Bard Country

View from our Bathroom.

Since the last update we have been home to Devizes, down to Somerset for a family christening and 90th birthday, as well as visiting our son and family in London. Tempranillo was safely rested in Birmingham during that time. If any other boat owners need a safe refuge in the Midlands, we can highly recommend Sherborne Wharf right in the heart of the city with all the facilities a boater needs, and everyone there was extremely friendly and helpful.

Brindley Place...the place to eat in the city.

So back at the boat we set off with the aim of visiting Stratford-Upon-Avon by leaving Birmingham via The Mailbox, for those who know Brum, along the Worcester and Birmingham Canal as far as Kings Norton Junction and then turning sharp left onto the Stratford-on-Avon Canal. Along the way we passed vey close to a very purple train station.

Perhaps the colour is a clue....Bourneville Station.

This is the stop for the Cadbury World Experience.

The Stratford-on-Avon Canal is 25.5miles long and has 56 locks. It has two sections. The Northern and the Southern sections which meet at Kingswood Junction. The Northern Section was completed in 1802 but the rest was not finished until 1816.  Unfortunately for us it is the Southern section that has most of the locks and we will have to pass through them all again in a few days to get back on to the Grand Union at Kingswood Junction in order to connect with the Oxford canal to head south. 

As we turned off the Worcs & Brum Canal we faced something we had not seen before.

The Guillotine Stop Lock.

In the days when the canals were built and owned by independent companies each of those companies was very possessive of its water. Obviously water shortage is not new and in order to sustain the levels at the start of each canal a Stop Lock was constructed where any boat passing from one canal to another could only continue if it paid a toll. The two in-line guillotine lock gates were kept shut and then opened one at a time to let one only boat through, thus preserving the water.

Unfortunately by the Second World War the southern part of the canal was virtually un-navigable but thanks to volunteers and with the support of The National Trust it has been restored for the pleasure of boaters like us. The work was carried out by Army personnel, Prisoner Groups and volunteers and was reopened by HM The Queen Mother in 1964. 

There are a couple of features that seem to be unique to this canal. Split Bridges and Barrel Roof Cottages.

There are also some lift bridges along the way.

The split bridges were built to allow the tow rope to drop through the centre so that the horse did not have to be unhitched each time.

It is believed that the cottages with barrelled roofs were built that way using the same technique as for the arches of bridges along the canal and were inhabited by Lengthmen. Each Lengthman responsible for the stretch of canal up to the next lock.

Some have been quite extensively and 'tastefully' modernised.

The next instalment should show the rest of our voyage into Stratford-Upon-Avon.