Back up the hill

All this boating about really makes you aware of the topography of the countryside you're traversing. We're on our way back up out of the Avon valley, so it was 16 locks and 4½ miles today, returning to Wilmcote.

We hung about waiting for the Gregg's shop to open, so that I could get a nice loaf of their country grain bread, but when it did, it was only selling some very basic stuff, being essentially a sandwich and snack shop. So I went to the Sainsbury's Local up the hill, and bought a sliced loaf there.

Grocery shopping in Stratford was a bit restricted. Unless you visit the Tesco accessible from Bridge 65 (and there's not a lot of mooring there), the choice is the aforesaid Sainsbury's or a similar Co-op, both very much town centre, limited floor space stores. There's a better choice of stuff here at Wilmcote, frankly.

Getting Sanity Again off her pontoon mooring was interesting. The basin had completely filled up yesterday afternoon, so we had boats either side. I was able to back her across the basin, then I held the stern on the bank whilst Sheila shafted the bow round until we'd winded sufficiently for me to motor out. Then it was a case of making the turn under the exit bridge, and off we jolly well went.

We had a steady and uneventful run up the first locks and stopped on the water point to fill up and start a washload. Wilmcote flight was pretty as ever, with little traffic until we reached the the top three. Here we had an encounter with a 70 foot Anglo Welsh containing a very cheerful but novice mixed crew of Brits and Japanese, closely followed by a day boat who locked down the top lock, turned and went straight back up.

Enquiry showed that it was nothing to do with Sheila's steering (we'd swapped roles half way up) but that they'd run out of time and didn't want to go any further. The second day boat from Wootton Wawen was just behind, but they elected to stay above the lock to eat lunch, so we were able to carry on up, finally arriving at Wilmcote at a quarter to one.

We've decided to return through Birmingham over the next few days, and I've rewritten the Cruising Plans box on the right to match. Regular readers will recall that the 3 connection was pretty iffy from Wootton Wawen through Lapworth, so don't be surprised if I'm reduced to tweeting for a couple of days.

A second day in Stratford

One of the good things about spending two days anywhere is that you get to know the place so much better. That first afternoon, you bomb around doing what you need to do, then retreat to the boat and slump for the rest of the day. This morning, we took a gentle amble about the place; we had some further shopping to do which gave some structure to our wanderings, but there was also this feeling of increasing familiarity with what is a very pleasant market town, once you get away from the tourist hordes.

Admittedly, the Friday open market was nothing special; Penkridge, for example is much more impressive.

That said, most of the shopping was successful. In particular, we found the replacement folding chairs we've been looking for, by walking right out to the retail park on the Birmingham Road, where a large branch of Halfords had what we wanted. I'm sorry to report that Gelert has not replied to either of my emails about the failing kit they produce, by the way.

As forecast, the weather has deteriorated, sadly for us, though the farmers must be glad of it, too late though it is to undo all the damage of the dry spring. It's not been impossible, however, and we've been able to do our exploring and retail therapy without getting wet.

Tomorrow, we'll postpone our departure just long enough to get fresh bread from the handy branch of Gregg's, then head back uphill to Wilmcote once more.

Arrival

There's always a sense of triumph when we get to where we're going, testimony to the way in which boating makes you aware of the need to strive to achieve something worth doing. In this case, of course, it was hardly an expedition to the Pole, but, still, getting here feels good.

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:

The church from across the river

View from the chain ferry

Long boat, short pontoon

Who said these statues had gone?