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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 3688 |
1st June 2018 Mt. Biking: Edstone Aqueduct to Kingsworth Junction Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny periods and warm:) Max Speed: 16.81 (knots - unless stated otherwise) Distance Covered: 17 miles (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise) Friday 1st June – bike ***** Edstone Aqueduct to Kingsworth Junction – sunny periods and warm:) Quiet night in our little carpark under the Edstone Aqueduct, had some rain and a little thunder but nothing as bad as forecast! Watched narrow boats go by overhead while we laid in bed :) Checked the weather first thing and it looked poor, with rain from midday so we decided to make an early start. Mag packed a picnic while I sorted the bikes. After pushing the bikes up the long flight of steps to the South Stratford Canal we crossed the longest Aqueduct in England at 10.15 with our destination Kingsworth/Lapworth Junction (it’s called both these names depending on what map you look at?) This is one of the prettiest canals we have ever cycled as it meanders along with very few locks, not bad considering it passes through some hilly countryside. It must have had a top surveyor in the 1800’s! The tow path was for the most part fairly good although it did get very muddy in short sections and we had to make a small detour around a tree but the banks were covered in bright yellow iris and with cows grazing in buttercup covered pastures it was a picture to behold:) A new marina had been built along the first section and it looked really nice with light wood piers and the colourful boats. Our first point of interest came after only a mile and a half, the Wooton Wawen Aqueduct much shorter than Edstone as it crossed a road by a small narrowboat hire marina. Then after three miles we came to an even smaller Aqueduct at Yarningale. The nice thing about this section of canal is there is very little access from roads although there are a lot of quaint bridges leading to farm land. You really feel out in the wilds and we saw very few people only the odd boat:) We had the usual ducks, geese and moorhen with young and the rain never came, in fact the sun came out and it became quite warm! After approximately seven miles we came to the major junction where the Stratford Canal joins the Grand Union. You could continue north to Birmingham or turn right to Warwick and eventually it would lead you all the way back to London, the canal system is amazing and is one of the largest in the world! We even found a large carpark here we can perhaps use over the weekend as a base to bike to Warwick. Not sure what to do with it being a bit early for lunch we continued on the North Stratford canal and soon found the Lapworth flight of locks, at least half a dozen close together which we cycled to the top of. There were a couple of Canal Trust volunteers helping the many boats heading upstream and we had a nice chat with both of them:) We found a seat for our picnic and watched the boats making slow progress up, we even saw local rope and hardware trader Harry New who makes lovely rope fenders in his workshop on his brightly decorated boat and sells on his travels. All the narrowboaters seemed friendly, several with dogs, and today mostly holiday makers enjoying this slower pace of life for a week although some of the teenage girls had suck a lemon faces and were looking forward to the end of the week so they could get back to their mates! We must have spent the best part of an hour here watching the world go by before setting off for home. Being for the best part downhill we made good time. We had been out 4 hours 25 minutes covering another 17 miles with a top speed of 16.81 knots and were knackered so after washing the mud off we enjoyed a relaxing cuppa in the hot sunshine with the odd narrowboat passing high above us. Bacon and egg for tea and as the sun disappears it looks like we are in for another quiet night. Photo Gallery Here Saturday 2nd June – relax, travel, shop and small walks *** cloudy start then sunny and warm:) Our second night all by ourselves at the Edstone Aqueduct – we slept for 10 hours!! We are going to take it easy today after some hectic biking and at weekends it pays to keep a low profile. Had a lay in reading. A young lad arrived with his Dad and proceeded to run up and down the aqueduct steeps many times – we can barely make it once, especially dragging our bikes! Mag did her exercises. We needed a shop and with Stratford the nearest big town we headed back there and found a big Morrisons. We spent £60 but that did include some tops for Arlo, it had a top selection of kid’s clothes, and a bird feeder with feed already inside for £3!! We then took the windy route back to Lapworth Junction where the Stratford Canal meets the Grand Union and got a nice shaded spot in a large carpark right near the canal. First thing I did was put up the bird feeder in hope of attracting some birds:) Then had our rotisserie chicken for dinner, delicious it was too:) The first bird to come near the feeder was a Great Spotted Woodpecker but it saw us and soon whizzed off. Then a friendly Robin joined us for lunch and spent ages feeding just outside the van as the odd narrowboat passed. We had a walk around the junction and along to the Grand Union on a lovely still sunny afternoon. Back to the van for a cuppa followed later by a yummy stir fry and another walk up the Lapworth flight of locks. We were going to bike into Warwick tomorrow as we have never seen the castle but as it is Sunday we might postpone it until Monday when the kids will be back at school and it will be quieter??? |
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