Piglet: Newbold to Hawkesbury Junction 22nd May 2013

Set off from Newbold early at 7:48 am in order to make certain we reached our destination of Hawkesbury Junction at a good time.

Nearing the junction all the visitor moorings seemed to be full but whilst passing through the stop lock, Becky got talking to a CRT employee who said there was plenty in the Coventry direction.  Turning left at the junction there didn't seem to be that many spaces. There were a couple of boats moored between the junction and the water point with at least one beyond it.  Past the last boat there was a grassed area to the left which looked ideal, so we moored up tight to the last boat which meant we were sticking 6ft into a no mooring area but I think we can live with that. I still can't work out why it was no mooring as the entrance to the basin opposite was a fair way away.

We'd booked a meal at the pub on the junction, the Greyhound, and arranged for Joanna to leave her car there overnight so we got on with a few jobs while we waited for her to arrive.

After she'd arrived we went to the Greyhound for lunch which was absolutely lovely with so much choice!

We finished our meal and went back to the boat for a bit before returning to the Greyhound and waiting for our taxi which arrived on time and not long after we were at the Ricoh Arena.

Concert

After the concert we arrived back, had a quick nightcap and were soon off to bed!

11 Miles 5.25 Furlongs
1 Lock

Holiday's Are Coming...

Back in May, I went with a few friends and hired a narrow boat from the Anglo Welsh base at Great Haywood on the junction of the Trent & Mersey and Staffordshire & Worcestershire canals.


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!