Bancroft Basin and Up the Stratford Canal

It's Sunday evening and we have just finished our first cruising day back on a narrow canal. My aim going into the narrow locks was a bit rusty to begin with but that was soon rectified as we headed up the 17 locks to Wilmcote.

Our cruising on the Avon River came to an end as we locked up into Bancroft Basin at Stratford on Avon Friday, just after lunch. Plenty of moorings to choose from, I counted eight available before entering lock to take us off the river. Our trip had taken us to Eversham and Welford Lock for overnight stops. We had chosen Welford Lock so we could shorten the distance to Stratford ensuring an early arrival and the best chance at getting a mooring in the basin for the weekend.

Along the way we snapped a few pics of interesting sights. Rachael was impressed by this robot mower, it seemed to be doing a rather good job for its size.

This swan was giving her three cygnets a lift.

This weir at Fladbury was very impressive.

Eversham was a good sized town taking Rachael at least four hours to comb the streets for bargains. I thought this bank was worthy of a photo. There were no shortage of moorings here, we took a spot on rings just beside a small park, there was a huge park across the river absolutely full of kids, no school on Wednesday. We arrived at lunch time so we headed up to the Old Swan Inn for lunch and a pint.

Initially we were going to stop overnight, Thursday at Bedford-on-Avon however, everyone was keen to press on. These geese were very busy looking after their family as we passed by, biggest brood we had seen of any of the bird species.

Our mooring was picturesque, basically in the middle of nowhere. No phone and no internet available so it was card games for a bit of entertainment.

The weir behind our mooring, it was noisy up close but not too bad on the other side of the lock island.

Friday was our last day on the Avon, our last lock on the river and there was a nesting swan next to the lock. She seemed happy to let us go about working the lock.

Entering Stratford and cruising past Holy Trinity Church, burial place of William Shakespeare.

Last stretch of the Avon before heading into the lock at Bancroft Basin.

High pressure stakes as we locked up into the basin with a crowd of a hundred or so spectators. Plenty of moorings available for us to choose from.

By Saturday lunch the basin was full, not another mooring to be had. The parks and mall areas surrounding the basin were very busy. The queues at the two ice cream boats were too long for us to wait.

We took the chance to walk over to The Attic Theatre, just near to the end of the basin, to watch a comical play called The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). All Shakespeare's plays and sonnets in three hours is not for those who want to learn a bit about Shakespeare! However it was well worth the £15 each.

The phone and internet has been poor, even in Bancroft Basin, and hasn't improved until today (Tuesday) where we have just arrived at Kingswood Junction but I will post about that later on.

The soccerball count is now at 19.