Stratford upon Avon River Festival

 

This has to be seen to be believed. It would appear that the festival organisers don't want geese on the river during the festival . So every day this boat chased them down towards the weir with a lady in the bow holding up a stuffed dog to frighten them. Eventually when reaching the weir they all went over and down the other side.But over the following few hours they all came back up again . Still it was good fun to watch.

Filming outside of Inca and in front of Holy Trinity Church.

Time out from the festival and a few drinks with good friends Bob and Jan on Nb Small Dreams on their mooring in Bancroft basin..

As you can see by the people crossing the bridge it was very busy with over 50,000 people expected . You can see the river was so busy that there were one or two small collisions.

Carolyn and Jan (nb Small Dreams) soaking up the Festival atmosphere.

About 100 yards from Inca they set up the firework display.

And what a display it was . One of the best we have seen for a long time.

At the festival on Sunday we were treated to a performance by the Stratford to Stratford theatre company. We had spoken to a few of the performers a couple of days ago and they explained to us that they had come from Stratford in London to Stratford upon Avon in a narrowboat and had learnt A midsummer nights dream on the way up. We promised them that we would come and watch them and we were glad that we did. Their performance was brilliant with some great acting. A most enjoyable experience.

Music time at the bandstand with some very good performances (we even had a little dance) . They also had an Acoustic stage as well… There was so much going on at the festival and it was such a change for us to do something like this , but we absolutely loved it.

As well as music there was dancing. Some was good and some was not !!!!

I would have loved to get my hands on one of these,but they wouldn't let me have a go. Although they did put on a couple of displays on the river which was fun as they kept getting hit by other boats.

We ended the last day of the festival with good old Fish and Chips. We have been a bit spoilt with all the food here and have had some lovely Spit roast Pork, Thai food ,Pizza’s, Wraps and Burgers, Oh! and a large small amount of alcohol… Time for a diet me thinks…

                                                                             Happy Days

Staying still at Stratford

 

We have decided to stay for the Stratford upon Avon river festival. Carolyn worked her charms and the mooring committee agreed to move a few boats and fit us on the end near the lock opposite Holy Trinity Church which was perfect as we were there already.During the festival all the moorings in the basin and on the river above Trinity lock are reserved and the closing date was 2 weeks ago.

We always intended to cruise down the river Avon which requires us to buy a separate licence from the one we have from Canal and River Trust. The licence cost £50 for 7 days or £60 for 14 days or £70 for 30 days. But as we were going to stay for the festival we got our festival mooring plus 30 days on the river Avon for only £60.  I know we will not spend a month on the Avon but it does give us plenty of time to explore at our leisure and not worry about running out of time like we did on the Thames.

Just along from our mooring is the chain Ferry. It says it is the oldest one left. The guy cranks the handle and the ferry transports its passengers from one side of the Avon to the other. At 50p a trip its not bad value.

We decided to go to Holy Trinity Church to have a look at the final resting place of William Shakespeare.

The stain glass window that is in the Church above where William Shakespeare is buried.

And here it is, Shakespeare's grave..He is buried alongside his wife Ann. I must admit I did think it would be a lot different and maybe a lot more grand than it was.

With the River Festival starting it looks like we are going to have a very busy couple of days.There are bands playing all weekend plus plays, Dancing and even some stalls for Carolyn to shop at .

                                                                                                      Happy Days

Avon calling !

 

After 2 days moored in Bancroft basin its time to make a move . We pulled pins at 06.55 with my plan being to turn left when we drop down onto the river Avon and head up to the water point and then continue as far up the river as we could.

On the way we passed this field of Giant Hogweed. At up to 18 feet tall its a nasty plant and you don't want to go anywhere near it as the sap can seriously damage your skin causing blisters and if it comes in to contact with your eyes it can cause blindness.

Once we had filled with water near the old bathing place we carried on up the river and passed these Glampers.

While the statutory head of navigation is at Alverston which is 3 miles up from Stratford it is apparently inadvisable for deep draughted boats to proceed past Cliffe cottage. Even the average narrowboat struggles past The old Bathing place as it gets very shallow. But I was determined to get as far as i could. We ended up winding (turning) with some difficulty a couple of hundred yards from Cliffe cottage as it was getting extremely shallow and I didn't fancy reversing a mile or so back down a flowing river or even worse getting stuck. Still I was well pleased we got that far as many boaters never attempt it and it was well worth the effort.

Heading back into Stratford upon Avon.

With all the boat traffic on this stretch of The River Avon you need to be very careful especially when going with the flow when heading downstream.

Passing The RSC Theatre.

How about this for a mooring…We are opposite Holy Trinity Church which is the final resting place of the great man himself, William Shakespeare. We will have a day here before deciding what to do next. Decisions decisions decisions….

                                                                                           Happy Days

Stratford upon Avon

 

How lucky are we?  . With the basin nearly full we just managed to grab this 48 hour mooring in Bancroft basin.

Looking out of the back and over towards The RSC Theatre.

Moored opposite to us is this ice cream boat , I'm sure that William Shakespeare enjoyed a Mr Whippy ice cream ….Do you look for ICE CREAMS and TREATS here you RUDE RASCALS? Henry VIII 5.4.9-10 (ish)

Having an evening stroll around Stratford and we came across this lot.  You cant beat a good old evening of Morris dancing.

and a walk around the town.. How lucky is Carolyn to get all this free entertainment. Shame about the shops being closed. But no doubt she will give them a good going over in the morning.

We were going to go and have a look around the Shakespeare centre, but at £15.90 each we thought better of it.

I bet this place does a roaring trade in July. Its a Christmas shop .

After an evening walk around the town and the temperature still at 30 deg C there's nothing better to do than chill out with a glass or 3 of the red stuff and watch the world pass by in the centre of Stratford On Avon.

                                                                                          Happy Days

Onto the Stratford

 

After a good day moored at Rowington we made a later than normal start and headed towards Kingswood junction. This is where we come off The Grand Union canal and head towards Stratford upon Avon on the Stratford canal. After turning off at the junction you can take the lock on the right that takes you up the Lapworth flight and then onto Birmingham. But we turn left as we are heading down towards Stratford upon Avon

A lot of the bridges have these slots in them. It was used to allow the rope from the canal boat to the Horse to pass through without having to disconnect it.

A barrel roofed cottage and one of many on this canal . The roofs were constructed using the same wooden frames that were used for constructing the bridges.

Carolyn and her new friend . Whoever he is ?

 

All these Gongoozlers watching and not one of them gives a hand to push the gate open. Well i suppose they are on holiday…

Mirrored glass .The owners of this canal side cottage obviously enjoy their privacy and what a great way this is to stop people looking in their windows.

I'm not sure how this sheep got up on the roof terrace but he seemed to be very happy there.

We encountered this strange lock gate on the approach to Stratford upon Avon. Luckily there was a lockie on duty who said that it was very hard to work with one person, although no doubt Carolyn would have managed.

After 2 days of travel down the Stratford canal we finally arrive in Bancroft basin which is in the centre of Stratford upon Avon.Now for the difficult job of finding a mooring.                              

                                                                                                           Happy Days