Poor Karen still didn’t get to sleep in as this morning she was woken by Fras whereas the previous morning she was up early because Di gave her the incorrect time. Ooops, she is going to be pleased to get off this boat.
The weather forecast had said it would be raining in the morning until midday and then not stop until 4.00pm but by the time we had finished our breakfast the sky was clear so we decided to head off.
We only had six locks to go to get down to Kingswood Junction where we would then go through a short cut-through and then onto the Gand Union Canal. The junction is very picturesque but we can easily see how congested it could be at times. Even when we came through today there were six boats traversing the various locks as well as both water points being used. Whilst we were filling up with water our friends Janet and Dave who we met up with in Worcester arrived via the Lower Stratford Canal. We had been keeping in touch with one another over the last couple of weeks and hoping for a rendezvous.
Particularly on the lower Stratford Canal you see these barrel shaped rooves on the lock keepers cottages. This one was at Kingswood Junction. The barrel-shaped roof was created from the form used in building a nearby canal bridge.
In the below video it is mentioned that the green haze on top of the water is pollen. Actually, that is incorrect in this case. It is algae which has been created by the very hot weather we have recently experienced. It is not a good sign and causes oxygen to be sucked out of the water which causes issues for the fish. We have some cooler days coming up so hopefully the algae will dissipate.
Ooops, hope Wolfgang does not see this posting as poor Ange met the wall a few times but then again, Wolfgang does say it is a contact sport.
This sign post denoting the directions on what is a very substantial and important junction needs some serious TLC.
We had left Dave and Janet filling up with water back on the junction whilst we cruised half an hour up to the Tom o’ the Wood pub to moor up. Dave and Janet joined us a short time later and wandered off to the pub for lunch whereas we had had our lunch on the boat.
As you can see, it is a perfectly satisfactory pub. We wandered over a little later and joined them for dessert, as you do.
This was a very dog friendly pub and Toby made himeself totally at home under the table.
He is an eight year old Cocapoo with a delightful nature and very cuddly. He and Toque had met up in London back in 2019 but for some reason they just didn’t seem to hit it off quite so well. This time, he had our 100% undivided attention.
So it has been decided that we will spend the next 3-4 days with the guys travelling down the Grand Union to Napton Junction sharing the locks which are double width and buggers to handle but with two boats and three lock slaves on the ground, the trip should be a little easier for everyone as well as faster as there are a number of locks to do.
We were rather naughty and popped back to the pub after dinner on the boat to check out the dessert menu again……………
Rowkin Rovings Blog 