Saltisford

 Today's Canal - Grand Union

We were not as quick of the mark this morning as some days but when a boat passed us on its way towards Hatton Locks, Christine 'suggested' to Mike that it would be a good idea to follow them down in the hope of sharing the locks.

It was a grey sky to begin with and the cruise to the top lock took about 45 minutes with a very pleasant temperature.

Along the way we passed through Shrewley tunnel, juts under 400 m  in length.

As we arrived at the locks the earlier boat was just about to set off down and were quite prepared to share with us. The couple are very experienced boaters which made life much simpler, especially when meeting boats coming up that were not long out of Warwick on their first cruise. The lifting of some pandemic restrictions has seen a mini-boom for the hire companies as people look for alternatives to their cancelled foreign holiday. It will not make up for the earlier losses but none the less welcome for that.

Mike steered the boat down whilst Christine and Jess, together with the lady from the other boat worked the paddles and gates. Again, Jess made a great contribution, coping with a number of different scenarios  which needed a different approach. She was also very good at letting onlookers give her a hand, especially with the tougher paddles - she was able to open and shut all but a couple of the gates on her own, but still encouraged little ones (and sometimes some no so little ones) to lend a hand.

All this meant that it was not possible for Mike to take many useful photos and the first lock he snapped at all was the 14th from the top! Still, they are all almost identical for the one time extra narrow locks not left only as overflow channels. As this photo shows, the sky was still cloudy but the temperature had risen markedly.

Two locks from the bottom and Jess was especially envious of the blackberry picking by her fellow lock operator so persuaded us (as if we needed any!) to stop for lunch in a longer pound two locks from the  bottom. Alas, it was not a good picking zone but some were found a little later. By the time we stopped there was much more sunshine and so we were even hotter.

After a good break, during which Jess showed us her egg scrambling skills (very tasty) we dropped down the last two Hatton Locks. We were rather pleased to be able to look back at the bottom lock!

Just after the end of the flight comes Saltisford Junction.with an arm straight ahead and a very sharp left turn for the main line. This arm once went almost to the centre of Warwick some time after the late 1930's the section after a railway bridge was abandoned and is now built over. 

The arm is run by a small local charity and we know from he blogs of Keith and Jo on nb Hadar that it is well loved by it tiny community of permanent residents. Normally, he arm offers short term moorings and various facilities but in response to the pandemic closures, it is currently not open to visitors.

In theory we were heading for the water point above Cape Locks but as we approached it seemed as if there might not be room to stay overnight so we backed up to one of the few stretches of Armco for the night. Although we are close to Bridge 50A, a local access route, so far it is pleasant, quiet spot and the surrounding suburban landscape and industrial units are screened by plenty of greenery.

6.1 Miles - 21 Locks