After a look round Bidford-on-Avon this morning we set off on the last leg of the River Avon. We saw more wildlife, including a sunbathing turtle ...
... and another stationary kingfisher. I think this is my best kingfisher photo so far.
It was stationary for a couple of snaps, and then it took off. I flukily pressed the shutter at that precise instant.
Its feet are still on the branch.
There was a lot more flow on the river today. Perhaps it was yesterday's rain working its way through the system. Together with the generally narrower river in these upstream reaches it meant that sometimes we were doing only 2 mph.
And suddenly there were people. Gongoozlers at the last proper river lock, people in the park and little boats on the river. Yes, we'd arrived in Stratford.
We carried on past the parkside moorings and under the Tramway Bridge to explore the Avon upstream of there. We hadn't done this bit before, so here was more new water.
A mile and a half from Tramway Bridge was this interesting modern structure,
"Riverside", a conference centre.
The two guides we have suggest that it's best to wind before the last half mile to Alveston Weir, so we did just that, at a left bend. Ahead in the photo below is the bend ...
... and this is us mid-wind. Apart from one moored narrowboat near Stratford we were the only narrowboat on this section. Has any reader done this bit? How far did you get? Could we have got further than we did?
It was a lot quicker returning to Stratford with the current; we turned right under the Tramway Bridge to go up into Bancroft Basin.
We're back on a canal at last! With narrow locks! We've managed to get ahead of schedule - we could have saved ourselves £10 and got a one week permit for the Avon rather than two. It's a shame it's not transferable.
1 comment:
I have only ventured as far as the water point at the Bathing Place - but that was with Butty in tow.
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