Thursday 13th April 2006
Warwick - Stockton Top (12 miles, 25 locks)
We moved Hawksmoor closer to Warwick and walked in to have breakfast at the little coffee shop we have frequented in the past. It has changed hands since we were first here four years ago, but the full English breakfasts are still worth the walk.
The rain started as we left Warwick and dogged us as far as Radford. We decided to stop for lunch after Fosse Locks - what a big mistake. A couple of hire boats overtook us, followed by two private boats. The next four locks took us almost three hours, partly because the private boats were hanging back so they didn't have to offer to help the hire boats.
When we finally reached the lock just before Bascote Staircase, I could see that the private boats were now in the top chamber of the staircase and I asked Robert to go and empty the bottom chamber. The people on private boats shouted at Robert and told him he was stupid for starting to empty the lower chamber as there was a boat waiting to come down. Robert couldn't be bothered to explain to them how a staircase works and that the lower chamber has to be empty so that the upper chamber can empty into it. Otherwise several thousand gallons floods over the towpath.
Robert walked away, but I sent him back. The people on Wordsworth were really angry as Robert prepared the lock for us, but it was no problem for the boat coming down, and we passed in the middle of the two chambers. In fact, we have seen three boats pass in a similar staircase, it just needs a bit of sideways shuffling, and it obviously makes best use of the water. I can only assume that the owners of Wordsworth and the other boat have no experience of going down staircase locks and would love to be there when they cause a flood. In spite of his age, Robert has worked almost a thousand locks, including four different staircases, so I was irritated by their attitude towards him.
Thankfully, all the boats in front stopped near the pubs before the locks at Long Itchington. I said hello and gave a cheery wave to people from the private boats. They glared at me and didn't speak, obviously angry that we had disobeyed their crass orders at Bascote. How totally arrogant of them, and will they ever realise they were wrong?
We were soon opposite the "Blue Lias" pub, filling up at the water-point. From then on it took us forty minutes for the Stockton flight of eight locks, even though every lock was against us.
We winded the boat at the marina entrance and reversed back beyond the bridge to moor for our final night. Everyone in the Ownerships scheme seems to recommend eating at The Blue Lias and to avoid The Boat Inn, but we decided to give them the benefit of the doubt, especially as we were so tired and hungry.
We ordered our food at twenty to eight, but the pub was very busy. After an hour and ten minutes, we became aware that people who had arrived after us were getting their food, so I asked the barman if there was a problem. He came back from the kitchen and told me that they were just "plating-up" our meals now. We waited another twenty minutes during which time everything from the kitchen was destined for people who had arrived nearly an hour after us. I told the family that if the next meals from the kitchen weren't for us, we were leaving. The inevitable happened, so I asked the barman how much we owed for the drinks and to forget the food, which I suppose is what they had done anyway. He wasn't happy, and went to tell the kitchen staff. When he came back, he told us it wasn't his fault, but made no attempt to apologise for the mistake. The woman who was obviously in charge of the kitchen staff told Jen it wasn't their fault and that they were busy and dealt with orders in strict rotation. Jen said "I'm 46 years old and I've never experienced such bad service", to which the woman suggested that she should get out more. Again, a simple apology for messing it up might have helped. I paid for the drinks we had consumed over the last hour and forty minutes and we left.
We had very little food on the boat so we walked rapidly down the canal to The Blue Lias, arriving shortly after last orders for food. I relayed the story to Brian, the landlord, and he told us that we wouldn't go hungry. Our food arrived less than ten minutes later. Any guesses which pub stays on our must visit again list and which is on our blacklist?