After getting some washing
done and topping up with water, Buddy and I set off for a cruise to our next
spot on Monday morning. Karen and I had
looked at a couple of likely places at the two locks at Harvington over the
weekend, but it seemed she would have to park the car in a private area owned
by an angling club. As she leaves at the
crack of dawn and gets home late we decided that it wouldn’t matter as the
moorings looked good at either place and it didn’t look like she could be
locked in.
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I counted over 30 goslings
with this pair of Canada Geese – maybe they’ve fostered or adopted some?
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Apart from potential water
level issues, the levels go up and down a lot quicker than other rivers we’ve
cruised, the other problem with the River Avon is the lack of moorings. Moorings are only available in limited numbers
in towns or at locks. Mind you it’s been
so quiet during our five weeks on the river that we haven’t had a problem
finding space to moor; it’s just they’re not very good for continuous cruisers
who need access to a car.
It felt like it was going
to be quite a hot day and it certainly turned out to be across most of the
country. By the time we got to the first
lock Buddy decided to conserve energy rather than follow me round the lock as he
normally would whilst I did the gates and paddles.
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Buddy not wasting any
energy
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By the top lock gates,
blue tits had nested behind the pilings.
I tried for ages to get a picture of them coming in and out but to no
avail.
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Nest in the hole under the
brown slab to the left of the picture
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Two ways of spelling cill
at one lock
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Now that Karen has nearly potted
up all our summer plants I have to make sure I tend them properly as I’m at
home all day. Many are left in the
cratch overnight and brought out on warmer days, much as you would do when
using a greenhouse when living in bricks and mortar.
We are particularly keen
that we get a good tomato crop this year – the best on the boat was in 2014. I asked Karen what to do with the plants and her
response was, ‘Do whatever you have to do to get them looking like the ones in
that nursery we visited at Cleeve Prior’.
That is a tall order I’m afraid as all their plants were in fantastic
condition. Never mind I’ll do my best of
course.
Over the weekend, we had
passed a couple of park home sites by the river. Nothing unusual in that apart from the fact
that were advertised for the only 50s only.
Poor Karen, it’s the first time she’s been targeted as an older person –
she wasn’t happy!
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One of the park home sites
for those that like a quiet life
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A bit further on we
reached Cleeve Prior where we had walked on Sunday. We had come down the steep hill to the river
with the intention of following a path back to Bidford. Unfortunately, the path had been closed so we
had to climb back up the hill to find another route.
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Cruising past Cleeve Prior
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You may remember a picture
of Karen walking through a field on Sunday – we weren’t sure what the crop
was. My Dad got in touch and told me
they were field beans. Looking them up
on the Farmers’ Weekly website I see they started growing them as a cattle feed
crop but are trying to improve the quality so they can use them for the (more
lucrative) consumer market. Apparently,
the crop is split 50/50 between human and cattle consumption at present.
After four miles we
approached the first of the Harvington locks. It did look peaceful so I decided
to moor up and check out access for Karen.
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Approaching the first
Harvington lock – going past an unprotected weir
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Moored up at Harvington
Mill lock
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There was a track next to
our mooring so we went up it to find whether it was possible to get the car
down. When we reached the end, there was
a heavily locked gate leading out onto a country lane so things weren’t looking
too good. There was a mobile holiday
home in a clearing next to the gate with people having a barbecue in the
garden. They said they were happy to
open the gate if they were around but were going home shortly after a long
weekend. They said the best thing to do
was to park the car in the lane and Karen could climb through the gate;
climbing over wasn’t an option as it was covered in barbed wire. Apparently, it’s all been put in to keep fishermen
out as they had been littering and making a nuisance of themselves down by the
lock.
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The lane for Karen’s
latest walk to work
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We did find an alternative
route but it involved going across a golf course which could be wet in the mornings
and evenings, so probably not such a good idea.
When we got back, Buddy
collapsed in the shade as it was so hot and I went to explore the old mill.
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Buddy collapsed in the shade out of the heat
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The disused mill at
Harvington lock
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The mill was built in
around 1800 and is a grade II listed building.
It does look in rather a sorry state of repair.
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The remains of one of the
two water wheels; the other wheel looked in better condition but impossible to
get a shot of it
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The gear wheels for the
grinders
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The lock where we are
moored was built in 1982 as part of the restoration of the River Avon. Near the mill are the remains of the original
lock. It had been used as a dry dock
since the new lock opened but sadly, no longer; the channel to it has badly
silted up through constant flooding in the winters.
In the evening, Karen
picked me up and we went into Stratford for our Monday evening bridge session
with our friends.
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