Rowington embankment; Friday 10th July.
Yesterday, we caught the bus to reconnoitre Stratford prior to our arrival by boat.
(Actually, I forgot to take my camera; photographs will follow when we make our second visit)
The driver was to be congratulated: he looked like an older version of Nicki Lauda wearing spectacles and proceeded to drive very fast. Unfortunately, either his glasses were for reading; or his acceleration sense had not yet been fully developed.
We were subjected to two crash stops, both of which were totally preventable; he was very lucky that all of the passengers were holding tight to the seat in front, otherwise some injuries could have been sustained.
We arrived and alighted thankfully in Stratford, close to the river and Bancroft Basin where we hope to find mooring space on our waterborne arrival. We had a look at the river and chatted to the manager of the river trip boats. All three were built at Lake Windermere in the early years of last century; two were collected from there, the other was working on Loch Lomond. They looked beautiful with wonderful hull lines, complemented by the canopy. They have been converted to electrical power with overnight battery charging, a very pleasant way to travel as we discovered on Coniston Water last year.
We looked around the town, which has some lovely buildings and now relies on tourists for income. Apparently some bloke lived there a long time ago who fancied himself as being quite handy with a scribing tool. We will find out more about him when we return.
Today, we moved away at 5.45am for the 21 locks at Hatton. We arrived at the bottom lock at 6.05am and had cleared the 20th by 9.00am. Not bad time as 16 had been against us. We tied up there and treated ourselves to a Café breakfast sitting outside in the sun. It tasted good and hit the spot exactly. We did the last lock and whilst filling the water tank at the tap above; Hugh and Jenny from Nb.Along Shortly walked up. They were going to the Hatton shopping outlet and had walked from Saltisford. We chatted for a while and then moved along to Rowington embankment our stopping place for the night.
2009 Totals: 362 Locks – 657 miles – 16 Bus pass uses.
