The sun has got his hat on.......and it's HOT!!!

Our next door neighbour in Bancroft Basin was a 26 year old boat called Black Adder. It's owner was a nice guy who told me it was his third boat and that he was very proud of having fitted it out himself, from new, but also didn't mind admitting that it still wasn't finished.  Although it was a fairly short boat at 45ft it had a boatman't back cabin with a beautiful boatman's stove.  He told me it isn't a traditional boatman's stove, is called a Queen Ann stove and has a triangular shaped back to it. It was originally designed to be fitted into a covered wagon used by American settlers heading East along the wagon trail. I wouldn't like to use it as it has an open grate and I'm not really into the old traditional style narrowboats, but this stove was truly beautiful to look at.

One of the nice things about living on the boat is that wherever we go we have our own "private" garden, with someone else to do all the maintenance, lawn mowing etc. Sometimes that garden is just a bit of grass and wild flowers, other times it's somewhere as beautiful as Bancroft Basin .

not sure what these are called but they were pretty spectacular

Clematis "Jacmanii"  we had this all over the
fence at our house

just one of the many Lavender bushes

giant Thistles

a Thistle flower

There were also many, many Lilies dotted about. Thankfully they weren't very scented as the smell gives me instant migraine. It also reminds me of funerals, so while they are beautiful they're not my favourite flower.

There's a separate formal herb garden containing fennel, thymes, feverfew etc. etc. and every section of the garden has Rosemary bushes.

We left the basin about 10.00 and had a slow trip up the 16 locks to moor at Wilmcote.  It was an eventful trip as the pounds between locks were very low due to the amount of boat traffic and with most of the boats being hirers they din't have a clue about managing the water levels.  The BW (sorry CaRT) man came out at the 4th lock to let water down the flight before we could continue.  It hadn't been helped by one of the hire boats in front of us refusing point blank to lower paddles or shut gates.  The skipper actually got quite "arsey" when asked to do it and we thought a fight was going to break out.  He must have been late returning the boat as he overtook an elderly couple in a brand new boat in one of the shallow pounds, grounding them on the mud. We had to let a couple of lock-fulls of water down and tow them off.  Once they were floating again they followed us up the locks but were dreadfully slow. They had absolutely no idea how to work locks and neither of them was physically fit enough to open the gates so the boat following them had to do all the work for them, just to keep the queue moving.

The sun beat down all day and it was a bit hot to be working 16 locks in 3 miles, but there was a nice breeze blowing and we swapped over every couple of locks. All in all we really enjoyed our day and moored at Wilmcote for the night.  Late in the evening we took Chico out for a nice cool walk and went up to Mary Arden's Farm.  We visited it last year and you can see the photos HERE. I was quite disappointed at the state of the cottage garden in front of the house. It was full of weeds and looked rather neglected. It had been my favourite part of the farm last year.

It's a bit hot!

I keep upsetting my mother and my daughter. They live up North and every time I've spoken to them recently it's been raining, whereas here in Stratford it's been gorgeous weather. I'm not complaining, but I'd like it just a little cooler tomorrow please as we're heading back up the Stratford Canal and those locks will be hard work if it's still as hot.

Our neighbours have been a lovely German family on an old hire boat. They've been making the most of the sunshine by eating all their meals picnic style on the roof.

Earlier in the afternoon another hire boat tried to turn round in the basin and ended up ramming them so hard the cabin side was dented.  The 2 boats swapped details and Stefan asked us to be a witness, just in case the hire firm tried to with-hold his deposit.

It's been interesting watching the antics of some boaters round here.  One guy came up out of the lock at full throttle, heading for the low bridge out of the basin and rocking all the moored boats as he passed.  He was still going quite fast as he ripped his chimney off.  That took the smug look off his face pretty quickly, I can tell you.  Another boat arrived through the bridge with a child lying on the roof. There was only a couple of inches clearance but they didn't seem to think it a problem.

You can see that the recession is taking it's toll on businesses here in Stratford as there are lots of empty shops and the ones that remain open are all having sales.  Neither of us are particularly fond of clothes shopping but we found the perfect T-shirt for Roger today in the "Old Guys Rule" shop.

That's him down to a tee, but he keeps insisting he's too young to wear it.

Stratford upon Avon

We're having a great time here in Stratford. It has to be one of my favourite places to stay, there's so much going on and most of it's free.

Because it's a major tourist destination it's very busy during the day and there are buskers and street entertainers everywhere.  There's everything you could wish to see and hear, including a classical cello duo, classical electric guitarist, violinist, saxophonist, steel drums, children's balloonist and a sword swallowing juggler on a unicycle. They're all very talented too.

Yesterday was extremely hot and once we'd had a trip to Morrisons to stock up we spent most of the day sat on the back deck soaking up the sun and watching the world go by.  It was so hot and sunny and with the mix of foreign languages of the tourists, we could have been in the south of France rather than central England.

We were enjoying an after-dinner drink on the back deck last evening when we heard a girl singing down by the lock.  She sounded very good so we walked over to watch. She had a beautiful voice and was accompanied by an extremely tattooed guy on the bongo drums.

When we arrived, there were about 30 people sat around listening to her but no-one showed any appreciation.  We soon changed that though and started clapping when she finished her song. The guy was shocked and thanked us, saying that it was the first time they'd had any applause. Once the audience got the message, they started clapping too and as the duo warmed to the encouragement they just got better and better.........and the tips they were getting as people left were getting better too. We stayed for half an hour, dropped a few pound coins in the hat and went back to sit and listen on the boat. It'll be interesting to see what mix of entertainment we have around the Basin today, I'll try and remember the camera today and show you later.

It's Green for GO!

Do you remember me telling you our level marker was the tyre hanging across the river?  Well when we opened the blinds at 7.00 this morning it was finally out of the water which meant that the level was low enough for us to safely move.

Sure enough, the river level had dropped about a foot overnight and was back in the green.

Yesterday a couple arrived from Evesham on a brand new boat and we decided to travel back to Stratford together setting off around 9.00.

The current was still quite strong and in a few places it slowed us right down, but we hadn't realised just how strong it was until we got to Welford Lock.  We had to moor on the lock landing while 3 plastic cruisers came down the lock and our new friends breasted up against us to wait.

You can see the lock on the left and the weir on the right. These two photos show the force of the current, can you see the waves?

There were people from the Avon Trust at the lock and they told me we had to be careful untying our ropes, to make sure we cast off the stern rope before the centre rope.  They were advising us to do this as a few years ago a guy had cast off his bow rope leaving the stern attached and the current had grabbed him, spinning his boat around.  He'd tried to hold the stern rope but the current was too strong and he ended up having 3 fingers severed and his boat sunk!  Needless to say we were all very careful.

Just as we were about to go into the lock another narrowboat arrived.  He was singlehanding and instead of coming over to the lock landing he kept over the other side of the river.  The current caught his bow and spun him around in a matter of seconds!  There was no possibility of him turning round again so the guys at the lock had to grap his ropes, help him over to the lock landing and then they were going to help him reverse into the lock, go up backwards and turn above the weir.  It just goes to show that even though the river level is in the green, you have to be very careful near weirs!

Further up-stream we came across this fallen tree which wasn't there 3 weeks ago before the floods and would have made a real mess of the paintwork if we'd got too close.

There are some fantastic houses beside the river.  This is just one of them.

When we finally got to Stratford upon Avon the river was chaotic with loads of canoes, rowing boats and punts.  It took us ages to get up to Bancroft Lock, dodging holiday makers as we went.

Since we left at the beginning of July, the local Council have brought in mooring charges on the Recreation Field moorings. It's now £5 a night.  As we passed one boat, he shouted to us that Bancroft Basin was full but when we got in there were actually 6 spaces so that's were we're stopping for a couple of days.

Since we moored up we've talked to several boaters who we'd seen down at Bidford and who hadn't waited for green but who had gone while the level was still in the red.  Without exception they all had horror stories to tell and everyone said they wished they'd waited. I'm SO glad we waited the extra day.

The Festival's over

There weren't quite as many people at the Festival yesterday, maybe it had something to do with the Olympic Torch passing through Stratford in the afternoon.

This is the floral display on the main town roundabout.

We were in town just as the torch arrived but didn't stop with the other few hundred people to watch it as we were hungry and intent on finding a good Sunday roast dinner.

The Old Thatch Tavern in the centre of town advertised "the best Sunday carvery in town" so we went in, booked a table and bought a pint.  However, after 25 minutes we were told that they'd run out of food so we'd have to try somewhere else. Thanks very much!

Across the road is the White Swan hotel so we tried there.  I'm SO glad the other place had run out as the meal here was fantastic.  For starters I had poached fois gras with maple walnuts and apple and Roger had devilled whitebait.  Both were excellent.  The roast beef dinner was excellent as well and we had the lightest, fluffiest & biggest Yorkshire puddings you could ever wish for. We'll certainly be back here another Sunday.

Stratford Rocks!

On Thursday I said I didn't think there were as many boats here as last year. I was wrong!  On Friday LOTS more arrived so this year there are more than ever.

Because of all the rain that had fallen "up country", the river level rose about 5 inches on Thursday night so that it was almost over the bank.  The EA opened the sluice gates to regulate it and we're back down to a more comfortable level again.

Apart from the usual narrowboats and cruisers attending the festival, there were other types of boats here too.

Unlike an IWA National or Crick Boat Show, the Stratford River Festival isn't just about boats.  It's a free festival for the town and boy do they know how to throw a party! 

During the day there were Morris Dancers in all shapes and sizes performing near Bancroft Basin lock.

From 12.00 onwards there were lots of bands performing on the bandstand. There was music to suit everyone's taste; a Ukulele band, A Jazz band, an Acoustic duo and a female soloist. As the day wore on more and more people thronged around the band stand area, many bringing chairs and picnics. By early evening there must have been a couple of thousand people there and the food and drink stalls were doing a roaring trade catering for everyone.  The blues band "Soul Patch" were on at 7.00 and got everyone rocking ready for the highlight of the day which was the last band "Texan Peacocks" who had everyone up dancing, including me.

When the music finished at 10.00 it was time for the illuminated boats parade.

This was definitely the best. They're moored just in front of us and it took the owner 2 days to fix all these lights.

At 10.30 the fireworks started and again they were better than last year, and that's saying a lot. They were FANTASTIC!

I've got it sussed!

I don’t normally post in the morning but I’ve got it sussed!  AUK, the cob swan, wasn’t chaperoning the flock of juvenile swans as I thought. He was keeping them away from his family.  He’d come up to the boat last evening when he heard me rattle the food box but I thought it was a bit strange as we were now moored about 200 yards down stream of the chain ferry and previously we’d been opposite the RSC Theatre. We’d not seen him go beyond the ferry before, in fact that was as far as he ever allowed the juveniles to go before chasing them back upstream.  As I was feeding him, out of the bushes opposite us came a pen (female swan) and 3 very young cygnets.

They also came over to be fed although the cygnets are still too young to eat the swan food and I had to give them bread. AUK heard a noise and set off back upstream at a fast pace and in full display mode just as a couple of the juveniles came into sight by the ferry. I’m so glad we stayed an extra night to see this. What a wonderful parent, poor thing must be shattered keep chasing 60 juveniles away from his family.  I hope they manage to keep the little ones safe until they too are almost fully grown juveniles and can join next years flock.

Messing about on the river - and a rant!

First of all I’d like to thank everyone who either left a comment, emailed privately or phoned us after we lost Charlie. We appreciated your messages very much.

I’d like to introduce you to ‘AUK’. This is the cob swan who supervises the jouvenile flock here in Stratford. AUK is the code on his leg ring. It seems he likes the floating duck and swan food that I’ve been giving him and came over every time I rattled the box.

Today we decided to go cruising for the first time since losing Charlie. The roof hatch was very empty but it wasn’t as bad as I expected. Time heals.  We went upstream, through the two old bridges with their narrow arches and then to the limit of the navigation. There were lots of rowing boats and small motor boats filled with happy people having fun messing about on the river and we managed to steer our way through without any collisions.

Tramway Bridge with Clopton Bridge beyond

Once we got out of Stratford town, up towards Tiddington, the houses became more and more spectacular. We also passed a couple of caravan parks and a ‘Glamping’ park. It's the latest craze and you can find out more details HERE.

'Glamping'

beautiful house built on stilts

Towards the limit of the navigation there were a couple of huge mansions with manicured gardens. I’d love to know who lives there, maybe someone famous?

When we got back into Stratford we moored on the water point to fill up before leaving tomorrow. The boat on the other side of the water point is just the type of boater who brings narrow boaters into disrepute and I would willingly have reported him if I knew who to report to.  We watched in disbelief as he dipped his diesel tank with a stick and then rinsed it off in the river. Then he topped up the tank from a can and spilt a load of diesel into the river. He knew what he’d done and started his engine, running it in gear and wafting the rudder about trying to disperse the diesel slick and send it downstream so someone else would get the blame. He didn’t even have the decency to get the washing up liquid out to help disperse the slick which drifted right across the river.  It was only the other day that I’d commented to someone just how amazingly clean the river is here. Despite the number of hire boats and trip boats we hadn’t seen any sign of floating rubbish or diesel in the water, until he came that is! It wasn’t a tatty old boat either, just someone with total disregard for the environment.

Still in Stratford

I'm excited! We have our first flower on the courgette plant. I haven't grown these before so it's a bit of an experiment as to whether or not they'll grow on the roof.

There’s a large flock of  juvenile swans on the river, we’ve counted over 60, presided over by a large male (cob). They swim downstream as a flock, getting almost as far as the chain ferry, and are then herded back upstream by the cob in full display mode. This happens several times a day, mainly in the evenings, and is quite a sight! He’s obviously on chaperone duty and doesn’t stand for any messing about from stragglers, getting quite hissy at times. It’s a bit like a teacher with teenagers on a school outing.

There’s been a charity market/carnival in aid of Shakespeare’s Hospice today on the field right beside our mooring. They came at 7.00 and set up the stalls, Punch & Judy show, bouncy castles, hog roast & burger vans and then at 11.00 there was a mass ‘Zumba’ class. About 70 women of all ages doing a very energetic workout that made me tired just watching. After that there was a display by the local belly dancers, Roger said he’s never seen so much wobbling flesh  before! I thought they were very brave, baring so much in front of a large audience. Hopefully they raised lots of money for a well deserving cause.

We had a walk up to the Rother Market later this afternoon. There weren’t many stalls and most were selling jewellery but the market was set up right beside the most beautiful clock tower which was donated by an American in 1887 to celebrate Queen Victoria’s jubilee.

The night time view from our mooring is quite spectacular as the RSC Theatre, Bancroft Basin and the bridges across the river are all illuminated.

A good night out

If you like good French food we’ve found the perfect restaurant for you, in Stratford.

We had dinner last evening at Le Bistrot Pierre which is attached to the Swan’s Nest Hotel, just round the corner from the river moorings.  The place is swish but the atmosphere is friendly and the service efficient.  They have quite an extensive a la carte menu but we chose the set 3 course ‘Tour de France’ menu at £16.50 each. This Thursday-night special celebrates a different region of France every week. Last night it was the turn of Bourgogne which is in North/Central France.

The starter was Escargots, snails in herb and garlic sauce, which I was a bit dubious about as I’ve never had them before. They were quite nice and while I’d eat them again I won’t be going crazy for them.

The main course was Lapin a la Moutarde, slow cooked rabbit in a creamy Dijon mustard sauce, which was DELISH! It was a good job they gave us plenty of bread to mop up the sauce as it was so nice. This came with Dauphinoise potatoes, red cabbage and broccoli. Unfortunately the broccoli was microwaved and rock hard and spoilt what would otherwise have been a perfect dish.

Desert was a really dark chocolate and caramel flan which, again, was excellent.

After dinner we walked over to Cox’s Yard pub as they had a free live acoustic music night on with 4 different acts. By the time we arrived the first 2 had finished but the 3rd group “By Lantern Light” were extremely good. They played for an hour, mostly their own material but with a couple of U2 songs thrown in for good measure at the end.

They were followed by Andrew Buckley who is a very good ‘folky pop’ singer and who recently performed at Middlewich Boat & Folk Festival.

All in all we had a very good night out.  There’s so much to do in Stratford we will definitely be coming back.

Stratford River Festival

We went with Keith & Bronwyn to the welcome party yesterday evening and the live music there was very good. There was a young group singing covers of current chart hits and also some of their own material and then later it was the turn of an older group singing rock songs.

We didn’t fancy the food that was on offer (burgers or hot dogs) so we went into town to The Garrick which is claimed to be the oldest pub in Stratford Upon Avon. We had a really good time as the meal was good and they serve Old Speckled Hen as well.

There’s been a change of mooring plan. Instead of being in between 2 boats, we stayed where we were and they moored against us which worked out brilliantly for getting the dogs on and off the boat.  We needed to turn round though, so that all boats were moored either stern to stern or bow to bow so that when you need to run engines for battery charging no-one has an engine running near their bow. It’s worked very well so far.

6.00am

The Festival is really good and there have been hundreds of people wandering around today. We put the bunting and fairy lights up this morning and the boat is looking good.  We haven’t seen much of the entertainment yet as I didn’t want to leave the dogs alone on the boat and there are just too many people about to justify taking Charlie with us for any length of time.