More photos here.
Whilst on that trip Becky suggested that our main holiday for this year should also be spent on the canals somewhere.
It didn't take much to persuade me!
So, here I write this one week away from our week on the canals
Once again, the boat will be hired from Anglo Welsh. Last time we had a 69 ft boat for 7 of us. This time it will be 57 ft for 2 of us giving a boat to person ratio of 28.5 rather than 9.86 that we had before! Our boat is called Golden Finch and the layout means lots of space and includes a solid fuel stove to keep us warm in the undoubtedly cold and wet weather we'll have!
We'll be starting from Wootton Wawen in Warwickshire and will probably head down to Stratford-Upon-Avon for a few days then back up the Stratford Canal towards Birmingham. Whether or not we get close to Birmingham is yet to be decided.
Another option after Stratford is to take a right down the Lapworth Link to the Grand Union Canal and Warwick.
The downside of this route, as nice as it is, is the flight of locks at Hatton.
That didn't sound too bad as I typed it but the Hatton flight consists of 21 of these 14ft wide monsters...
The wide locks were built in the 1930s to replace the flight of narrow locks built in 1799.
Part of this modernisation was to install some of the hardest paddle gear that can be found on the canals...(The hardest are of the same design but larger at Knowle!)
Once at the bottom there is Warwick itself with a fantastic castle, etc.
Whether or not to do Hatton depends on how we feel on the day. I'm half tempted to do it but as there is only 2 of us on the boat, it may be a bit much for one person. But we'll see...
The weather today is about 23 degrees and sunny... any bets that will change before next weekend.
I am hoping to keep a diary every day of how the trip goes but in the meantime, bye for now!
