Tuesday 2nd July
We were up and at ’em today and after sorting ourselves out, emptying the loo, getting rid of the rubbish, filling with water, buying a new gas cylinder and paying our mooring fees we headed out on to the cut again. We started the Hatton flight at 9 am and shared the locks with Paul and Liz on Mimram Maid (could have been Mirmam Maid, I can’t quite remember), a very personable couple who are doing the Warwick Ring.
We heard what sounded like a steam train whistling and quickly realised we must be following President and Kildare up the flight on their way to the Stratford River Festival this weekend. We got close enough to see the steam in the distance but not the boats.
We only encountered two boats coming down the flight so all the locks would have been against us apart from one, except for the fact that we were assisted by a lovely lady in a blue stripey top who, being surplus to requirements with her own boat, due to them sharing with a boat with a crew of 3, walked up the whole flight preparing and opening all the locks ready for us. What a star! As a result of this we flew up the locks completing the flight in 3 hours exactly.
We moored at the top and went for a well earned pint at The Hatton Arms with Paul and Liz who also had lunch. Liz tried to share her whitebait with me but they were covered with chilli and burnt the skin off my lips, aaaargh! She said she couldn’t notice the chilli, asbestos mouth perhaps?
Paul and Liz left to carry on with their trip and we had another drink then went back to the boat. It is quite dark and over grown at the top of the locks so we decided to go a bit further and see if we could find somewhere a little more open. Things were not looking good as there was no Armco to be seen just a concrete edging and the towpath was a bit narrow for spikes. We went through the Shrewley tunnel and finally spotted a piece of Armco about 70ft long just before Bridge 60 so we moored there.Our total mileage for today 4.5 miles and of course 21 locks.
Tomorrow we will go on to the Stratford Canal.
