Onto the Grand Union Canal ...

Barry went off for a scout around the area this morning, not a lot to see. I spent the morning catching up on emails and letting everyone know about our change of English wedding date from early August to late September due to our delayed journey.

Barry found 4 old fashion forms of communication all in one place - sign, noticeboard, postbox and public telephone box!

We thought we’d have a treat at lunchtime and give me time off for good behaviour and eat out at the pub opposite (the Fleur de Lys at Lowsonford). Unfortunately, though it’s a lovely looking pub with a fabulous garden area, we were extremely disappointed with the price and quality of the food. However, on talking to fellow boaters they said loved their meal, in spite of being shocked at the extortionate prices, so maybe we just made bad choices? Anyway, with typical Britishness, I ate my dried out ‘Matador’ pie (£9.35!!), that had 2 tiny pieces of beef in it, and didn’t complain. But then no-one came and asked us how the meal was – I’m sure we would’ve told them if they had! Barry’s Cajun chicken baguette (£5.95!) was tasteless with a scrawny bit of lettuce and red onion. Ah well, the Pimms and lemonade with strawberries in (£4) was delicious! That’s our treat for at least the next week; let’s hope next week’s is a little better!

The Fleur de Lys pub in Lowsonford

Bit of a one horse town!

I had a lovely surprise on the walk to the pub, the boat that moored up behind us had an old friend on board, a midwife I used to work with on the labour ward at Good Hope, Sue Hill. I haven’t seen her since 2001 when I left, and it was such a treat to see her looking so happy. She was such a calm and reassuring presence to all the midwives, students and women there – a good midwife truly is a treasure, I hope they have some like her still there today; she left in 2003 and is happily retired and recently married which is excellent news …

Sue & Sandra at Fleur de Lys

Sandra's herbs, sunflowers and strawberries doing well on top of the boat

More locks today, I think we did about 9 or 10, the Birmingham area is full of them unfortunately! I need to get to a train station as I’m off to Sutton Coldfield on Saturday to go to a Ball at a posh hotel with some friends – the 50th anniversary of my old grammar school which should be fun. I’ll be leaving Barry alone for a weekend’s peace as no-one is taking partners, it would be terribly boring for them.

The barrell roofed cottages on the Stratford canal were made by the workers who built the canals. They didn't know how to make proper roofs but knew how to build bridges and tunnels, hence the shape

We got stuck behind a couple of other boats so all the locks were against us which always makes for slow motoring ...

Going under the M40. Oh how the other half have to live - shame for them!

Sandra did most of the locks today

Lapworth Basin on the junction of the Stratford, Birmingham and Grand Union canals

We've now changed to the Grand Union Canal, heading towards Warwick where we hope to visit the castle one day next week, though we're not sure we'll pay to go in, but may just look at it and take photo's from outside the castle walls!

Locks, stock (well ducks!) and a couple of smoking barrel houses

Wednesday 17 June
We had no internet access in Wooton Wawen, so even though we wanted to get the blog diary and photos up to date for a change, we weren’t able to until this evening.

I spent the morning hemming the curtains – not bad, they’ve only been up for a week before I’ve done it which I think is amazing! I remember once selling a house and leaving it with curtains that had been made over 12 months previously but still had their hems pinned up waiting to be hemmed! The spooky thing is that the material I bought for the curtains was the same as that used on the chair covers in The Winters Tale - must be very nice fabric! Barry ‘s been putting a shelf up for the microwave oven so we have a bit more space in the kitchen – it’s a very compact boat to live on so we have to try and make the best use of everywhere! We also cleaned underneath the cooker, don't think that's been done for many a year, gross! Oh yes, and I started my cross stitch sampler of a canal boat - I'd forgotten quite how relaxing embroidery is, even if it sounds a bizarre thing to do!

Lots of ducklings to feed, they'e teenagers now though. It’s been fun watching the changes from fluffy little things to almost adult sizes. Lots of cygnets now turning into swans. The moorhens are now having chicks and they are just the tiniest little balls of black fur you can imagine! Soooo cute.

Teenage ducklings - feeding frenzy

Barry went for his bike ride and went for miles! He visited Henley-in-Arden - a very posh place, and Wooton Wawen, south east of Birmingham ..

Barry in a teapot!

Posh square and houses in Henley

Saxon Sanctuary, the oldest church in Warickshire

Wooton Hall - they obviously run out of money as they have a large caravan/park home site at the back of the house

Waterfall on the Avon running through Wooton Hall

We travelled up the canal late in the afternoon, only 8 locks this time and bless him Barry did them all as the weather was wet and I didn't want to get my ugg boots dirty! We moored opposite the Fleur De Lys pub at Lowsonford. A rainy and cool day, a stark contrast to yesterday's weather, but at least it meant the greenfly weren’t around!

The pub next to our mooring Tuesday night - note the aquaduct going over the road

Mooring at Wooton Wawen

A car in a tree along the way - why on earth would you?! No wise cracks about women drivers thank you!

One of the barrel shaped lock cottages along the way

Very tight fitting locks, maybe we'd just got used to the huge river ones?!

Am I in OK? Check out the gap in the bridge which was used previously for the rope when horses pulled the canal boats along

Another barrel lock cottage, so quaint

Oh dear, there's some awfully old and decrepit boats along the canals

This one's just for Graeme!!!

And another cottage ...

All in all, a very productive day in and on our little floating home ...

“His pond fished by his neighbour …” – more Shakespeare and beyond …

The Falcon Inn in Stratford-Upon-Avon

The 'Alms Houses' in Stratford

Monday 15 June
Big touristy day today! We did the open top bus tour and the other 4 of the Shakespeare Houses – Anne Hathaway’s cottage (Shakespeare’s wife), Mary Arden’s house (Shakespeare’s mother), Nash’s Place/New House where Shakespeare died and Hall’s Croft where his eldest daughter and her physician husband lived.

Ann Hathaway's Cottage - 70,000 pound thatched roof!!

Designed and built long before rulers & spirit levels!

Nash's House. Rebuilt after it was torn down by an irate previous owner (pissed off with too many Shakespeare tourists and that was in the 17th century!)

Lady Walsh

The knot garden at Nash's House

At Mary Arden’s house there was a falconry display and Barry and I both had a go at feeding the Harris Falcon – beautiful birds of prey but not for the faint hearted!

Until 2000 they thought this was Mary Arden's house, but got it wrong!

Towit, towit to-Who, Who, Who's this?

One of the rooms in Mary's place

Feeding the Harris Falcon - incredible experience when it flies onto your hand!

At all the homes we learnt heaps of history and lots about where different English sayings come from and customs of the 16th and 17th Centuries. For example, it was the wife’s job to make sure that the fire in the kitchen didn’t go out; if she let it die then her husband was allowed to beat her so long as he didn’t use anything larger than the width of his thumb. Appalling isn’t it? And here we are in the 21st century and some bastards are still beating their wives and girlfriends though for very different, but equally spurious reasons.

In the evening we had a fabulous night out (it’s not often that we get dressed up now!) at the only theatre currently open – The Courtyard – and saw ‘The Winter’s Tale’. It was absolutely awesome! We had the cheapest tickets available, right up in the gods for £15 each, so we were looking down on the play. I bought the book and tried reading the Shakespeare but got a bit lost after a few scenes so read the notes which succinctly explain what happens scene by scene. Basically the King of Sicilia drives himself crazy by mistakenly believing that his heavily pregnant wife is having an affair with his best friend the King of Bohemia and uses colourful language to say so – hence the title of the blog! There are themes of death and re-birth, comedy and tragedy - one of his later plays.

Barry only read the first half of the notes unfortunately. I could more or less understand everything that was going on, and of course it helps to have studied Shakespeare previously, and the acting, costumes and props were magnificent. There was one scene where the actors all came out dressed, I think, as sheep with huge penis props which they waved around and banged up and down – hilarious, Shakespeare was such a tart!!! Barry got lost not long after the play started, so I tried to explain what was going on but it’s difficult during the production to do so! Ah well, he almost enjoyed it! I think with the British accents – there was a Scotsman and a Welshman in the cast (he also thinks English people have accents, but there really weren’t any other than the Queens English!), along with the fast paced dialogue of Shakespeare, it can be hard to keep up.

Shakespeare's grave and bust above - inside the church because he was a lay pastor

Hall’s Croft

So, all in all,we think we have well and truly ‘done’ Shakespeare and Stratford now!

Tuesday 16 June
A big morning – a long walk to the laundrette with 2 big bags of dirty laundry, and time spent waiting for the washing and drying. It’s not cheap either, 3 loads of washing and drying half of it cost us £18! Amazing what home comforts one takes for granted on dry land.

Walking into town for change for the washing machine!!

Then it was off to the lock again to be watched by the hordes of tourists – Barry got chatting to some friendly Americans who tentatively helped me to work the lock bless them. Then off around the corner to the Marina for a pump out, and a pump in of fresh water. Only £10 for a pump out at Stratford Marina – it was £20 at Evesham – and very friendly staff for a change!!!

We’re now on a really tight budget; 5 months of no pay will start to take its toll. So the threat of only one pint of ale a day, and the beans on toast diet, is looking likely in the near future! However we had 3 nights in Stratford for nothing, and all in a central location, so very cheap accommodation, though we made up for that paying for all the tourist sights and seeing the play! But it had to be done, it’s so quintessentially English!

We left Stratford in the afternoon, having again come through the lock with all the gongoozelers (people who watch canal boats!), and are on the canals once more. It’s going to take a bit of getting used to the narrower stretches of water and only one lock gate.

18 Locks to the next mooring!!! ...

At one of the locks we actually got wedged as it was so narrow our fenders (the things which stop you from banging against the side when you’re moored up) got trapped and it took us a bit of heaving and pushing to get her free.

At another lock, we must’ve caught a fish in the lock gates because when they were opened there was this almost cut in half fish still thrashing about madly in its death throes - it was horrible, poor thing.




We went over another aquaduct, just past Wilmcote – well I went over it while Barry ran down to the road to take photos! He hadn’t quite got the shot he wanted and asked me to back up and start again – OMG I was nearly sick! Then, once I had started backing up, he climbed back up – I could’ve strangled him or beat him with a stick no wider than my thumb maybe?! Lol! Just jesting! He informs me I was travelling too quickly and he'd been waiting for a car to come along the road while I was up on the aquaduct to take a better photo, shame I’m not a mind reader aye?!


Are you following me??

Tonight, 18 locks later, we moored in a place called Wooton Wawen. It took us over 5 hours to go a distance that would’ve taken about 30 minutes by road! But what fabulous exercise, with the bonus of warm sunny weather. The only really pain was the masses of greenfly, we seem to have a plague of them about the rivers and canals at the moment and they drive you mad landing on you all over and are so damned itchy!