It seems a long time ago
since our weekend trip to Norway but we still haven’t moved on from our mooring
outside the Avon Bowls club so nothing has changed back in England. We’re thinking that we will probably have a cruise down to Luddington, Bidford on Avon and possibly Evesham this coming
weekend.
We have been to Luddington
before and it’s a great place to stay as far as walks are concerned and still
close enough to Leamington for Karen to drive to work. We’ve not been to the other two places by
boat before but know they’re pleasant and still within easy commuting for
Karen. We’re not normally river people,
preferring the canal system, but as it has been so dry recently the levels are
low and we feel quite safe.
It's not just the water levels that put us off rivers, it's the fact that they can be quite featureless - the high banks can mean that views across the countryside are lost. Saying that, we really enjoy the smaller rivers like the Stort and Lea in London/Essex and the Soar in Leicestershire. Of course,
it doesn’t take long for a day or two of torrential rain to change things but
there doesn’t seem much chance of that at present.
On Monday one of our walks
took us back down the river towards Luddington and I noticed how much the Giant
Hogweed has started sprouting.
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This is Sausage island and
there is a large patch of Giant Hogweed starting to grow behind the dead tree
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The sap can be a nasty
irritant and children and pets are often treated in hospitals for the burns it
causes to the skin. For that reason,
I must keep Buddy on his lead in infected areas. When it’s being treated, the workers wear
full hazard protection suits. When we were on the Peak Forest canal a couple of years ago we saw patches that were over twice as high as us - that's getting on for four metres tall.
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Closer up
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Walking over the river
Avon on the old Stratford to Worcester railway line
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After crossing the river,
the path goes alongside the race course and I was fascinated at the labour-intensive
operation going on to treat the track.
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Poles don’t just do house
maintenance apparently
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In the evening, Jo and
Ileen came around for an evening of bridge.
I think one reason we carry on playing every week is because it’s a
tradition that the host gets in luxury biscuits for the coffee break and gives
the ladies an excuse to indulge.
Just as they turned up,
Helen arrived. She and I had arranged to
meet up for coffee on Tuesday but her plans had changed and she came down to
tell us that she was moving off. She had
to cruise up to Stratford Parkway as she needs to be near the station for a week
or so.
Before Helen left she gave
me some handy tips for single handing the river locks when coming back
upstream. The locks are really quite
fierce here and you need to be very careful to avoid the boat bouncing around
all over the place. Generally, you only
need a centre line to hold the boat providing the paddles are opened slowly and
carefully but it is different on this river.
You need to tie both front and back lines to the lockside which is
tricky when single handing. I know you
have to do the same thing on rivers like the Trent and Thames but the locks are
not as fierce there so boats are easier to control.
As I mentioned before, we
are moored by the bowls club and it certainly seems very active even if the
players themselves don’t seem it. On
Tuesday I was nearly tempted to try out their taster session that was
advertised but ended up having an ice cream instead.
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Outside the bowls club
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In the afternoon we
followed the old horse drawn tramway which used to run from Moreton-in-the-Marsh
carrying stone and lime to the canal basin in Stratford and on by boat to
Birmingham. Coal was carried in the
reverse direction for firing the lime kilns.
The lines have been taken up but it makes for a pleasant enough walk,
especially when wet, as the surface has been made up.
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| Tramway crossing an old road down to the river which is now an entrance to the rec |
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Looking back to Stratford
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Heading out of Stratford
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The weather continues to
be really mixed and we are still lighting the stove most evenings. Still, I have plenty of logs and coal so
shouldn’t run out before next winter!
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Sitting with the hatch wide open on Wednesday morning contemplating visiting the Bowls club.
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