Locking in the sun.

We were at the top lock at 1000. One boat had come up so the locks were mainly our way but the bottom gates were leaking so we had to fill most of them up.

Our second lock was very photogenic with a nice cottage and a split bridge. There is even a roller on the top of the bridge for the tow rope of old.

This is the easy bit. All the locks nice and close so we could zip down these 7 locks at Lapworth

We stopped at Lock 19 and filled up with water and whilst we were filling up I went to find a post box and a Sunday paper and did both before we had finished the water. We had put the washer on as the weather was so good for drying. Here we are just below Lock 19 and at the junction with the Grand Union. There is one lock between the two.

Here is the second link to the Grand Union and this one doesn't need a lock to link up. We also have the barrel roofed lock keepers cottage that are found on the Stratford Canal. I had gone on to the next lock to get it ready. Kindly a couple of C&RT blokes opened the gates for Helen and shut the paddle saving me the walk back to the lock.

Helen passing the barrel roofed lock cottage at the junction. I had missed the rubbish disposal at the offices so had to walk back to dump the garbage. Most of the rubbish points now have a bin for dry recyclables. It is good to be able to separate the rubbish but I see that many are not doing it and chucking all in the non recyclable bin. They are not that well marked so you have to be careful. 

A lovely rural scene with the split bridge and barrel roof of the cottage but the M40 is just round the corner.

Looking the other way.

I'd love to know what the weight limits would have been for the split bridge.

By now I was feeling a bit tired but not too far to go now.

We had been hoping to moor after Lock 31 where we had taken water again as we had done two loads of washing. The water points on the Stratford seem to be badly spaced as like buses two come along at once and then there aren't any for ages. We found that it was permit mooring all the way to the next lock so we had to keep going. Here we have the Antony Gormaly statue at lock 31. It was placed here as part of the celebrations of the Landmark Trusts 50th Anniversary in May 2015. It is to be removed soon and nthe celebrations prior to this take place next Sunday, so if you want to see it in position go now.

We moored not far down from the lock and after lunch and a read of the paper we set off back up the towpath to the Fleur De Lys pub that was doing roaring trade. The first didn't touch the sides but it was a nice stretch of the legs. All in all a great day and loads of people up and down the tow path. I can take it easy for a few days now before there are loads of locks in a day.