4th to 10th August – Lowsonford to Shakespeare Marina
Well that was a heavy week – early mornings and lots of locks is the memory I’ll take from it. But enjoyable too. We decided not to move on Monday as the weather was looking less than sparkly. We had another 27 locks in our sights this week, which we planned to nibble off in chunks.
Chunk 1 started at 06:00 on Tuesday – a beautiful sunny mooning – if a bit chilly (I’m not mentioning Autumn – yet). All was going swimmingly ( 5 locks done and dusted) until we got to Preston Bagot top lock. Paul had gone ahead on the bike and rang to say that there was an empty pound below the first of the three locks and that CRT were already on site and working on the problem. It was about 7:45 by then so we had breakfast and Paul started work early. as it was obvious that he was going to have to break off and do the 3 locks, once navigation recommenced.
After about an hour, the CRT guy said we were good to go and had even got the lock ready for us. We slipped in, dropped down and went to exit and then we got stuck. We seemed to be sat on the bottom – no way we were going forward or back despite full throttle and pulling on ropes. We were definitely not afloat, and the boat was stuck fast about one third over the threshold of the lock.
After about 40 minutes of flushing water down, and gunning the engine and pulling on ropes, we just could not go forward but eventually changed tactics and managed to get the boat fully back into the lock. The guy then cleaned the area where the gate sits of debris with a clever tool and then the top paddles were opened full bore, simultaneously, and I floated out on the tsunami! Phew.
The remaining two locks were both OK and we were soon tied up on the first bit of suitable Armco we came across, so that Paul could continue working. Not the best spot – a bit of road noise and no views, but if there was any sun, then we were in a good position to slurp it up. All that gunning the engine in the lock had taken a large bite out of our batteries! But a total of 8 locks knocked off this week’s target of 27 down to Shakespeare Marina on the Avon, and 2 mornings and a whole day to go. And, as things stand, I would not be at all surprised if this flight is closed before much longer, so the sooner we get on that river, the better, we think?
We moored partially under trees on Monday and the roof was covered with leaves and beech mast, twigs and the like. After we had moored, I gave the roof a good blow with my trusty leaf blower. It worked a treat. Just needs a quick mop down and we’ll look good as new! Very pleased with it.
Having cleaned the roof and the back deck, I relaxed for the remainder of the day. Well deserved I feel! The bow deck can wait!
I set off late morning on Wednesday, for my lock-free solo cruise down to our planned night spot. It was an absolutely beautiful day – warm sunshine, blue skies and a cooling breeze. Perfect cruising conditions.
I admired Mother Nature’s handiwork as I slipped silently along. It is time for Purple Loosestrife, sending its spikes skyward, to step into the spotlight. Accompanied by clouds of perfectly toning Rosebay Willowherb, and the occasional flounce of Meadowsweet. What a great time of year it is to be out in the countryside. One of my favourite things about life aboard. .
We heard news yesterday of fellow Ortomariners on board NB Felicity, who had a scary incident in Wilmcote Top Lock. Luckily he had his wits about him and disaster was averted – although a bottle of wine and some crockery will never look the same again. He described how the boat started to tip over and it reminded us of our own incident of the Wyrley and Essington, back in September 2022. I really thought we were going over that day! Terrifying.
They had to close the lock to investigate and there apparently was “an underwater obstruction! – no word yet on what it it was, though I suspect a nicked motorbike or something like that? Whatever – they are safe and the lock has now reopened. I believe I will feel a little apprehensive in that lock when we go through.
We arrived at Hill Farm Marina at lunchtime and – well – we just could not resist a lovely lunch at The View, which we have now visited on several occasions – but this was the first time we had arrived by boat. We didn’t have the friendliest welcome – one of the moorers came up and asked what we were doing there. She was concerned that we would use all the electricity on the berth, which apparently someone else had recently done. I guess she was just looking after a friend’s interests but we could have done without it!
Back to lunch at the The View. The food is so good. Paul had a Prawn and Avocado Jacket and declared it the best Jacket Spud he’d had, eating out, for a very long time. He also had a more -than-acceptable pint of local (Alcester) brewery, Purity’s, Mad Goose pale ale before returning to designing circuit boards for a new product.
I must confess to feeling a little drowsy that afternoon – a bit of a food coma, I guess? We were still full by dinnertime so just had beans on toast – always a favourite. And so easy!
We had an early night as were were both tired and we also had an early start. I think we both went out like lights. I was deeply asleep when the alarm went off at 06:00! And would have preferred to snooze on for a while, but we had the Edstone Aqueduct to look forward to.
As we left the Marina, there was a beautiful rainbow but neither of us had a camera handy, so you’ll have to take my word for it. Very pretty – pastel smudgy.
There was only 1 lock to deal with, the aptly named Odd Lock, being the only one on this otherwise lock-free stretch between Preston Bagot and the Wilmcote flight. I can’t really find out much about its history – although its real name is Bearley Lock. It was wittily dubbed Odd Lock by the boaters of old.
The Edstone Aqueduct (aka the Bearley) was completed in 1816 and is one of the earliest prefabricated structures. It may have been designed by IKEA, as it is made up of 35 separate sections of cast iron, bolted together, and carries the waterway across three railway tracks (one of which is now disused – the Alcester line), a minor road, a stream, and a field. Thirteen brick piers create the 14 spans, to total 146 m (498 ft). The trough is 2.7m wide (9ft) and 1.5m deep (5ft). And it’s 33 ft/11m high. Any way you look at it (and we’ve also seen it from road level) it’s an absolute corker and is always a thrill to traverse. It was saved from dereliction in the 60s. Fair play to those forward thinking chaps.
After we had crossed the “stream in the sky”, we started idly looking for a spot to moor. The railway goes arm in arm with the cut along this stretch and we were looking for a very specific spot – as far from the railway as possible, clear skies for solar and Starlink, Armco for preference. And if we couldn’t find that, then we’d just have to moor at the designated moorings above Wilmcote – very close to the railway line.
We drew closer and closer to Wilmcote and then we came round a corner to see a boat, clearly pulling away from an overnight spot. How very kind. That would do nicely and no need to compromise – although we put the Starlink in “flat” mode as there were a few trees around. And that was Thursday’s cruise done and dusted.
There are 16 locks to do tomorrow, but if we feel like it, we could break our journey down. We’ll see.
A couple of hours after we had tied up, we heard a toot toot and it was Russell and Helen – fellow Ortomariners on Professor Pat Pending – whom we had passed yesterday at Wootton Wawen. They popped back for a cuppa and a natter. They too are heading towards the the river, so I imagine we’ll be crossing paths pretty often, over the forthcoming weeks.
Paul was beavering away all afternoon, while we were chatting. He’s working on a new product that I can’t talk about or I’d have to kill you. He’s developing the circuit board design and working out where all the components will be sited – and swearing under his breath – a lot!
As we were going to bed, we spotted an otter swimming along the opposite bank. Such a thrill to see one – even if it was by head-torchlight!
Another day, another early start! This was going to be a challenge day. And it could not have gone more smoothly – mostly. We cruised past a field with an unusual mix of sheep and Longhorn cattle – many with calves. Such an attractive breed. We then passed Helen & Russell – probably still snoozing aboard PPP. We did the boat equivalent of tiptoeing past.
The first lock of the day was Wilmcote Top Lock – scene of the tipping incident earlier in the week. I entered with a little apprehension but it was all fine. And It looked very smart indeed with its new lock gate. And then it was lock after lock after lock. We passed another Ortomarine boat – Felicity – clearly still slumbering, we thought.
At the bottom of Wilmcote, we saw a moored boat ahead. They’d clearly spotted our advent and there was much hasty unhitching and a large poufffff of blue smoke as they gunned their engine to get in front of us. We weren’t too bothered as the end was almost in sight. It did make us laugh though! We also had someone steal a lock from under our noses, which was a little annoying as it had definitely been in our favour and they had emptied it, thus wasting a lockful of water that we could/should have gone down on. We paused briefly at Lock 53 to grab a McD’s breakfast. Well we had been up since 06:00! I felt dirty after I’d eaten it. Besmirched! Despoiled! Sullied. It went down well though!
We were joined by a volley at the McD’s lock. A very nice chap who had a border terrier. He came with us all the way down to the bottom lock – most welcome. And then we emerged, blinking, into Bancroft Basin – looking mighty fine on this sunny day in high summer. You can see why tourists gather here.
We were soon all tied up on one of the pontoons, where we will be staying, probably until Sunday morning. Aaaaaaand relax!
I did a bit of baking and then we had a quick beepy as we were both feeling a little tired. We were serenaded that evening by Neil “Diamonique” and Adel”icatessen”. Neil slightly better than Adele, we felt. What they lacked in quality iwas more than compensated in quantity of decibels! Definitely on 11! Luckily it didn’t go on too late!
Boats were coming and going and we were getting a bit buffeted! Paul said they were seemingly using Old Nick as a pivot point and kept dashing out to offer assistance. To be fair, it is a bit tight with the trip boats and ice cream boat there, but most of them had not learnt that manoeuvres done slowly are usually less damaging than when done at full tilt! We were alerted to new arrivals by the sudden over-revving of the arriving boats’ engines!
We had a bit of a lie in on Saturday morning. Very pleasant. I got brekker while Paul nipped over to the very handy Sainsers Local to get some provs to tide us over for the remainder of weekend – milk, bread etc.
A couple of boats left, a couple more arrived and the trip boat went out. We took that as our cue to leave. It was pretty breezy, so the absence of the trip boat would make our exit that much easier. Paul went and prepped the lock and I slipped our berth – without hitting anyone. Other boaters please note!
Exiting the lock and manoeuvring into position for the navigation arch under Clopton Bridge was a bit hairy – the water was full of rowing boats, little motor boats and trip boats zipping in and out of the other two! And the term rowing pre-supposes that maybe one of the crew can actually row – not always the case! And the helmsmen on the little motor boats were no better! It was quite hilarious mowing them down threading a way through and I had to employ the horn a couple of times to alert those apparently oblivious to the fact that it takes a while to stop a 58.5 foot narrowboat, so it’s probably not a good idea to position yourself slap bang in the middle of the navigation arch! You’re gonna come off worse than I am!
We made the short trip down to the Old Bathing Place on high alert for paddle boarders! We dumped rubbish. emptied the loo and took on water before leaving to find a nice spot on the river bank to moor. And we found it – just upstream of the chain ferry -, which is one of the oldest still operating and very well patronised. Regrettably, there seem to be a plethora of ice cream vans in this locale. That can only mean one thing! Over- priced 99s!
We watched the various craft plying the river that afternoon – young men teaching their young ladies to row, Mums and Dads rowing the kids, Grandads helming the zippy little electric boats – all named after Shakespearian characters – I spotted Titania and Falstaff. The many trip boats full of tourists. And the chain ferry (which is called Malvolio), threading its way back and forth, laden with passengers all afternoon. Oh and the odd (very) punt! It’s so lovely to see people out enjoying themselves on the water in this perfect weather.
We had an unexpectedly quiet night and slept until about 08:15. We had breakfast on deck but moved inside because it was a bit hot! There was already a lot of river activity – mainly rowers noisily going up and down with their attendant speedboats hollering encouragement and brickbats. Also a a large number of swans! And you can’t be in Stratford without a decent swan pic!
We moved off at around 10:30 for the short cruise down to our home for the next couple of nights – Shakespeare Marina. We have a grocery delivery today and a tag team of jaws arriving to chow down on all that grub tomorrow. But first we had a lock to do – the Colin P Witter Lock to be precise.
“The Colin P Witter Lock, formerly known as Stratford Lock, on the River Avon in Stratford-upon-Avon, is a marvel of engineering! Due to its unusual depth and the unstable nature of the ground, its construction was quite challenging. The unique girders used to stabilize this impressive structure are a testament to the ingenuity and effort that went into building it.”
Colin was instrumental in the rebuilding of the lock. Indeed it is only due to the vision and drive of a group of dedicated volunteers that we are able to navigate as far upstream as Strafford upon Avon. Prior to 1974, it was not possible. It was opened by the Queen Mother, and there’s a great bit of footage of her arriving by narrowboat back then.
Lock done it was just a short hop to Shakespeare Marina. Feeling a bit brand disloyal – sorry Aquavista! It was certainly fuller than our last visit, but still seems to have vacancies.
It was a bit of a game finding our berth – the numbers are on the power poles and not visible to the naked eye by an arriving boa! And the map does not render well on a mobile, so there was a brief period of “holding pattern” while the laptop was fired up! Not the most elegant of arrivals!
We’d hoped that our guests would be permitted to leave their car on site for a few days, but this was not allowed, which is unusual, as most Marinas permit it. We shall have to resort to Your Parking Space then!
The remainder of Sunday was spent cleaning and baking and generally preparing for over a week of having guests on board.
We will be staying here until Tuesday morning, when we shall set off with Bruce and Lenny to explore down river. Paul is taking a couple of days holiday to spend some time with our guests, which will be rather nice. We have licence for 1 month (£118) on the river, which is administered not by CRT but by the Avon Navigation Trust. I borrowed the image below from them. Thank you. We are thoroughly looking forward to revisiting some of our favourite spots. Did you know that there are actually several rivers called the Avon in England alone? For clarity this is the Warwickshire or Shakespeare’s Avon and nothing to do with the Avon in Bristol or the one in Hampshire. It rises in Northants (near Naseby) and flows into the Severn at Tewkesbury. Of course avon is the Celtic ancient word for river, so it just shows a complete lack of imagination on behalf of river namers, in my opinion!
| Period | Miles | Locks |
| 4th to 10th August | 11 | 27 |
| Cumulative 2025 | 306 | 205 |