Monday 29^th April 2019

I went, first thing, to the Chandlery, only to find they don’t stock black satin finish paint, only gloss which is no good.

So after breakfast, we moved off. The Avon Navigation used to be two bodies, the Lower Avon Navigation and the Upper Avon Navigation before they amalgamated in 2010. Evesham Lock used to form the boundary between the two, so in some way we were now on a different navigation.

Passing out of Evesham under the impressive Abbey Bridge, we came upon Hampton Ferry. This is a foot passenger ferry similar to that in Stratford only operated by a rope. A rope is suspended across the river about 3 feet above the water and the operator does no more than pull the ferry across, arm over arm. As we approached, the ferry was crossing from one bank to the other. He dropped his passengers off and then frantically starting pulling for the opposite bank with us, although we were in neutral at this point, bearing down on him. Once he was at the bank the rope was still suspended in the air which caused some puzzlement on my part. However, there was a hand winch that lowered the rope into the water where it sank below the surface and the guy waved us on. Cleverly simple.

At short distance on, according to our 12-year-old guide, there was a sanitary station. This was all locked up with a sign informing it was no longer in use. This means that in the 21 miles since the Old Bathing Place above Stratford-upon-Avon, there is no toilet facility.

Continuing on we passed the Old Manor House, largely hidden in trees, and an obelisk commemorating the 1265 Battle of Evesham, which we could not see. We would have liked to have stopped here for a visit, but there was no opportunity to do so. Although there was a boatyard, all the moorings were full.

Delightful countryside followed only interrupted by the lovely Chadbury Lock with a gorgeous watermill, converted into a home. Beyond the lock again, lovely countryside with only distant villages that keep their distance from the flood-prone river.  Wood Norton Hall could be seen standing on a hill surrounded by trees. This is now a BBC engineering training centre and there were several accompanying, incongruously placed satellite dishes. At the bend at Craycombe were some very nicely located moorings that would have been glorious for a quiet stay.

Passing under a railway bridge, the third time of encountering this railway since Evesham, and a large canoe club, we came to Fladbury Lock. What a beautiful place. Preceded by lovely, quaint houses and with no fewer than two water mills, both converted into expensive looking homes although one was in use as recently as 1930, picturesque weirs and another rope ferry, the scene was somewhat reminiscent of Constable’s Haywain.

    

Below the lock the river was extremely narrow, to the extent, the guide requests that if boats see another approaching, they should hold back. What a scene, looking back over the weirs. At Jubilee Bridge a few hundred yards on, the guide indicated moorings. However, when we got there we found the moorings have long since disappeared and been incorporated into somebody’s garden. What a crying shame. We would have loved to have stopped here and it was part of our itinerary.

However, it was not to be and so onwards, although no moorings where shown for the next 4 miles, they are few and far between on the river.

There passed more countryside with no visible villages due to the Avon floodplain. The only features to break up the solitude were the Coventry Water Main that crosses the river in abroad sweep of two large diameter pipes, and numerous pumping stations set up by the farms for field irrigation.

       

                            

                                                                                       Coventry Water Main                                                                     

                                                                                      Irrigation Pumping Station

An island, formed by a meander in the river called, amusingly, Tiddle Widdle Island, preceded the village of, Wyre Piddle. Although no moorings are indicated here, we managed to moor at the Anchor pub. We were going to ask why “Wyre Piddle” but thought the answer, in a pub, rather obvious.

We spent the afternoon in the sloping grounds of the pub talking to people off a hire-boat before they finished their lunch and moved on. It was such a lovely afternoon.

These people had hired their boat from Worcester and were doing a return journey to Stratford in a week. The one-way journey from Stratford to Worcester will be taking us almost three weeks.

Mooring at the Anchor, Wyre Piddle

Weather: a lovely, warm sunny day.

Day Total: 2 locks; 9 miles; 0 Tunnels; 0 Swing Bridges; 0 Lift Bridges; 0 Boat Lift; engine running hours 4.1

Overall Total: 469 locks; 850 miles; 42 tunnels; 11 Swing Bridges; 3 Lift Bridges; 2 Boat Lifts; engine running hours 559.9