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One of the reasons we like
the South Stratford canal so much: the quaint brick and iron bridges
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Monday was pump out day
but first I got the washing done so I could fill up with water as well. Everything was fine when we started; I found the pump out cards that Mike and Aileen left us when they moved their boat
to France. I usually use boat yards for
pump outs as they tend to have better machines than the self-service ones at
the canal side services. The self-service
ones are on timers so can stop before the tank is emptied. At boat yards they carry on as long as you
want and give plenty of time for a good rinse out too. Another big advantage is that the boat yard staff
tend to do the job for you.
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Pump out card – sweet reminder
of Mike and Aileen
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Setting off on the left
arm onto the South Stratford
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We moored up, extracted
the pump out hose and got it ready to start.
The first card I tried went in the machine and I got a message, “Not
enough credit”. I tried several times (cursing
Aileen of course) and then decided it may have been an old one of ours so
quietly forgave Aileen and tried another.
A similar thing happened – it had credit but not enough – oh well, maybe
they were both old ones of ours. Luckily
the third one worked.
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Moored up at the service
station
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Having finished the pump
out I got rigged up to take on water, but no water came out of the tap. I know it had been frosty but it hadn’t been
cold enough to freeze the tap. I spent
ages looking around for a primary tap that may have been inadvertently turned
off but no luck.
There was nothing for it
but to retrace my steps and then reverse up a couple of locks of the Lapworth
flight to where I knew there was another water point.
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Turning back onto the link
after the abortive attempt at getting water
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The lock cottage in the
picture above has a barrel roof, typical of the South Stratford canal. I got back onto the link and went to get the
bottom lock ready – the one on the right in the third picture from the top. As is usual I checked to make sure no one else
was coming down for setting the lock and a lady (Sheila) appeared with a windlass. As the lock was practically set for her I
told her to go first. I looked to see
where her boat was and saw her husband (Keith) was reversing it out of the next
lock up.
It would have been strange
if gongoozlers were around who hadn’t seen lock operations before as they would
have been led to believe that the boats always had to reverse through the
locks. Sheila and I set about filling
the lock and noticed a water hose across the head of the lock. Someone on the permanent moorings was filling
up their boat through three connected lengths of hose – it was a long way.
Keith and Sheila decided
not to wait to fill up with water and we held up the hose so he could steer
under it. Once they were clear I reversed into the lock, much to Buddy’s
bemusement.
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Going up a lock backwards
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Taking on water. The permanent moorings where someone else was taking on water are on the left. The lock we had come up is on the left. The right hand lock that leads onto the South
Stratford was closed for maintenance.
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By the time I got back to
our mooring on the link I realised it had taken two and a quarter hours – about
an hour and a half longer than it should have taken. It had also entailed a trip onto the start of
the North Stratford canal which I hadn’t planned.
After lunch Buddy and I
went for a walk down the South Stratford canal which is the way we will be
cruising for the next few weeks. It was
a really good feeling as we hadn’t been here since October 2015. Although Karen and I call the boat home,
there is also a feeling of home in some areas we cruise through – this being
one of them.
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One of the barrel roofed
lock cottages
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The bridges were built in
a cantilevered manner so the towing ropes could pass through without having to
unhitch the horse. Some of the gaps have
been closed up on the well-used bridges – maybe for health and safety?
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The gap between the two
halves of a bridge for passing the towing rope through
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Before the 1800s Stratford’s
non-road link was via the River Avon south to eventually reach the Severn and
hence Bristol. What Stratford needed was
a link to the Midlands and Birmingham hence the Stratford canal was built
linking it with Birmingham during the 1810s.
Unfortunately the railways came along soon afterwards and the canal didn’t
get much use and was bought by the Great Western Railway in 1856. Old weight restriction signs are still found
at many of the bridges with the inscription of Great Western Railway.
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One of the many weight
restriction sigs still in place on the canal. The railway reference is at the
bottom including the headquarters, Paddington Station in London.
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The canal became non-navigable
by 1946 but fortunately has now been fully restored. SONACS (Stratford On Avon Canal Society) have
placed replica mile markers along the route.
Many of these are next to the remains of the original markers.
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A modern mile marker
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Stanking planks next to
one of the locks that are still closed for maintenance - couldn't work out what the inscription meant
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As it was Monday it was
bridge night so I was going off to fetch Karen from work when I remembered I
hadn’t put the ‘chemicals’ into the holding tank after the pump out. I went to do that before leaving and noticed
the gauge was showing full still. It
seemed the pump out hadn’t worked correctly – it had no sight glass so difficult
to check if it really was working. I
immediately thought of Aileen again recounting details of their first pump out
in France which they had to do there times before finally working. It’s a bit different in France as they tend
to pump out into the water – a big no no in most of the UK waters although
there are a couple well the authorities still allow it.
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