Hedgerow Jottings: Shakespeare and Chips

Our last river mooring, Stratford-upon-Avon

Thank goodness for some cooler weather! We puttered up to Stratford quite early on Monday morning and met a flotilla of boats leaving the park - we timed it just right to get a nice mooring by the church. We still had a couple of days left on the Avon River Licence (£50 for the week) so we decided to moor on the river for one more night and have the allotted 2 nights in Bancroft Basin. The moorings there are right by a busy road and the basin is busy with tourists and trip boats, so we were happy to enjoy the peace on the river for an extra night. The school holidays are here again and the park was full of families enjoying the crazy golf and a small fun fair. It was a hot afternoon and Mr Whippy was doing a roaring trade, selling cones with a double flake called ‘Bunny Ears' - I tried to resist, honestly I did, but the best I could do was restrict myself to one flake instead of two. The prices were eye-watering, in fact Mrs Whippy had a card machine to collect the loot - highway robbery!

Ferry in action

The next morning we moved the boat into Bancroft Basin and settled onto a pontoon. It took longer than it should as one of the lock gates was well and truly jammed. I couldn’t shift it and Carl was still down on the river, waiting for me to let him in. Eventually, a nice young man took pity on me and together, we got the gate moving and Carl chugged in under a bridge full of gongoozlers – now where did they all come from? The bridge was empty when I needed help! He had his own problems once he got out of the lock, it was windy in the basin and the mooring slot he chose was in a bad place - right in the firing line for the trip boats turning. He reversed out and into a better spot and were thankful that he did as we witnessed the trip boats roaring round the basin later that day, creating a wash that set us rocking on our lines. Once we were settled with our fenders down and the panels up, we had a chat to our pontoon neighbours and thanked them for their timely warning.

Open air entertainment

We strolled over the bridge into town, stopping to listen to an actor delivering his Shakespearean Soliloquy to a very sparse audience. It was a little early for that much drama so we left him to it and went in search of coffee. We heard a deejay playing our sort of music (last century) - he was there to attract people to the little market, set up in the square by the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. A couple of sumo wrestlers on stilts walked across the park, gathering a trail of children as they teetered along, encouraging them towards the market, to be tempted by waffle cones and cheesy chips. The morning was showery and cool and tourists were scarce in the town. A few people were waiting patiently for their turn to go into ‘Shakespeare’s Birthplace’ and ‘Harry Potter’s Spell Shop’ was busy but the Christmas Shop next door was empty, a sign said ‘152 days To Go’ and I heard one mother saying to her teenage daughter ‘Don’t you dare mention the ‘C’ word to me”

Pontoon Mooring

After a couple of days of sightseeing, we were ready to tackle the Stratford Canal, with it’s narrow bridges and single gated locks. We were too slow off the mark and an Anglo Welsh boat pipped us at the post to be first out of the basin and under the very low bridge. I must mention that Carl made a splendid reverse out of our spot, in spite of all the boaters who had come out to see the fun, I felt quite proud of him. The rain threatened, but we managed to get to Wilmcote before the rain started in earnest and we settled down for a wet evening. I was hoping to walk into the nearby village - the Nicholson’s guide describes it as having 'many fine old buildings' including Mary Arden’s House - but I couldn’t work up the enthusiasm for a wet walk after so many locks. Maybe next time.

Edstone Aqueduct

Wootton Wawen was our next mooring - we arrived in a cloudburst and crossing the Edstone Aqueduct was nail biting in the blustery conditions. After tea we walked into the village and found St Peter’s Church and took shelter inside, as the heavens opened again. We were almost disappointed as we stepped into a fairly plain building and nearly missed the Saxon Sanctuary, tucked away behind the towering modern organ. The uneven flagstones have been there for hundreds of years and we could feel the passage of time under our feet. There was much to read, far too much to tell you about here but well worth a visit if you find yourself in Wootton Wawen

St Peter's, Wootton Wawen

We crossed the River Avon on our way back and I wished for sunshine to capture the pretty waterfall and mill race behind it. Sadly, the dark clouds kept rolling in and although I took a quick snap, I don’t think I did it justice. Another reason to make a return trip this way sometime soon.

River Avon

More locks next day, there are a lot of them on this Canal! We passed through Preston Bagot and found one lock gate had jammed slightly ajar. We managed to work our way through it and I took pictures to send to Canal and River Trust to let them know about the problem - like most places these days, they don’t seem able to answer the phones anymore so I thought I might Tweet them. I’ve no idea how to do that but I was going to give it a try but when we reached our mooring at Lowsonford, we found we had no WiFi or phone signal and nothing on the TV either. There’s only one thing to do in those circumstances - go to the pub. We popped over to the Fleur de Lys, famous for its pies, and battled with the online ordering system. After a while, the waitress took pity on us two old codgers and let us order the old fashioned way. It wasn’t until I was half way through my G & T that I realised that it was our wedding anniversary. Neither of us had remembered the day, I’m not sure what that says about us! Tricky had told us not to be late when we went out, so we were home well before dark and settled down to watch an episode of Dinner Ladies. Not everyone’s idea of a celebration, I suppose, but after so any years, it’s lucky we can still stand to be in the same boat together!

Fleur De Lys, Lowsonford

We turned onto the Grand Union today and will be tackling the Hatton Flight of 21 locks sometime this week. I’m looking forward to Warwick and maybe visiting the castle this time, instead of walking around the outside of it. The forecast isn’t great but we don’t mind getting wet, the canals need topping up if we’re to continue our journey and I’m not ready to come home just yet.

Have a good week everyone and I’ll write again next week

Love from

The Floating Chandlers

PS We had a rude awaking early one morning when a boat tried to moor on the pontoon beside us and managed to crash into us and then bump along the length of our boat till they finally hit the walkway. Not the best way to start the day!