day Total: 3 locks; 7 miles; 0 Tunnels; 0 Swing Bridges; 0 Lift
Bridges; 0 Boat Lift; engine running hours 4.5
Overall Total: 460 locks; 830 miles; 42 tunnels; 11 Swing Bridges; 3
Lift Bridges; 2 Boat Lifts; engine running hours 550.0
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