Royal Leamington Spa

North of, and parallel with, the Grand Union Canal, flows the the River Leam close to the centre of Leamington Spa. The river is surrounded by parks and green spaces for much of its course through the town - which we found attractive with wide streets and plenty of independent food traders.

Now we are heading for Warwick, and though our waterway guide's map seems to show Leamington Spa and Warwick merging, we are seeing green fields, colourful gardens backing onto the canal, and some interesting waterway features. The Chiltern mainline now passing under our short aqueduct, is the same line we walked under on our way to the restaurant yesterday evening - either some ascending locks have been mysteriously erased from our memory, or the railway has quite a downward gradient over a relatively short distance to Warwick!
Even more interesting is our entering a longer aqueduct that crosses the Avon River valley - the river we'll be joining in no less than 64 lock-miles after ascending 150 feet of the Hatton Flight's twenty-one locks and navigating half the Stratford Canal southwards! Jo has read that in the not too distant past, an enquiry was set up to consider "extending navigation to Leamington Spa and in conjunction with the River Leam and four locks, link into the Grand Union Canal", but which "for the time being at least..." has been rejected.
Youch! We still have a lot of paddles to raise and lower between here and Stratford!!

Jo took a bit of a tumble a few days back, stepping off Pelangi onto the towpath back on the Oxford near Napton. Her leg is healing, but still hurts if she walks much between locks, so for now we are just completing the first five locks of the Hatton Flight and mooring-up for the day to give her more time to rest.
Tomorrow we hope to either have other boaters to share the flight with, or find some CRT lock volunteers helping with the ascent. Either way, we intend to take it slowly and gently. All the better to enjoy the amazing views back down this grand canal.Read more