Left at 08:55
arrived at 11:30.
Derek up to a really
bright day, he saw the Big Moon last night when he was letting dogs out for the
loo. Me, lazybones, not up and at-em
till 8, I didn’t realise how tired I was yesterday. Derek walked dogs and the weathers turning
cloudy and cool, no boats out yet just walkers.
We counted the locks yesterday there were 12 not 11. We moored at the bins and water point and someone
was doing a house up next to it, the back of the property where the bins were
stationed had a lovely pantilled roof and faced into the enclave of a couple of
properties, maybe it was the garage or
something similar but it was very nice.
I peered over the wall, nosy parker!!
And took some pictures. It must
be costing a fortune as it is very very big, wow will it be gorgeous when its
done. At the first lock the bottom gate
was open, I went to shut it and before I
could, Derek let the ground paddle up too fast and it nearly knocked me over, it was hard work first thing. We met another NB on the way up, the gate
blew open so it was ready for them to sail into. We literally went banging through the next
bridge hole it was very tight. Passed
Valley Cruisers Hire Boat Depot and came to the 2nd lock next to the
Premier Inn. Derek had to climb on top
of the boat to lower the handle on the churn and lay the satellite dish down as
the bridge was so low after the lock. We
arrived at lock 53 (the number on it that is )
I went to see if anyone was coming up and there was, I told Derek but
there was a Canal Trust (BW) guy on the bridge and he said as the pound ahead
of us was so low, would we penn down and our water would fill it up a bit. We filled the lock and Derek entered it, the
man from the next lock came up to see what we were doing, I told him
and he helped me with the paddles and gate.
He and his daughter were actually bringing 2 boats up, she was driving
the one in the lock when I looked, we crossed in the pound and we set about
getting into lock 54. We got in the lock
ok, but it was a different tale getting out.
The gate wouldn’t open fully and Derek was wedged between it and the
lock wall. Tried to take a run at it, no better. I noticed CT van had arrived at top of locks
, it looked like workman this time. The
other 3 CT people weren’t dressed for work, they were just inspecting things
along the canal. Went to get the young
man and he came with a very long scaffold pole with an oblong shaped piece of
metal with holes in it, fastened to the end.
Derek and him banged the gate shut a few times, he then dredged behind
the gate with his trusty tool!!! Derek
climbed back on the boat and we got through.
Thanked him and proceeded to the last lock before we got into the basin
in Stratford. Did lock 55 ok and went
through into next bit of water, it was surrounded by lovely waterside
properties with some lovely gardens. We
went through a bridge hole, it was very low, out into the basin. There were loads and loads of people and of
course shops!!! We moored on the first
pontoon and after 17 days arrived at the home of the Bard. He is in fact on his podium right in front of
us. There were loads of people taking
photos of us and an Australian lady walked down the pontoon to admire the stuff
on top of the boat, she asked Derek the ins and outs of the boat and our usage
of it and thanked us for telling her about our Journey. There a number of working NBs here one
selling ice cream, a craft boat selling embroidered goods and a Baguette Boat
(better class of sandwich here of course) We were having a rest and then
hitting the town for a nice shop.
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