Previous Year : 2005 The Bona Boater's Trips Following Year : 2007

2006 - The Warwick Ring.

Crew : Pete, Dave, John & Chris, Stan, Ernie, Iain

Boat : Moon Dance

From : Anglowelsh, Wootton Wawen.

Route : Wootton Wawen > Kingswood > Cape Locks > Birdingbury Wharf > Hillmorton > Newbold on Avon > Hawkesbury > Atherstone > Fazeley > Aston Cross > Birmingham > Alvechurch [w] > Kingswood > Lowsonford > Wootton Wawen.

Coverage : 154 Locks and 130 Miles.

Notes : This year, Colin could not attend and so he was replaced by Iain. This trip included meeting up with John & Andrea and our first visit to The Bartons Arms. We were also advised to go to the pub by some BW workmen who had drained the canal to repair some lock gates at Atherstone.

Saturday 20th May

Lunch : Wootton Wawen. We arrived at The boatyard about noon, and all met up in The Navigation alongside the boatyard, where we ate lunch. After loading up and having to wind the boat, we set off up The Stratford Canal towards Kingswood Junction, where we moored a little way down the locks from the junction.

Evening : Kingswood. We went to The Navigation Inn at Kingswood, which is actually only just inside Rowington - according to the sign on the road. We had an excellent meal, plenty of beer and some rather nice perry.

Sunday 21st May

Lunch : Cape Locks, Warwick. Leaving The Stratford Canal at Kingswood Junction, we turned onto The Grand Union - via the 'new' cut, and headed toward Warwick. We stopped at The Cape of Good Hope by Cape Locks for the lunchtime session.

Evening : Stockton Locks. After leaving Cape Locks, we continued along the GU to Stockton, where went to The Boat Inn at Birdingbury Wharf. John and Andrea Barlass had agreed to meet us here for a meal and some beer.

We climbed Stockton Locks amid alternating sun and heavy showers.

The Boat Inn at Birdingbury Wharf

Monday 22nd May

Lunch : Hillmorton. We continued along The GU past Napton, and at Braunston Turn, we turned left on to The North Oxford. We stopped for lunch right outside The Old Royal Oak at Hillmorton.

Moored right outside The Old Royal Oak, Hillmorton.

At least we made sure that Dave had a comfy seat

Afternoon : Newbold on Avon. Later in the afternoon, we stopped for an afternoon 'quickie' or two and to dry out, at least externally at The Boat Inn at Newbold-on-Avon. Once we had dried out, and in danger of falling asleep in the comfy settees, we set off again through the rain and pushed on towards Hawkesbury Junction.

The Boat, Newbold on Avon.

Drying externally while getting wet internally.

Evening : Hawkesbury Junction. After leaving The Boat Inn at Newbold, we pushed on through more heavy showers to Hawkesbury Junction. We moored up just before Sutton Stop and went to The Greyhound for several pints of Highgate Mild and a meal. At this point, Stan had to take his leave of us to return home to York to attend a funeral, although he would return to the boat later in the week.

More rain on the way to Hawkesbury Junction.

Hawkesbury Junction.

The Oxford Canal to Braunston Turn is on the right

The Coventry Canal to Fazeley Junction is on the left

The Coventry Canal to Coventry basin continues behind the photographer.

The Greyhound, Hawkesbury Junction.

John & Dave enjoying pints of Mild in The Greyhound

Tuesday 23rd May

Lunch : Atherstone. After passing through Sutton Stop lock and reasonably successfully negotiating the somewhat awkward turn at Hawkesbury Junction, we eventually arrived at Atherstone. On the way to Atherstone, we had been warned by several boats going the other way that the Atherstone flight was closed. Chris phoned the boatyard to see if they had any further information about the closure, but they didn't even know that there was stoppage. With some trepidation, we decided to press on to Atherstone and investigate the situation. On arrival at Atherstone, a sign by the top lock seemed to imply that the flight may be closed for anything up to two days. If this were to be the case, then it would have a severe impact on the rest of our trip. As we were now about half way round the ring, we would have to turn round here and head back the way we had come, albeit with the possibility of a short trip somewhere else as well. The Ashby Canal was mooted as a possible back-up plan. As it turned out from speaking to the workers, they suggested that the flight would probably be re-watered by early afternoon that same day, and they suggested that we might like to go to the pub for a couple of hours. Following their instructions, we went to the Market Tavern, which is owned by The Warwickshire Beer Company. On our return to the boat a couple of hours later, the flight was in the process of being re-watered, so we decided to continue with the planned route.

Atherstone.

The flight had been dewatered for a lock cill repair.

Evening : Fazeley. Eventually, after the flight was fully rewatered, we were able to continue on towards Fazeley Junction, with Stan rejoining us en route. Arriving in Fazeley, we moored up and went to The Three Horseshoes for some rather nice Draught Bass. We then went for a curry in The Ivory Tusk next door. As the curry house was unlicensed at the time, we were allowed to bring trays of beer in from The Three Horseshoes next door. After the curry, we returned to The Three Horseshoes for the rest of the evening for more of their rather nice Draught Bass.

Wednesday 24th May

Lunch : Aston Cross. At Fazeley Junction, we turned on to The Birmingham & Fazeley Canal and headed up towards Birmingham. We stopped briefly at Minworth but found that The Boat Inn now had no real ale. We moved on and stopped again at Tyburn, but the advance scouting party also discovered that The Tyburn House had no real ale either, so we pushed on and decided to go to The Bartons Arms at Aston Cross. We moored by Rocky Lane Bridge (Br.60), and walked from there. It took about 15-20 minutes but was well worth the walk. Not sure it would be safe to moor there overnight though.

The Bartons Arms, Aston Cross

The Bartons Arms - Inside.

Evening : Birmingham. After several pints of the Oakham ales plus guests at The Bartons Arms, we went back to the boat and continued the climb up to Birmingham, where we managed to get our usual spot by the NIA. We went to The Prince of Wales for some beer, to China Red for a Chinese meal, then The Tap & Spile for some more beer - and a nice snooze for Ernie, though none of us know how he could possibly sleep with all that racket going on !

The Tap & Spile, Gas Street.

The excitement was all too much for Ernie.

Thursday 25th May

Lunch : Alvechurch. After negotiating the roundabout at Old Turn Junction, we set off along The Worcester & Birmingham Canal towards King's Norton Junction. Through Bourneville, we played the usual game of "waving at the train drivers" to get them to sound their horns. We went straight past King's Norton Junction and on to Alvechurch and winded. The towpath here was extremely muddy and wet. We first went to The Crown for a couple of pints, then on to The Weighbridge for numerous pints of Bargee.

The Weighbridge, Alvechurch.

The crew relaxing inside The Weighbridge

Evening : Earleswood. After winding in Alvechurch boatyard and then several pints at The Weighbridge, we set off back up The Worcester & Birmingham canal towards King's Norton Junction. It was on this stretch that Pete had an altercation with a tree. He swears it jumped out in front of him. As the boat went through a bridge hole on quite a tight bend, there was another boat moored across the corner, limiting our manoeuvring space. Pete managed to avoid the other boat, but our boat ploughed through the low-hanging branches of a willow tree, which swept everything off the roof onto the counter. One of the branches also flicked back and hit Pete on the head - luckily missing his brain by about six feet, so no real damage done. We continued on to King's Norton Junction where we joined the Stratford Canal. We stopped at Earleswood for the evening and went to The Bull's Head for a meal and some more beer.

The tree jumped out in front of me.. honest guv...

No damage to the boat or to the tree, and only minor damage to Pete.

Friday 26th May

Lunch : Kingswood. We descended Lapworth Locks to Kingswood Junction, moored up below lock 24 and walked back up to The Navigation at Kingswood where as well as several well kept beers, there was still some of the very nice perry.

Moored below Lock 24

There's definitely one Mooring in this basin !

The Navigation Inn, Lapworth.

Afternoon : Lowsonford. After several beers (and a few perries !) in The Navigation, we moved on down The Stratford Canal and stopped at The Fleur-de-Lys at Lowsonford. We had already stopped and had tied the boat to the two trees at the bottom of the garden, before we saw the sign asking boaters not to tie their boats to the trees. Too late - never mind, let's go and have a pint first. Later, BTS1 and Ernie both fell asleep in the comfy chairs and we wondered what would happen if we left them there... at which point they both woke up simultaneously - spooky !

The Fleur de Lys, Lowsonford.

We didn't see the sign saying "don't tie up to this tree" until after we'd tied up to the tree.

Dave and Ernie in the sleep-inducing chairs.

Evening : Wootton Wawen. After another couple of pints in The Fleur-de-Lys, we set off on the final leg to Wootton Wawen. We moored a short hop from The boatyard but decided not to go to The Navigation. Instead, we went to The Bull's Head which it at the opposite end of the village. After the pub, we returned to the boat for the obligatory Port & Stilton.

The Bull's Head, Wootton Wawen

Back to the boat for the last of the Port & Stilton.

Saturday 27th May

Morning : Pete, BTS1 & Ernie then made their usual pilgrimage to The Karachi Restaurant , Bradford for a curry, a trip to The Al-Halal supermarket for provisions, then set off back to York and to reality for another year

Previous Year : 2005 The Bona Boater's Trips Following Year : 2007