When we arrived in Stratford
on Avon four weeks ago we thought we would pop out onto the River Avon for a
couple of days and then slowly make our way back up the Stratford canal to Warwick and Leamington
Spa. That was a month ago and we are
still on the river; we are even thinking of staying on the river for another
week or even a few.
On Friday, we had moored
on an island so we had to move again on Saturday to somewhere we could get
access to roads in order to get the car back from Luddington. Having looked at Google Earth it seemed that
Barton looked a good place so we cruised down to Pilgrim’s lock at Barton.
 |
Another peaceful mooring –
Saturday afternoon by Pilgrim's lock at Barton
|
On the way, we heard our
first cuckoo of the year and saw a couple of kingfishers flying low over the
water as they do. They fly parallel to,
and along the water unlike most other birds that tend to swoop up and down and
fly form one bank to the other.
 |
Leaving our mooring on
the island on Saturday morning
|
After mooring up at Barton
we walked four and a half miles back to the car at Luddington. I double checked that we were walking the
correct side of the river so that I didn’t make the same mistake I had earlier
in the week. I had forgotten that there
are very few river crossings and that, unlike canal locks, river locks do not
afford access to both river banks as there is a weir one side of the lock. You can see what I mean in the picture below.
 |
Leaving WA Cadbury lock –
our only lock of the day
|
We followed the Avon
Valley footpath until we got to Welford on Avon where we used the road bridge
to get to the right side of the river for Luddington. We followed an old railway line for most of
the rest of the walk.
In Welford, we found a
Victorian post box but, on checking it out, found that it had already been
waymarked (waymarking Victorian post boxes is one of my stranger hobbies).
 |
Victorian post box in wall
outside Welford on Avon church
|
 |
One of the pretty streets
in Welford on Avon
|
When we picked up the car
we drove back via Bidford on Avon as that is probably the next place we will
visit on the boat and we needed to check what parking was like for both the
boat and the car. We then set off to
find the boat and a good place to park the car for the rest of the weekend.
The place I had looked at on Google Earth was ideal, on a junction of
two country roads where one car could just get on the verge.
Karen is going to have to
walk across a field and down an unmade road to get to the car for work on
Monday morning – fortunately, she finds it fun having different and interesting
routes to work.
 |
Part of Karen’s walk to
the car on Monday morning
|
Although we had planned on
potting out the summer plants on Saturday, it never happened, so maybe today we
will get around to it.
We are beginning to think
that we may go right down the River Avon to its junction with the River Severn
at Tewkesbury. Then we would go up to
Worcester on the Severn and join the Worcester & Birmingham canal where we
would head north to Birmingham. Just
before Birmingham we would turn off onto the North Stratford canal and head
back down towards Stratford or Leamington again.
I’ll have to do a bit of
planning this week to make sure it’s all possible for Karen to still get to
work from the points we would be mooring during the week days. It’s quite an enticing idea as, until we get
to the outskirts of Droitwich, the journey will be on rivers and canals that are
new to us.
 |
| The route we may be takingnext |
No comments:
Post a Comment