Densie in Hatton flight

View down the flight

We left Hatton at 8:50.  The weather was sunny, dry and warm, at last! On reaching the top of Hatton locks we half filled our water tank, not wishing to put too much weight in the front of the boat in case the hole got close to water level.

Then began the descent of the 21 large Hatton locks.  A CRT volunteer lock keeper offered to help us down the full flight and of course we gratefully accepted. He and two corporate volunteers ensured that every lock was set ready for us to enter and all we had to do was to lower the paddles and close the gates when we we left.  Many thanks to all involved.

A mile further on we moored in Warwick for the night at 13:45 near to the Cape of Good Hope pub which we plan to visit tonight.

Until this afternoon we thought our water leak problems were all fixed and the wet wood was drying out sufficiently until we can get the boat back to our marina.  However we were disappointed to find further evidence that a small amount of water was seeping into the cabin.  Hopefully this is just water in the bilges being disturbed as the boat moved around in the locks.

Weather: Warm, dry and sunny

3.91 miles, 21 locks, 4 hours 55 minutes.

Visit Stratford Upon Avon

 Today we should have descended the 21 Hatton locks.  But since the weather forecast showed rain for much of the day we decided to visit Stratford upon Avon by train instead.

We moved the boat a short distance further on to Hatton railway station in time for the 2-hourly train to Stratford at 9:50. The problem then was how to buy a ticket.  The station is unmanned and the only way of buying a ticket there appeared to be a very old coin operated machine with a label indicating that "new" coins would not be accepted! Not having £12 in old coins the only way of avoiding a £100 penalty for travelling without a ticket was to use the online facilities of Chiltern Railways.  We finally sorted out how to do this whilst sitting in the train as it left the station.

When we arrived in Stratford the weather was grey and drizzly.  The town centre is uninspiring with many charity shops, restaurants/cafes and "attractions" for the tourists though the tourist information centre is some distance away near the river.

We were able to buy some herbs for our dinner recipes at a Tesco Express but were unsuccessful in finding suitable glasses to replace those broken in our crash although we did try most of the charity shops. Also we visited Bancroft Basin where we would have been moored had it not been necessary to return home. After 2 hours wandering around the town we called it a day and caught the 12:33 train back to Hatton and returned to the boat. The rain continued for much of the afternoon.

Weather: Damp

1.41 miles, 40 minutes cruising

Back to the Grand Union

 

Stratford Canal in the sun

My last posting took us to the end of Sunday 5th August 2023….

Yesterday, confident that the boat was  as safe as it could be under the circumstances we started our journey back home.  We will keep the speed down to engine tickover, say 2.1 mph and raise the paddles slowly when ascending locks avoiding excess splashing near the damage to the hull.

After shopping at the nearby village shop and pumping out our waste tank we left Wootton Warwen at 11:30 and stopped for lunch near Preston Bagot.  In the afternoon we ascended 6 locks mooring for the night at 15:30.  Overall the time taken was not very different from what would be expected if we were not taking extra precautions.

Today the weather had much improved with blue skies and no rain which helped make this an enjoyable trip. 11 ascending locks took us back to Kingswood Junction where we stopped for lunch.  In the afternoon we left the Stratford Canal to join the Grand Union mooring just north of Shrewley Tunnel only 3 miles from Hatton Locks. 

Weather 7th August: Sunny and almost warm

Sunday 6th August:3.58 miles, 6 locks, 3 hours 20 minutes

Monday7th August: 5.49 miles, 11 locks, 5 hours 15 minutes

A sinking feeling

 Apologies for no news.  The last 3 days have been very difficult.  Now that we  and understand and are coping with the situation I am able to write it up…..

On Thrsday 3rd I hit a bridge – a very solid hit that knocked a few cups and glasses out of a cupboard but apparently had dcaused no other damage.

So we set off happily on Friday morning reaching Wootton Wawen at lunchtime.  When we had moored up Dense stepped down into the cabin to find it an inch deep in water and getting deeper. When I looked in the front hold of the boat I found about 1 foot of water. This area was in theory completely isolated from the rest of the boat.

Fortunately we had a hand pump on board so we spent about 4 hours pumping out  perhaps 100 small bucketfulls of water. Oddly there was no  evidence of any further water leaking into the boat.  There is a boatyard at Wootton Wawen so we asked for help and one of the staff came over and ckecked everything he could think of.  But he could find no obvious reason why the boat would leak in so much water which would then stop.  At this point Denise’s sister left us as there was no further help she could provide.

On Saturday, after talking on the phone to a local narrowboat engineer we decided to carry on towards Stratford where there were facilities to carry out further investigation.  However within a mile water was pouring into the front hold again. It was clear the boat only leaked when travelling at a reasonable speed.  So we returned slowly to Wootton Wawen.

Back there Denise found the there was a small hole punched in the front of the hull about 2 inches above the waterline,  which suddenly explained everything. At this point we called out River Canal Rescue (RCR) who sent an engineer equipped with a drysuit to get into the canal and patch the hole with tarpaulin  and strong sticky tape held in place with large magnets. We were advised that this would enable us to get back to base where the boat could be properly repaired.

We are now on our way back, keeping to a low speed and being very careful when using the locks.

So ends our planned 6 week summer holiday.

On the Stratford Canal

Bridge 62 on the Grand Union

Turning off the Grand Union at Kingswood Junction

In lock 24 on the Stratford Canal

Lock on Stratford Canal

Typical Stratford Canal lock-keeper's cottage 

We set off in sunny weather at 9am and stopped a mile later at the village of Hatton where Denise’s sister joined us.  Our journey up the Grand Union ended when we turned left at Kingswood Junction onto a short channel that brought us to the Stratford Canal. 

The canal is very attractive with some features not often seen elsewhere.  In particular the photos show an iron bridge with a gap in the middle to allow horse drawn boats  to pass through without it being necessary to disconnect the horse.  Another photo shows the interesting barrel roof design adopted for the lock keepers cottages.

 Now travelling south we will be passing through 35 narrow locks which will take us back down to the Avon. Today’s journey accounted for 9 of these.  We stopped for lunch after 6 locks and completed the remaining 3 in the afternoon mooring in in the village of Lowsonford where we will spend the night.

Weather: Varied, sunny, cloudy, occasional heavy showers.

7.17 miles, 9 locks, 4 hours 35 minutes

A day off at the top of Hatton flight

Moored above Hatton flight

After the hard work of the past 2 days we are not moving today.   We walked a mile or so up the canal to check where we can pick up Denise's sister who will be joining us for 3 days

Weather: better than forecast but some showers and rather cool.

The Hatton flight

 

Today we ascended the 2 Cape locks in Warwick followed by the 21 locks of the Hatton flight. We had planned to do this tomorrow but brought it forward because of the forecast of heavy rain. That forecaset had changed with rather less rain but today still looked much more hopeful.

Approaching Hatton 2nd lock

Densie and Awyganna  sharing a lock

Waiting for a lock to empty

Denise driving Densie  alongside Awyganna

We set off at 8:50 from our Warwick mooring passing through the Cape locks on our own and reaching the bottom of the Hatton flight an hour afterwards. Fortunately there was another boat, Awyganna (Durham dialect for “Are we going?”), waiting to go up. So we partnered with them for the whole of the flight.

We reached the top of at about 14:00, filled up with water and moored up for the night immediately afterwards as we were too tired to travel any further.

Weather - dry  cool, some sunshone, breezy

3.75 miles, 23 locks, 5 hors 40 minutes