Leamington Spa to Kingswood Junction
Walked by Sally and Richard, Wednesday 19th February 2020
13.5 miles of walking, something over 12 miles on the route of the Grand Union Canal Walk
For photohraphs taken on this walk click here.
We slept well at The Old Bakery and enjoyed breakfast (nicely cooked full English) then after dealing with urgent email and failing to get all of yesterday’s photos labelled, we headed back to the Grand Union Canal. After a pleasant drive from Kenilworth and driving past Lapworth Station (opening up the possibility of using train for our journeys for the final couple of legs), we left one car in a little car park at Kingswood Junction (SP186709); in addition to a couple of private sections, there is one bit which appears to be public, though the sign on the gates “Gates to be kept locked at all times” was a bit disconcerting. We left the car here and it was fine, but if you are anxious, note that on-street parking is also possible on the access road, Brome Hall Lane. We drove in one car via Rowington, Hatton, Warwick and Leamington to the car park between the A425 (Radford Road) and the River Leam at SP333653. The journey was slow because of roadworks on the route into Warwick and congestion in Leamington.
It was about 10.15 when we set off walking, back along Radford Road and then through the cut through to the canal. The walking was quite varied, through urban landscapes of Leamington and Warwick with more rural sections between and to the west. The weather was similar or perhaps slightly better than yesterday’s with very slight drizzle (more irritating than wetting) for much of all day, somewhat worse in the morning than the afternoon. As yesterday, this was the opposite of what the weather forecast had said; the mud was also rather similar! Today we wore waterproof coats and overtrousers all day.
The Georgian splendour of Royal Leamington Spa is not visible from the canal, but as we approached the centre of the town a canal-side sign reminded us that we were only a short walk from some of the places of interest. Today’s walk was probably already long enough, given the weather, mud, and that we don’t like long days of canal-side walking, but as against this, our daughter and son-in-law got married in Jephson Gardens, back in 2012, and we were curious to re-visit. So we took a short detour which brought us into Jephson Gardens across the suspension bridge over which Helen and her bridesmaids approached the Glasshouse (which I remember being called the Temperate House, but whatever, this was where the ceremony had taken place). The river was rather higher than it was on the day of the wedding! After a quick visit to the the Glasshouse, today we walked through the Gardens to the Royal Pump Rooms and across the River Leam and back through the town to the canal.
As we left Leamington we passed two men who were ‘fishing’ for rubbish in the canal, and had been rewarded by two bikes! It isn't far from Leamington to Warwick, but it is a delightfully rural little section and we passed high above the flooded River Avon on an aqueduct. A man was standing on the aqueduct in the rain, trying to persuade us to take out a subscription to the Canal and River Trust.
As with Leamington, the architecturally attractive part of Warwick is not visible from the canal; according to the guidebook you get views of the Castle, but we didn't even notice these. The canal itself was attractive enough, with two large boatyards, Delta Marine Services and Kate Boats. It was definitely raining, but we felt the need of a break and there was a bench by Cape top lock, opposite the Cape of Good Hope pub, so we stopped for a packet of crisps. We had hoped to get to the cafe that we remembered from Hatton Locks in time for lunch but we couldn't be sure they'd be open, and we'd miss-calculated the distances of the relative parts of today's walk, so it would be a late lunch whatever. We wondered about looking for something to eat at the canal centre advertised in the Saltisford Arm, but it didn't look too promising. Instead, as we passed underneath the A46, by Warwick Parkway Station, we decided to investigate the station to see if they had a cafe. First of all this required us to cross a lock by walking over one of the gates, as people do when operating the locks, but a first for us. This left us in a Canal and River Trust car park, but where was the station? A little investigation led us first to the station car park, then to the modern station building, then - somewhat to our surprise - to a little cafe, warm and with toasted sandwiches on sour dough bread. Lovely!
Refreshed, we returned to and over the Grand Union Canal at what we then realised was actually the lowest of the twenty-one Hatton Locks. Bizarrely, a load of teenagers were just launching canoes. Very fine, but they only have the distance between this lock and the next one to play with. Meanwhile we continued to walk up past Hatton Locks, realising the we've only walked past the upper subset previously. The locks were soon coming thick and fast; the visibility wasn't great, but the views opened up back to Warwick. We crossed over the canal and soon afterwards passed the Hatton Locks Cafe. It was open, but unfortunately we didn't have space for more food or even for another cup of tea. We soon passed the top lock and continued into an attractive wooded cutting.
We were now in the final, more rural, section of today's walk. The canal passes through the Shrewley Tunnel whilst we, like the ponies which pulled the boats in the past, climbed up the the hill to the village of Shrewley (complete with a little supermarket; but all we wanted was a cup of tea, which there wasn't) then back down to the canal through a separate towpath tunnel. The rain had stopped, though the towpath was very muddy, and we came across a "settee" which someone had constructed out of wooden pallets. It was a bit rickety, but provided us with a seat on which to sit for long enough to eat an apple.
The canal meandered a bit, but eventually we reached Kingswood Junction. We had been here before, in August 2017, on the Heart of England Way, and we took the same route as then along the short spur between the Grand Union Canal and the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal. However, where we had previously turned left along the Stratford Canal, today we took a bridge alongside a lock (noticeably narrower than the ones on the Grand Union Canal), and cut across to the car park.
Given that it was rush hour, our journeys to collect the other car and then back to Kenilworth were surprisingly easy, but the car park at The Old Bakery was full tonight, so we had to pay £1.50 per car for overnight parking in the Abbey Fields car park. We had a pleasant meal at the Virgins and Castle, one of the oldest pubs in Warwickshire, which now serves Filipino food - and which had the added advantage of being just across the road from The Old Bakery. The following morning, after another good breakfast and a quick walk up to Kenilworth Castle and around Abbey Fields, Richard drove back to Simpson to complete the decorating whilst I drove back to Denver to visit his mother.
