Lower Shuckburgh to Leamington Spa (just)

We'd survived Storm Ciara and Storm Dennis over the previous two weekends, though a record number of flood warnings remained in place across the country, but we had managed to wrest a couple of days away from work, being on call for Richard's Mum, overseeing the re-roofing of our house in Norfolk and decorating in Milton Keynes. The weather forecast was not great, but we almost didn't care - we had two nights of accommodation booked at The Old Bakery in Kenilworth and a meal booked at The Cross this evening. We'd managed to organise things so that we only had to drive from Milton Keynes this morning; theoretically just over an hour though for some reason my phone directed me by a tortuous route out of Milton Keynes, so that when I reached the arranged car park by the River Leam on the approach to Royal Leamington Spa (SP333653) Richard, who had left after me and come the direct route, was standing by the road looking for me anxiously. Thankfully the river, although full, could afford to rise another metre or so before flooding the car park, so we decided it was safe to leave a car there. We drove back the way we can come to Lower Shuckburgh, and parked back at SP491628, where we had parked in July 2018. We had feared it might be rather muddy here, but it was fine.

We walked the short distance to the canal, reaching it just as a boat passed, and for the first half of the day there was more traffic on the canal than we had expected. The towpath was rather muddy and, despite the fact that the weather forecast had implied it would be dry this morning, we soon had light drizzle so we donned waterproof overtrousers which we kept on all day. There was a heavier shower at lunchtime, but then the weather improved - this was the complete opposite of what we had expected! We were initially walking along the Oxford Canal (whose route the Grand Union Canal shares) then, at Napton Junction (which also appears to be known at Wigrams Turn, and the marina nestling beneath Napton Hill is called Wigrams Turn Marina) we turned right onto the Grand Union Canal, whilst the Oxford Canal continued straight ahead. Up to this point we had played leapfrog with the boat which had been passing as we reached the canal, but it continued straight ahead whilst we turned right under Bridge 17, the first on this section of the Grand Union Canal. Apparently the numbering started from 17 because they had originally planned to build a whole new canal from Braunston to Warwick.

We soon reached the Calcutt Locks, which started a descending trend that continued all the way to Leamington Spa. A boat was just leaving the bottom lock and we then played leapfrog with him, past a number of marinas, and when we passed him as he moored up just before Nelson's Wharf, we stopped for a chat. He obviously appreciates the slow pace of canal travel, and talked about the importance of "not making waves". Nelson's Wharf is a modern affair, with moorings, and accommodation block, and Willow Wren Training, and a woman was just raising a (very slow moving) lifting bridge in order to take her boat away from the "arm" containing most of the moorings, Nelson's Wharf was built on the site of Nelson's Cement Works.

We stopped for lunch at a bench by Stockton Top Lock then walked alongside the attractive flight of 10 black and white painted locks. It was here that we first appreciated the fact that the former narrow locks were replaced (apparently in 1929-30) by wider locks alongside, and now the narrow locks, no longer with gates, serve as overspill weirs. This pattern continued all the way to Leamington Spa, though not all the locks were so attractively painted. After passing the Blue Lias pub halfway down the flight, we reached Stockton Bottom Lock, under repair - which probably explains why there weren't any boats on the flight, and indeed we did not have the company of other moving boats for the rest of the day. However, we continued to pass moored boats from time to time all day (as every day on the Grand Union Canal - a lot of people live on the canal).

We passed over the River Itchen on an aqueduct and continued to descend by way of Bascote Locks, the first two of which form a staircase i.e. the two locks run straight from one to the other without an intervening pound. These are obviously sufficiently rare that instructions on which order to empty and fill the locks were provided. It takes a bit of getting your head around, and I can imagine that a fair few people end up in a pickle, without water in the right place. We continued under Welsh Road Bridge (under one of the old drove roads used to bring cattle from Wales to England), Longhole Bridge (carrying the Centenary Way) and Fosse Bridge (on the route of the Fosse Way, the old Roman Road from Exeter to Lincoln). Disappointingly, Fosse Bridge is a modern affair, and there are "Fosse" everythings in the area, including a Fosse elsan!