Wednesday 24^th April 2019

At Stratford-upon-Avon we were treated to one of nature’s touching spectacles, the courting of a pair of swans. They dance majestically, rubs necks with each other and, when you are lucky enough to see it, as we were, their necks together, form a love heart. It is truly magical. In contrast this morning we had to witness a violent episode when five mallard drakes were fighting over a single duck. Continuously holding her underwater while each in turn mounted her with the other four fighting. It went on for about5minutes and eventually, when the drakes had had their fill, the duck floated away seemingly dead and twitching. Eventually the duck did revive and swim off but it was quite upsetting.

We walked around Bidford, a pretty little place. The village centre itself is old but there are, as with everywhere, lots of more modern housing surrounding it. The Falcon Inn, now a large home, was one of the places frequented by Shakespeare. Lloyds Bank is located in a very attractive period building. There was an old Police house with an adjoining cell and an old fire station like something out of Trumpton. The church of St. Laurence was mainly built in 1875. From the village it is hardly seen, being surrounded by lots of trees while from the river it seems more dominant.

                                                                      Bidford-on-Avon

After a visit to the local butcher and some shopping we watered up and set off. The river the whole day today was as good as it can possibly get. Stunning. We saw lots of Kingfishers, one we actually saw dive into the water and emerge with a fish, another was sitting on a branch eating a small fish held between its claws.

The River Arrow joined the Avon and the steep ridge of Cleeve Hill ran alongside the river for a while, seeming to tower above us. Abbots Salford caravan site held many caravans and chalets but with no defences, you wonder how they cope with flooding, the river here was quite narrow.

The Robert Aickman Lock at Harvington is a gorgeous setting, both the river, the weirs and the properties around. There is a derelict watermill here, all covered in ivy. The water wheel survives although all the wooden paddles have disappeared and, inside the building, all the cogs, shafts and gears are still in place. Apparently, the building was bought 40 years ago by a person who had every intention of restoring it as a home. However, all the material he had delivered was stolen by gypsies and he walked away and the building has stood decaying ever since. What a crime.

This lock had a particulalry fierce weir but no barrier across it. The barriers consist of big cylindrical buoys with tubes passing through them. The buoys are strung together with heavy, industrial chains passing through them, the chains being secured at each end to the bank. Apparently gypsies stole the stainless steel chain. Gypsies must be pretty active hereabouts.

Close beyond the lock we came to the George Billington Lock but we moored just before the lock itself above the weir on the Fish and Anchor pub moorings. We were the only boat here surprisingly.

All the locks have artificial islands with the lock itself on one side and the weirs on the other. There tend to be moorings on the islands and opposite the islands, which tend to be fields, on the wrong side to visit anywhere before each lock except one, that we have seen. With the absence of any bridges over the weirs, it means that there is no access to local villages as happened with us at Welford.

We had wanted to visit the Tithe Barn at Middle Littleton but, had we moored anywhere apart from the pub moorings, we would have been unable to.

We duly walked a footpath across a field and up the steep ridge to Middle Littleton clutching our National Trust membership cards. The Tithe Barn was open but unmanned and the admission fee was just 20p with an honesty box. So much for our membership cards.

In Medieval times, people were charged a tax which was used to support local churches and monasteries, who in turn took care of the community providing education, health care and courts of justice. Agriculture was the main source of wealth and there was not much money in circulation, so the tax was paid in produce. The community handed over a tenth of its produce, known as the “tithe share”. This produce was held centrally in a Tithe Barn which was also used as a workplace after harvest for threshing of the grains. 

                                                     Middle Littleton Tithe Barn and Cider Press

The Middle Littleton Tithe Barn was supposedly built in 1376 by the Abbotts of Evesham but radiocarbon dating gives an earlier construction date of 1250. The scale of the thing is colossal, quite staggering considering its age. It must have stored an awful lot of produce. The floors were made of huge stone slabs. The walls are very thick, made of stone with numerous slots and holes in them, each wider on the inside than the out to aid air circulation while keeping the rain out. The wooden beams supporting the ceiling are massive and the roof is made of tiles with lathe and horsehair plaster on the inside for insulation. The tithe barn site also includes many other agricultural buildings including one that houses a cider press that consists of a rotating stone wheel, presumably pulled by a horse.

The church of St. Nicholas, while only small had a quaint, intimate feel to it. There are many signs of its original Saxon features and the stone font, from the 12^th century had lovely carvings of Saxon symbols on it. 

 The Jacobean style Manor House dates from the 17^th century and is today used as rentable holiday accommodation.

With the church, manor house, tithe barn and associated agricultural buildings and a few other old stone built cottages, Middle Littleton really does give a haunting feeling of the past.

On the way back to the boat it started to rain, heavily at times. The footpath through the field was a quagmire and, with the soil being clay, stuck to our boots and became really heavy. The dog was like a drowned rat and so went straight in for an overdue shower.

We went to the Fish and Anchor for our dinner. A nice place and lovely food.

Weather: a nice morning. Rain in the afternoon but a nice evening.

Day Total: 2 locks; 5 miles; 0 Tunnels; 0 Swing Bridges; 0 Lift Bridges; 0 Boat Lift; engine running hours 1.5

Overall Total: 465 locks; 838 miles; 42 tunnels; 11 Swing Bridges; 3 Lift Bridges; 2 Boat Lifts; engine running hours 553.6