51 Locks

On Monday morning we sailed out of Braunston heading for Napton Junction where we moored up overnight.   At Napton the Grand Union turns north-west and the 51 locks on this stretch are unique because the canal was originally built with narrow locks.   In the 1930's wide locks were constructed at the side of each narrow lock and replaced them.  The redundant narrow locks are now used for the overflow. 

Water cascades from the site of the narrow lock next to the replacement wide lock.

The first locks are a short flight of 3 at Calcutt, a warm up for the 8 Stockton Locks which we shared with another couple who had recently moved onto their boat.   Together we made short work of the flight and went on to moor up at Long Itchington.  There are several canalside pubs at this village and Kev and I enjoyed an excellent meal in the Two Boats. 

The canal continues to drop down to Leamington Spa where we passed the steam narrowboat 'President' heading for the historic rally at Braunston.  

President passes with a billow of smoke

As we sailed from Leamington Spa into Warwick we passed another unusual boat, the smallest narrowboat I've seen. 

The smallest narrowboat at Warwick

West of Warwick is the well-known Hatton Flight of 21 locks which take the canal up 146 feet.  We moored at the bottom of the flight and I took the girls for a walk up the locks.  Partway up I saw a crowd around a lock and an unusual sight, 8 CRT staff in attendance.  As I continued walking the reason became obvious; Timothy West and Prunella Scales were filming for another series of Great Canal Journeys.

Timothy West and Prunella Scales filming on the Hatton Flight

We had a plan of attack for the Hatton Flight which involved an early start and the electric bike so I could go ahead and set the locks.  At 5.40am Brent III entered the bottom lock; it was the start of an excellent run.  Many of the locks were in our favour and we were very pleased with ourselves as we came out of the top lock at 8.15.  We then continued on for a short way to find a mooring and called it a day.

Looking up at locks 37-42 on the Hatton Flight 

After the Hatton Flight the canal gave us a rest from locks but we did have a short tunnel.  Shrewley Tunnel has a high arched roof from which cascades of water pour onto the unsuspecting boater.  The long sweeping embankment at Rowington was an ideal spot for us to moor and we were joined by several other boaters on the sunny Saturday afternoon.  By Sunday morning the weather had turned and we watched as waterproofs were donned and boats pulled away.  Once the rain had stopped we set off, travelling north passed the Kingswood Junction and onto part of the Grand Union which is new to us.

Passing Kingswood Junction where we turned off to the Stratford Canal last year

 The next day we climbed the last of the 51 locks which are in a flight of 5 at Knowle.

Looking down the Knowle Locks.

We moored up near Knowle and met some boaters from Strawberry Island, Doncaster, who recognised Brent III from her time moored there.  Knowle is a small town with timbered buildings, independent shops and an interesting church but our real reason for mooring nearby was the Toby Carvery which provided an excellent meal.

A timbered building which is now the town library in Knowle

The next morning, fortified by a Toby Carvery breakfast, we set off on the last rural stretch of this canal; that afternoon we moored up in the hot sun on the outskirts of Solihull.


Our journey from Braunston to Solihull