Day 31 - Wootton Wawen to Lock 25

Friday 8th August - 6 miles, 14 locks



Horses and foals near the mooring

Fully intended to get up and get going however decided to clean the boat thoroughly as we may have guests later. Paul went to Yew Tree Farm for supplies. Enjoyed a coffee watching Anglo Welsh staff prepare the returned hire boats for the next guests.









Mooring next to Anglo Welsh base

Set off after 11.00am only to find we were in a queue for the locks when we got to Preston Baggot. Speaking to a family on an Anglo Welsh boat who had got their timing completely wrong. They had moored at Lowsonford last night, realised they could not turn their boat round and had to descend eight locks before turning round so at 3.00pm today they still had 23 locks, draw bridges, tunnel and lots of miles to get back to Tardebigge for 9.30am tomorrow. It caused quite a lot of conversation on the canal for the rest of the day.

Dusty's son was also in the queue he managed to lose his bike from his roof somewhere between Wootton Wawen and Lowsonford. There was a steam boat in front of him with a very enthusiastic man on board who said Stephen Goldsbrough had rebuilt the boat The Laplander number 47. Dusty's son towed him through the locks to speed things up a bit.



Guests for tea

Got a call from Helen and Di at around 3.00pm to say they were at lock 26 so they joined us at lock 29 for a short cruise and a cup of tea.













Decided to stay put above lock 25 as rain was threatening. Walked into Lapworth for a beer. Passing a moored boat we heard "hello Paul" coming from inside - it was Dave and Wendy from folk club moored a couple of locks up. We had already passed Kate and Pam earlier moored around lock 32.

Got a little damp on the walk back for dinner.




Day 32 - Lock 25 to Warings Green

Saturday 9th August - 5 miles, 23 locks

Total for trip: 174 miles, 133 locks

Tried to get an early start but just as I was leaving the boat with windlass in hand the two boats moored in front of us set off so we went back in and had another cuppa.

At the second lock of the day, Dave, Who we'd seen last night, decided to give us a hand only to fall over and twist his ankle - he had my frozen broad and endame beans!

Made our way up to lock 14 where we stopped for coffee and cake. Cake bought from canal shop lovely, homemade and cheap. Also bought a couple of old horse brasses to hang on hatch doors one of the Stratford and one of the Severn.

On the way through Kingswood basin we heard of a boat spinning through 360 degrees in a pound effected by the bywash. Also met Chris and Caryn who were heading to Hatton to get their bottom blacked.

Canal busy but managed to complete Lapworth flight without any delays.

Stopped for lunch at Hockley Heath. Last hour was very busy and we grounded several times when passing other boats as water is so low.

Back to moorings at about 5.30pm to find that Stuart had moored on our ring and Marianne had plugged someone into our electricity! Both problems were soon sorted.

Test match very exciting - England won by an innings and 54 runs.

Finished trip in Bluebell and a Bangla lounge curry!