In view of the weather forecast, we made an early start, in the hope that we'd have finished boating by the time the rain arrived. As it turned out, there was no need to worry, but we enjoyed doing it anyway. We got into the top of the Wilmcote flight at seven, and had a very good run down, averaging less than 10 minutes a lock for the 11 locks.
It helped that they were mostly with us, and that there is still very little traffic. I did the first eight of the 16 of the day, then Sheila took over for the remainder. The upshot was that we were into Bancroft Basin (why Bancroft?) by half ten. There was plenty of room on the pontoons, in the sense that there were several spaces, but the installation of them doesn't really take account of the possibility of many more than one 70 footer wanting to moor at one time.
We've got onto one at the broader end of the basin, but it still makes for problems for those wanting to manoeuvre into the spaces next to us. The presence of the permanent business barges on the other side doesn't help either...
After a quick coffee, we did some shopping, including finding a superb, but pricey, cheese shop, Paxton and Whitfield ("Exceptional cheese since 1797"), where we bought a cheese knife, the kind with holes in the blade to stop the cheese sticking to it (Lakeland didn't have one, and sent us on there) and some seriously tasty looking cheese.
After lunch, we took a wander down the riverside, including a trip across the river by the chain ferry, at 50 pence per person per trip, probably the only reasonably priced tourist deal in Stratford. ;)
Sanity Again is being the usual target of cameras and questions about our lifestyle, but that's part of the fun of being here. Some photos to finish:
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| The church from across the river |
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| View from the chain ferry |
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| Long boat, short pontoon |
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| Who said these statues had gone? |
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