Cill or sill that is the question! And we sailed past Stratford lock, onto waters unknown and missed the winding hole!

Not having internet last night this post will seem a bit disjointed. Apologies but I had already done a draft in Word yesterday and couldnt see the point in redoing the whole thing. So........

Sunday 31st

Even though we were moored right outside the pub, we had a remarkably peaceful night. We mulled over breakfast on whether to stay an extra day on the river but with the weather set to turn nasty, decision was made to leave sooner rather than later. The forecast for the next couple of days looked to be abysmal, rain and 40mph winds, so not wanting to repeat our experience at Gloucester where we struggled to get onto the pontoon in the high winds, and fully aware that Stratford has short finger pontoons to get onto, we're going to leave this river on Monday instead of Tuesday. But for today the weather was fairly kind to us. Only a short sharp shower as we approached  Bidford Grange Lock.

The upper part of the Avon is full of twists and turns and one may think we were back on the canals as the channel narrowed.  Weirs came into view long before the locks and without the Avon guide we may have wondered which way to go!

Are we back on the canals ????

At least we knew which way to go here at Barton lock

This shows more what I mean.

Still not sure until...

Finally an obscured arrow. Bidford Grange lock

 Welford and Luddington lock were deep! In fact we did rope up fore and aft, me having made a dash to the bow to pass Ian the rope before I roped up at the back. Even with FS secure Ian could only lift one paddle very gradually as the water gushed in with considerable force. One can see why ropes are necessary on the deeper locks. With the shallower locks we didn't bother, Ian being a dab hand at keeping FS to the side. 

Welford lock

Now here's one for all you knowledgeable bloggers out there. Two spellings on Welford and Lullington lockside. Which one is correct????

Moored at Lullington for the night, another idyllic spot. Again we were the only boat on the moorings, although we were briefly joined by a restaurant boat who winded and then reversed back to the water point.  We may be the only occupied boat here but can't say that for the amount of foreigners passing the boat. Not one spoke any English and all came from across the fields, climbing over a locked gate marked private! Could there be a migrant village here somewhere? Anyway they all nodded as they walked past so hoping for a stress free night. Everything not tied down is off the roof.........just in case! 

Lullington Moorings

Briefly joined by a restaurant widebeam.

 And some more baby piccys,

Perched on the cross beam at Welford lock. Great Tit chick

And parent ready with a juicy caterpillar

 Monday 1st June

Wind picked up during the night but nothing like what we were expecting. We left sooner rather than later as this mornings local weather predicted up to 60mph winds around Hereford and Shropshire. Now I know we are no where near those places but it is still on the cards for 40 mph winds later in Warwickshire. Only having three miles and 2 locks left we soon reached Stratford and the usual trip boats and canoeists were very much in evidence.

Colin P Witter lock on the right

 We sailed past Stratford lock 'cause we rather fancied seeing how far up the river we could go. We knew a winding hole was about a mile further upstream and the Avon guide told of two low bridges we would have to negotiate. But with the bridge headroom being over 6ft this wouldn't prove a challenge.

So up river we went. past decent moorings and facilities, past a super doper, and no doubt very expensive, hotel and.........straight past the winding hole!!!! No signage on show only a lovely waterlily widened area next to a field full of bullocks. The river got narrower and narrower and we thought 'this doesn't seem right.'. We tried to wind by a moored plastic cruiser further up but, with the river pushing us sideways and me up front watching the bottom getting rather near to the top, had to reverse back down stream to the widened area. Wind catching FS's side, river flow trying to grab us and take us near the banks, it was one hell of a struggle especially as FS is a bit of a cow going backwards. Give Ian his due he did a sterling job in taming FS and even though at the so called winding hole he misjudged the angle, we came round in one piece and without hitting the cruiser moored opposite!

Moorings and facilities (brick building)

Fancy hotel

Hmmmm. Started to get a bit narrow and shallow

Stirring up the silt as we reversed back

The winding hole

Missed the cruiser.

And into Stratford lock.

Pontoon moorings in Stratford.

Now safely on the moorings. Wind has certainly picked up causing the ropes to creak and groan as FS swings from side to side (It's the short pontoons you see. Can only tie the bow rope and centre) We may well be in for a noisy night!!!

Few more piccys from today.

Very territorial!

And this is probably why

Sedge Warbler

Thought this rook was going to land in the water.

Good vantage point for fish spotting.