One of the best aspects of our boating life now is that we don’t have to make hard and fast plans, we just sort of see how we feel in the morning before deciding what to do. On Monday morning we decided to move on having given consideration to remaining at Rowington and walking to Lapworth for a look around. We set off around nine o’clock and reached the junction with the Stratford canal about twenty minutes later. All was quiet on our short journey and we saw nothing on the move at all, in fact with the exception of a couple of dog walkers, it would have been easy to assume that we were the last people on earth. However, by the time we had carried out our services we found ourselves in a queue of boats waiting to descend the locks.

The boat behind was a hire boat with a crew of four or five adults and as a result, they were working down at a slightly faster rate than we were.

This little shed or summer house has its own log burner – very cosy.

Bank Holiday traffic on the M40 in the background. Bank Holiday Caxton in the lock.
Which is your preference?

This changed once we met a couple of boats coming up the flight and we didn’t see them again until we tied up at Lowsonford. We found a good mooring opposite the Fleur de Lys and in the late afternoon, we took a walk there for a drink, joining a number of other customers who were enjoying the warm bank holiday weather.

Our three hour trip which included 9 locks and a passage under the M40 had brought us to a point less than a mile and a half (a half hour walk) from where we had moored the night before – such are the wonders of travelling by canal.

Tom O’ the Wood to The Fleur de Lys