Saturday, July 31, 2010

The Hatton Flight

Tuesday 27th July. 5 miles,2 locks.
Spent some time in Royal Leamington Spar. The buildings here are Victorian & Georgian. Like Bath it was a centre for the wealthy to indulge in the healing properties of mineral water. Then moved on to Warwick.

Wednesday 28th July. 0 miles, 0 locks.
Time to revel in ancestry. My Grandmother emigrated, with her family, from Warwick circa 1907. They used to live in a well know Elizabethan house on High street. in 2006 we met the present owners and were shown through the house so we got in touch and were invited back for lunch. Spent a good part of the day with Shirley and a couple of her friends. It almost feels like going home entering that house. Shirley is a historian so is full of information about the house and previous owners. Since last visit she had discovered where my Granny lived before they moved to High street. I have been there to.
A quick look into the Warwick records office came up with a few more facts but not what I was looking for about my Great grandfather. More internet research required before next visit.

Thursday 29th July. 0miles, 0 locks
Hatton Locks (21 of them) were the challenge for the day but by the time the shopping & laundry was done and both of us with a few aching muscles were stayed in Warwick with a walk around Mill Gardens and a wander through the town. Warwick is an easy place to just wander around.

Friday 30th July. 4 1/2 miles. 21 Locks
Hatton flight of locks today.
Now how long will that take so how early do we start? When planning how long it will take to travel to any particular place you add the number of locks to the miles and dived by 3. 21 locks + 2 miles = 7-8 hours. So off we go. The locks are double and as we approach the first we ask a moored up boat if they are going up and want to join us. They do so now we have two on the locks and one on each boat. Part way up they are joined (walked in) by an older couple. He drives the boat, she makes the tea. Now we have 3 on the locks. Three hours after starting we leave the 21st lock. Had lunch the visited a farm park. Moved on a couple of miles and moored up in the country a few yards south west of CV37 7AA

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