With the kitchen sink needing sorting we decided not to rush off today to get up the locks back to Kingswood Junction. We want to visit two National Trust properties which are near the junction, we have plenty of time.
So Mick took the sink to bits underneath, cleaned everywhere out and put it back together. He relocated a washer to where it might work better and added PTFE tape to the joints. Under the sink there has always been a small leak, maybe now it will be mended. A bowl has been positioned so that we can monitor the situation.
Barrel vaulted roofs on the canal side cottages
The weekends heavy water useage needed sorting too, “She must have been empty when we bought her!” Even with good water pressure Lillian took her time quenching her thirst. Up the next lock we moored up and went in search of the Jac’s Farm Shop. On our way down the locks Jac had wanted to go and have a look, but with no fridge space spare it wouldn’t have been a good idea. But today the fridge is nearly empty.
The cockerel announced our arrival at the farm shop
Lost dog.
Finwood Hill Farm Shop is up the hill from lock 30. There is a small room with fridges and freezers. A lady came out from the house to help us and showed us her wares, all in the freezer. They sell Dexter Beef and Gloucester Old Spot Pork, at this time of year it is all frozen. We picked out a joint of beef, some sausages and bought some eggs too. The lady had with her a dog that had been found on the towpath yesterday, her husband was busy putting signs up along the canal. We took a photo and have added it to various groups on facebook that we belong to, hope she gets home soon. The lady here liked to talk, if Jac had been with us we’d have still been there at dusk!
Boot nesting boxes
Wellie nesting box
At one of the locks there was a National Trust plaque on the wall. The canal was built in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries carrying coal (180,000 tons a year) down to Stratford. The railways did their worst and the canal was sold to the Great Western Railway. By the 1950’s this southern section of the canal was badly silted up, locks unusable. In 1959 The National Trust agreed to lease the canal from the British Transport Commission. The section was re-opened in 1964 after four years of restoration. In 1988 the canal was passed onto British Waterways who were better equipped to look after it.
A beautiful day finished off on the tow path
The afternoon was so lovely with temperatures reaching into the 20s. Not many boats were moving, a photographer was set up by one of the locks having a snack and people were out walking. We pulled in just before Kingswood Junction and Lapworth Link and moored up for the day. A bottle of Crabbies had been chilling all afternoon and we sat out on the towpath to enjoy it. Just gone 8pm we started closing Lillians doors as it was getting chilly outside. The stove is still lit but for how much longer?
10 locks, 2.6 miles, 20 teenagers on two boats, 1 farmshop, 1 lost dog, 1 photographer, 1 bottle of crabbies, 7 butterflies, 1 sausage slop and pasta
NB Lillyanne 