It’s been reported on the Derbyshire BBC News site that the police are launching a scheme to target canal crime. This seems to mainly be circulating an information pack, which I can assume will be similar to one I received at home a while ago when the police were targeting crime in my locality, with information about locking windows and not leaving valuables on display. It’s a scheme to enable a “channel of communication for reporting crimes” - is that because people don’t phone the local police, or the local police haven’t in the past responded to canal crime as the owners don’t reside locally?
It seems modern life and the sad reality of increasing urban crime has caught up with boaters hoping their boat is space to get away from it all. The scheme is welcoming if it makes people aware of who’s around, and I guess its similar to many BoatWatch schemes you see signs for on private moorings as you pass slowly by, but is it just a PR stunt. Producing a pack and helping owners to be more vigilant is good, but will they be putting more resources that way - such as deviating nearby patrols to cover the area regularly?
I may not have finished processing May’s cruise photos yet, but I’m going out in two weeks time for a few days - other commitments mean I can’t do a full week just 5 days (well it’ll be less as the first day I have to set off later than hoped). So its a case of thinking where to go for a small trip. I’m thinking down the South Oxford to capture that a bit more, though my initial thoughts were to do Ashby Canal, but 4 days might be pushing it a tad for a round trip. I’ve got time to mull it over, so we’ll see.
Having arrived at Bancroft Basin the previous evening the morning, and some of the afternoon, was spent exploring Stratford Upon Avon or at least part of the centre. We set off mid afternoon and as there was a boat already in the lock we thanked them for waiting and lock-shared going down.
This was our first time on the Avon and whilst it was a sunny day, you notice the current as soon as you leave the lock as you enter at right-angles to the flow. First up was Colin P Witter lock, which is a strange affair as it’s encased in girders to maintain the lock shape due to high ground pressures ! As it was a sunny and warm day and Stratford a tourist magnet, there were plenty of people milling about watching go through the lock, before watching another come up, and then one go down, … After leaving the lock you come across a bridge round the corner, which is a multi-arched river bridge so its a case of ensuring you go through the right arch, especially in a deep drafted boat. Shortly after is another lock - its a case of peering in the distance and watching for a small directional sign (white arrow on a blue circle) telling you where the entrance is, lest you miss it. Anonymous Lock was set against us, so we moored up and prepared the lock, then waved in a boat that arrived at that point before following them in.
After these two locks the rest are further spread out, which is what you ideally want for river cruising as it gives you chance to enjoy the open water. Although we’d managed to find another boat to when passing through the locks, there seemed to be very little traffic about, so we really had the river mostly to ourselves. We had to set Stan Glover Lock when we reached it, but this time there were no following boats so we went down by ourselves. On the next stretch we did meet an oncoming boat, but with rivers being far wider you don’t pass close so I just waved to the other boat crew who then reciprocated. Binford bridges are up next, fairly easy to navigate as you just go through the central arch which is larger than the rest.
When we were back at Stratford I’d tried to purchase a guide for the river, but couldn’t find one (the tourist office sold us a license but didn’t have any guides etc, opportunity missed) but luckily we still had the Nicholson. You approach WA Cadbury Lock seeing just the safety buoys stretched across the river, so a quick glance at the map tells you which side the lock entrance is, otherwise it’d all be last minute manoeuvres! No boats around so again we went down alone, and on to Pilgrim lock a mile and a half down river. Again we went down by ourselves, but a cruiser moored up to come up as we descended. It was staffed by just two girls in their 20’s wearing shorts and black bikini tops, not what you need when you’ve got to navigate past them with the output from the weir insistent on trying to push you onto the bank - quick more throttle and eye’s straight ahead. We’d had to set each lock, so no one had come up since the boat ahead of us - but how far was that? It was possible no one had been on all day, or since the morning, or they could simply be a couple of bends ahead of us! E+H Billington Lock a mile ahead was set for us when we reached it (obviously by the cruiser we’d passed) so the “boat infront” was at least a while away.
We then reached Bidford-on-Avon, and initially we carried on but then decided to turn back. This was helped by the fact we picked something up on the prop, that I thought I managed to clear with a few blasts of reverse, but hadn’t and so made going through the next lock problematic - we got carried onto the safety buoys above the weir, but managed to get free with the help from a group of lads who at that point emerged from the lock on their hire boat. We went to the lock entrance and turned the boat and went back up to Bidford to moor and then go settle our nerves (cleaning the weed hatch could wait until morning).
This site didn’t have a favicon - I’d adapted a theme when I originally set the site up but never thought to add one. When reading a few other people’s boating blogs, many have a side bar with links to other boating blogs, as I do too, though I noticed some blogging software includes favicons when they list the sites (this is noticeable with the favicons of sites like blogger or typepad appear infront of several of the blogs). So I thought, maybe this site needs one too?
In deciding what to use I suppose I could simply have gone with one representing the bogging software I use, wordpress, but I thought I could try and make one. Initial thoughts would be that I needed something related to the site, but I thought why not the logo of my boat Silhouette? I did have it on a photo, so it was simply a case of putting it into a smaller file. I did a bit of tweaking and came up with:
Logo for Silhouette
Unfortunately whilst favicon’s can be various sizes (I did a 48×48) its displayed as 16×16 pixels so is fairly small. Still it’ll do for now.
We started the day late, since it was raining when we awoke, but set off once the rain cleared. Studying the Nicholson over breakfast showed we had 11 miles and 24 locks left on this canal, but whether we did it all on one day depended on the weather (or how hardy we felt if rain sets in).
The rain had stopped giving the air a nice fresh feel, but rain clouds still loomed in the sky. This stretch of canal was quiet, though we passed a couple of boaters also enjoying the Spring climate. The locks start off at a steady pace and you can enjoy the scenery and examine the split lock bridges as you pass by. Just before we reached Wootton Wawen we passed NB Oasis Too who’s infamy arises from appearing on BBC News during last years floods, though no one seemed on board at present. We approached the moorings amid quite a commotion - a field was full of cars and hundreds of people were milling around. There was a “walk” event that had attracted equal numbers of ramblers and onlookers. We moored up, visited the farm shop and then had lunch on board. Afterwards we pulled over to the boat yard to get a gas bottle, as the boat only half a bottle (plus an empty) when we arrived this time. We also topped up the diesel since there’d be some river cruising ahead.
The afternoon was sunny, and the view from over Edstone Aqueduct was great - though you had to keep one eye on where the boat was going less you make a large clang against the side. Next up was Wilmcote Locks containing almost half the locks we’d do today. These are well maintained and we did them at a relaxed pace in the warm afternoon. Travelling on you then leave the seclusion of the countryside as you enter Stratford upon Avon with its mixture of industrial and residential waterside buildings. The bridges here have fairly low headrooms but its fine, so long as you remember to duck. As we round the bend after the final lock we see the brick road bridge that is the entrance to Bancroft Basin, which is now instantly recognisable from all the media coverage of floods in 2007. We entered the basin and then found a mooring spot. Time to get ready and go out.
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