Homeward Bound

We’re on the return journey and our tiller pin (a frog – Bonjour – geddit?) has been turned to face where we’ve been, not where we’re going.

Sunday saw us making a fairly leisurely journey from the “middle of nowhere” back to the Fleur-de-Lys, stopping briefly – well actually more than briefly – at the Wootton Wawen visitor moorings. 

I knew there was a shop in Wootton Wawen.  I knew where there was a shop in Wootton Wawen.  What I didn’t know was how to get there from the canal. I set off back towards the aqueduct over the A3400, expecting to find a path down to the road.  No way.  Eventually, having trekked nearly a mile - almost back to our original mooring - I found a way off the towpath onto a road (Pennyford Lane) which ran parallel to the canal, and therefore retraced my steps back to the main road.  At the junction was a man in a high-vis waistcoat seemingly there to direct people up the lane opposite (Pettiford Lane, just to be confusing).  I asked if there was a way back to the canal from that lane.  He told me that if I went up the main road to the pub I would see the canal from the car park  I politely explained that it was the wrong side of the canal.

The shop was still a 1/4 mile ahead.  I rang Brian to ask him to check the map in case there was a quicker way back but it went to voicemail. 

At the shop I was able to get our Sunday paper (prime reason for journey) together with other tempting stuff (another well-stocked village store, this).  As I set off back down the A3400 I had another one-way conversation with Brian’s voicemail, but I did manage to photograph the rather magnificent weirs on the River Alne at Wootton Hall.

Back at Pettiford Lane, I encountered a party of ramblers.  “Do you know if there’s a path back to the canal from there?” Blank looks all round.  One volunteered “If you go up the main road to the pub….”  Sigh.  I decided to try the lane anyway.  Sure enough, after about 150 yards I found a track to the right which led directly to a canal bridge just 100 yards beyond where we’d moored.  Moral – read the map FIRST.

We meandered on, back to Lowsonford and the Fleur-de-Lys.  Late lunch or early dinner?  In the end, squally winds and occasional showers persuaded us to eat chez-nous.

Monday saw us setting off for the first lock of the day, at which I had to sprint back to the boat for my anorak as the heavens opened for all of 45 seconds. We carried on until we reached a favourite mooring spot above Dick’s Lane Lock and decided to stop for an early lunch.  Fortuitously, as the heavens then opened for around 90 minutes, with thunder and lightning to boot.

We set off again around 2, stopping briefly at Kingswood Junction for our third visit of the trip to Lapworth Village Stores, then left the Stratford Canal and returned to the surprisingly spacious Grand Union. 

We’ve moored at Rowington Hill again and Brian is attempting to get a barbecue going, because that’s what we do here!  However, the griddle pan has just come out, so apparently it’s not what we’re doing tonight.