Preston Bagot

Wow what a day! It must have been the hottest day of the year so far, the thermometer on the roof box got up to 48’C and it’s still showing 39’C at 7.15pm.  We stayed at Lowsonford while Roger watched the Spanish Grand Prix. TV and internet are OK there but we didn’t have a strong enough Orange signal to use the phone for a couple of days, although texts did work. Charlie wouldn’t stay in the shade of the parasol and was very restless again today so we walked very slowly to the lock and back a few times to try and keep him calm. He met a spaniel bitch in season and got a bit excited. There’s life in the old dog yet!

As it was such a hot breezy day I did a couple of loads of washing which had dried by the time the GP had finished so we set off again for a nice leisurely afternoon cruise down to Preston Bagot where we are now moored for the night.

Just before Lock 34, Bucket Lock, we had to cross Yarningale Aqueduct. This is a short iron aqueduct which was built to replace a wooden one which was washed away by floods in 1834.

Before we could come out of Lock 35 we had to rescue an old working butty (cargo boat without an engine, pulled by a boat with an engine, like a trailer) that was floating free across the canal. Luckily the bye-wash helped push it back over to the towpath so we could grab a rope and haul it in to tie it up to the mooring bollards.

This section of the canal is particularly beautiful, more so today with the sun streaming through the trees.

You definitely have to be minted to live around here. Some of the lock cottages and canal side houses are fantastic. My favourite has to be Preston Bagot Lock Cottage, although to call it a cottage is a bit fanciful. It even has a fully glazed observatory in the roof!

This car was hanging in the trees 20ft off the ground just a bit further up the canal from Preston Bagot Lock.

We intended having a cool pint in the local pub, The Crabmill, before dinner tonight but it was closed. A passing local told us it doesn’t open on Sunday evenings and no longer serves any food. It was a popular destination as 2 hire boats also moored up intending to go for dinner but instead had to turn round and go back to Wooten Wawen. Amended Monday - another example of not trusting locals, the pub was open when we passed on the way to Henley-in-Arden today and IS still serving food. The pub looks very nice inside and the menu looked good, if a bit pricey.