April 13

New territory.

After spending yesterday morning helping Nick get his lighting sorted out on his boat, he spent the afternoon helping me ascend the Hatton flight of locks.

Nick Seagar wirh Wandering Canuck on the Hatton Flight of locks

These are a significant challenge as they are wide locks (two narrowboats can go up side-by-side.) That means they are big and heavy in comparison. Nick did the heavy work with most of the paddles and gates, while I hung on to the various ropes to prevent the boat banging around as the water swirled in. 21 locks and 3h 36 minutes later, my boat was at the top! I then rode back by bike to Nick’s boat where I finished with the lighting, had a wonderful dinner, and great company.

This morning, I went to St. Mary’s Collegiate Church in Warwick where my great (15+?) aunt is buried. I rang the bells( well- I only rang the #3 bell- but others were ringing at the same time!) there briefly before the service and stayed for Palm Sunday celebrations. Great music!

It was a lovely day, and although Nick and I had plans to share some more time together, he had family things to do, so we parted with a promise of getting together again later this summer. I then set out on a glorious afternoon, and ascended the Lapworth lock flight on the north Stratford canal. This is new to me, so it will be exploration time again.

Spring along the Grand Union Canal north of Warwick

I had assistance from the Canal and River Trust volunteer, who took pity on me as I am single-handing (NO- this doesn’t mean I have further digital problems…- just I am by myself working the locks.) Fraser Pithie assisted me, and provided welcome, congenial, and very knowledgeable assistance up some of the many (21)locks in this flight. The CaRT volunteers have received some bad press, but my experience has been that these volunteers are doing this because of their love of people, the canals, history, and the country.

Tomorrow, I expect to finish the Stratford canal and then head towards Birmingham. The sky is clear, the moon is out and the world doesn’t get much better!