Wilmcote to Leamington Spa

Our journey from Wilmcote to Leamington Spa has been hard work and largely uneventful.

Going down to Stratford we did the Kingswood to Wilmcote leg in two short hops but Kevin and Carol had business to take care of and needed to be back in Crick early, we needed to catch up a day. After the two day stopover in Wilmcote we headed off early with the plan to knock over the trip in one day and go a little further to set ourselves up for the next day, tackling the Hatton Lock flight, all twenty-one of them!

I did take a few pics of our trip back up the Stratford Canal but only a couple this time so as not to repeat myself. This shot is near Lowsenford, one of our stops on the way to Stratford. I wanted to clearly show the split in the bridge for the tow rope to pass through in the early horse-drawn days. Some of the bridges were quite tight with only centimeters to spare.

This was a sixteen lock day, keeps you nice and busy. No time to swan around with farm shops and sightseeing this time! We pulled into and back out of Kingswood Junction around 6pm and headed down the Grand Union Canal towards Warwick, tying up at Turner's Green just before 6:30. Still plenty of daylight left, it's not getting dark until around 9:30 to 10pm.

The next morning was another early start. We both filled our water tanks for washing day and headed off for the one hour cruise to Hatton Top Lock. We moored about ten minutes away from the top lock  to have a cuppa, it had been a busy day yesterday and today was going to be busier.

We landed at Hatton Top Lock, which had already been set by a boater waiting to be partnered down the flight. These locks are all doubles so pairs can work the same lock thus cutting the time. Not finding a partner from the pair of us he waved us into the lock, a good start. so we had plenty of helpers for the first two locks. Seems these are very popular locks for gongoozlers (canal sightseers). About five locks down the welcome sight of a CRT volunteer! He and his dog said they would stick with us for the next hour! That certainly sped the process up even further as he set the locks in front of us.

We lobbed into Warwick and moored above the Cape Locks in the late afternoon happy with our achievement. Another early night, ready for a sightseeing trip to Warwick Castle in the morning.

We have been to Warwick on a previous occasion but didn't have time to get to the castle so it was number one on our 'To-Do' list. I must admit that this castle is up there with the best that I have seen.

And through the gate...

A nice little trebuchet in the front garden. They normally have demonstrations in the gardens but unfortunately it was rather a wet day, no jousting either. I still felt we got our £29ea worth.

The Great Hall had an extensive collection of armour and weapons, this knight and horse armour some of the best.

These dining rooms with their ornately decorated ceilings were quite beautiful. The second room, had no windows and being rather large, the flash wasn't quite up to it.

And, just some of the extensive gardens...

I haven't included any photos of our tour of the dungeons. The tour is done in small groups, where you are guided around by actors playing the part of storyteller, sometimes jailer and sometimes judge. They have cornered the market on photos with a green screen print available at the end of your forty-five minute tour.

Rather than stay another day we left Warwick the next morning with Kevin and Carol. We were moored just above Cape Locks so Rachael and Carol wandered down to set the locks as Kevin and I moved the boats off the mooring. First stop was Tesco to refill the cupboards, fortunately the two moorings along side Tesco were empty on arrival so we moored up and walked the couple of hundred metres to the supermarket. It was here that we said farewell to Kevin and Carol as they headed off back to Crick to do a few bits and pieces. We got back to Serafina and Dunslavin had been quickly replaced by another boat. We were on a twenty-four hour mooring, so we sat down for lunch. Not sure why it's twenty-four hours, it's very popular and only required for four hours at the most. Rather dangerous too, it's on a blind right-hand bend in the canal and so many boats don't slow down as evidenced by the gouges out of the rubber bumpers on the canal side. We heard another boat arrive so quickly cleaned up and told them we were heading off, they gladly took our place.

We arrived in the centre of Leamington Spa after a short cruise. There are lots of moorings here and eerily we were the only boat on them overnight.