Saturday 30th July 2005
Radford Semele - Preston Bagot (18 miles, 40 locks)
I got up early, leaving Jen and the rest of the crew to have a lie-in since there were no locks until after breakfast. We passed through Leamington Spa and arrived at the rather meagre moorings by the large Tesco store by Bridge 46 on the outskirts of Warwick. We managed to squeeze onto the end of the moorings and did some fairly major food shopping after breakfast in the Tesco cafe. We were then ready for the twenty-three locks of Cape and Hatton. We filled up at the waterpoint above Cape Locks and I managed to leave the hose adaptor behind, only realising the next day. A replacement was later purchased in Stratford, together with a spare which I will keep for the next time I am stupid.
We went though the Cape locks on our own, but then passed a boat called Hyderanger who were obviously waiting for company up the flight. They were a couple from New Zealand who had sold up the family business and wanted to see England by cruising the inland waterways. With the husband helping Jen and the kids, while the wife steered the boat, we were soon nearing the top of the flight. I had suggested that we travel as a pair and it was an instant success - what a team! It transpired that the husband had undergone a quadruple bypass operation a few years ago and then been diagnosed with bladder cancer. This had triggered their decision to sell-up, move to the UK and live on a narrowboat. After just ten months of life on the canals, the husband had lost a stone in weight and felt so good that he had given up taking all the pills he had needed before. He certainly looked amazingly fit and healthy to us, and he joked that he was now expected to survive so long that all their money would run out and he would have to get a job. They were wonderful company and I wished afterwards I had asked their names. Mind you, my memory for names is pretty poor and people often tell me and I forget to listen.
After Hatton, we parted company and travelled on to Kingswood Junction, where we turned left down the southern section of the Stratford Canal. The narrow locks contrasting with the broad locks of the Grand Union Canal.
We decided to carry on down the seventeen locks to Preston Bagot, mooring for the night in an isolated spot between Bridge 49 and 50. We ate on the boat rather than walk back to the very upmarket "Crab Mill" restaurant. It was a long day, but left us in a good position to reach Stratford by lunchtime the following day.