Wednesday 17th April 2019



We had a hard day today, but so exciting. The Wilmcote locks descending to Stratford-upon-Avon are in three groups. The top locks we passed through yesterday and today we negotiated the middle and bottom locks, 8 in total. Some of the gates were extremely heavy and a real struggle with more than one, once it had been closed, swung open again under its own weight. Very frustrating and, although you don’t like leaving a gate open, sometimes you just have to conceded defeat and move on. A very picturesque setting throughout though. There were lockkeepers at the middle locks but sometimes you just wonder why they are there at all when they can stand back and watch you struggle.



        




Scenes on Wilmcote Locks



        





Beyond Wilmcote Locks we came upon the water point but had to wait an endless amount of time for a Kate’s hire boat to water up. The flow was so slow; it took us over 30 minutes to fill. Occassions like this though, are always good excuses for a chat. I love the enthusiasm of hire boaters and remember very much our first hiring experience and being bitten by the bug. Many are surprised, taken aback, or just plain jealous when we say we are live-aboard, continuous cruisers.

Beyond the water point we came to the lone Bishopton Lock and the Valley Cruisers hire base where we emptied the loo and took on diesel. The guy here used to work at Anderton Marina over the same period I worked there as a volunteer. A small world and we could recall all the same characters.

People we had been asking where telling us that moorings in Bancroft Basin, right in the heart of Stratford were readily available, but we had elected to take the first mooring we saw after the Valley Cruises boatyard. Beyond Bancroft Basin you have to lock out onto the River Avon and we wanted to avoid that.

Between boatyard and basin there were no moorings. The first lock, One Elm, was almost impossibly heavy. Brenda, unusually, just could not manage it. There were lots of people watching but none offered to help. I was manoeuvring the boat so as to help when one guy with his young daughter assisted. It still took the three of us to close the gate. The guy and his daughter had a ride with us to the next lock. He had been telling her how locks worked and the two of them were very excited to get a run on a boat.

The balance beam of the bottom gate of the next lock, Maidenhead Road, was right up against the bridge wall and had a 90˚ elbow in it. Brenda had moved on to the next lock as is our way of working when the boat passed out of the lock and I was left to close the gate. It was so heavy I had myself straining between the balance beam and the bridge wall and even then it took all my strength to close it.









                                                           Curiously shaped balance beam of Maidenhead Road Lock





There were then two particularly attractive locks to pass through before we came upon the first moorings for Stratford. However, by this time we were very close to the basin so decided to look and, if there were no moorings, reverse back out.

We passed under the long A422 road bridge to an awkward corner and then ……… wow. Bancroft Basin. The very heart of Stratford-upon-Avon. The RSC theatre just across the grass and literally hundreds of people milling about and watching, it was such a lovely, warm, sunny day.

On one side of the basin are trade boats, ice cream sellers, a trip boat and a restaurant boat and, on the other side, pontoons with 48 hour free visitor moorings. We reversed into one of these and just basked in our fortune. Brilliant.

It has to be a highlight. We sat in the front cratch listening to the buskers entertaining the tourists on the grass opposite before we discovered we had run out of wine but a quick trip into town remedied this. Actually, it was a walk of no more than 100 yards.

I had been extremely adventurous and volunteered to cook a dinner of Moroccan Lamb with spices we had bought in the farm shop at Wooton Wawen, with Basmati Rice and beans. Pleased to say it was a great success without too much stress.



Weather: lovely warm, sunny day.



Day Total: 13 locks; 3 miles; 0 Tunnels; 0 Swing Bridges; 0 Lift Bridges; 0 Boat Lift; engine running hours 6.9

Overall Total: 456 locks; 823 miles; 42 tunnels; 11 Swing Bridges; 3 Lift Bridges; 2 Boat Lifts; engine running hours 540.6




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