Stratford and beyond

Late last night, a boat arrived from the north so there was a good chance that I might have more luck with the locks.   Locks on the Upper Avon Navigation are more standardised that the Lower Navigation.  The gates are substantially made all of steel and are heavy to move. The lock-gear is simple and well engineered.  I heard that the assemblies come from France.  So to be able to cruise straight in to the lock is a bonus.  Many more bollards are provided and right on the lock edge which makes access from the boat much easier, so I settled down into a now well rehearsed routine.   It was interesting to notice that nearing locks the channel would narrow and the current increase markedly, so that much more power was needed to maintain way.   Approaching the last lock before Stratford a remnant of recent floods was half obstructing the channel, a narrowboat with its stern on the bank.   Fortunately, that lock gates into Bancroft Basin were also open, so within a short while I was up off the River.   The Royal Shakespeare Theatre is undergoing major refurbishment and looks a mess.   Similarly the lawns aroud the basin are all cleared and a major redesign is underway with more paths, so for the moment there is no pleasure in staying there.  Taking the chimney down I pressed on under the low bridges to the first (narrow) lock.   No more need for the ropes, but what is the boat going to do when I open the top paddles?   On this canal the locks appeared docile, no rapid movement of the boat.  With a boat behind waiting, there is often help available for silly little tasks like closing gates, so I was able to walk up to the next lock and prepare it to get a head start on the one ahead.  Even single handed I could then keep well in front and not feel that I was delaying the boater behind.  However, at the bottom of the Wilmcote Flight there was a mess of boats ahead some going up, some coming down, but not synchonised in a sensible way so long delays.   Ideally opposite direction boats should just cross in the intervening pound, not have to moor up between each lock.   Towards the top, help was forthcoming from a friendly BW lengthsman ostensibly involved in hedge trimming.  Contnuing on I passed over the scary Edstone Aqueduct and through Wooten Wawen and stopped for the night almost at Lowsonford.   A swarm of opposite direction hire boats in the last hour suggested that I would have a good road in the morning with every chance of making Hatton in good time.