West Mids Meander: Day 5

We set off pretty early again, at about ten to eight.  A boat had come down the locks last evening, mooring up when it was almost dark, so we wanted to take advantage of the locks being empty.  After we’d gone up six or seven locks, a couple of volunteer lock keepers arrived, and radioed back to their colleagues that we were heading up, so then began opening gates for us so each lock was set.  Once you get to the ‘thick’ of the locks, there are great views down the hill to Warwick Church.

The first boats we met were in the lock by the old buildings.  One of the lock keepers had made them wait for us to come up.

A couple of lockies stayed with us right to the top, so we did the 17 locks in two hours.  We’d wanted to stop for water, but a boat had just arrived on the water point so we carried on.  Shrewley Tunnel was very wet at the far end, but at least it’s quite short.  In fact, even from the bridge before it you can see right through.

It had been a rather grey day so far, but as we crossed the Rowington Embankment the sun made a brief appearance.

We stopped for water at Turner’s Green, and found the tap to be a very fast one.  I also checked down the weed hatch and removed a piece of branch that seemed to have got stuck in there.  As we approached Kingswood Junction, an Anglo Welsh boat was just coming out, and we had a little pause while he got round the corner, before we could make the turn.

Along the Lapworth Link, I dropped Adrian off and he set the lock off to the right.  The gap to the left is the way to go if you want to head down towards Stratford.

A boat was coming down the next lock and left it open for us, but we then found we were following a boat up.  We stopped for a brief lunch break after six locks, where there are decent moorings.  The next few locks are all in a line and very close together, and there’s really not much room to get past downhill boats.

We made good progress up the locks, stopping after Lock 6 (our fifteenth of the Lapworth flight) at about 2.45.  We are meeting Bob and June who used to have Autumn Myst for dinner this evening at The Navigation down near the junction.  

8 miles, 32 locks.  (55 miles, 81 locks)