Wooten Wawen

It was an interesting cruise to Wooten Wawen (don't you just love that name?). The bridge holes continued to be super narrow but many retained the gap down the centre from days gone by when boats were horses drawn. The rope would pass through the bridge, following the line of the canal. We love these little features.

There were a few locks to do and on our approach to one we saw an oncoming boat skewed diagonally. In answer to our question about whether they were ok, the two distraught boaters replied that they'd lost steering. They'd just hired the Blue Otter and didn't seem to have a clue so we drew close and Will hopped on their stern to show them how to check their weed hatch. There was no problem here but their tiller was moving back to front as well as side to side - it seemed to have either been dislodged from, or broken it's shaft. Being a bigger problem than we could fix, all we could do was tow them to the towpath and advise them to call their hire company.

The canal passed over several aqueducts where the path dropped down to the same level as the bed. There are such a lot of little differences in how different canals are constructed that give them their individual characters.

After a long aqueduct passing over roads and rail lines we pulled in alongside a row of Anglo Welsh hire boats at their marina to top up on diesel, gas, water and empty our rubbish. Diesel was steep at £1:40 but we didn't mind as they provided all the services for free.

We moored on the towpath not long afterwards. Other than the hire boats passing by it was a quiet spot in rural surroundings. Vicky rested while Will went to explore. She woke up to find a small box of handmade chocolates on the table next to her and thought she must still be dreaming 😍😂

The following day we both visited Henley Chocolates; a brilliant small business using low impact and local materials and ingredients as much as possible. We had a great chat with Sally the owner who was planning to move out of her 5 bedroom detached into a narrowboat. Henley is just one of several independent shops that form Yew Tree Farm Village. An antique dealer, gift shop, crafts and painting studio, garden furniture retailer and a farm shop and café also share the site.

It had been a while since we'd been near a supermarket so Will took the bike and found a larger farm shop for some essentials. He also took a detour to Henley-in-Arden and visited the bungalow his Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Bernard moved to in their old age. It had been a long time since he'd last been there but he recognised it straight away.

We would have moved on but a storm was forecast so we stayed another day. The blackberries have been brilliant this year and they were especially good around our mooring, so we picked some and Will baked a blackberry and apple crumble 😋 We got chatting to our neighbour Brian and it turned out he'd encountered the Blue Otter trying to turn in the nearby winding hole. They were making a real hash of it, ramming the boat into the banks until he hopped onboard to help. They passed us the next morning with a beer can sat on the roof. They didn't recognise us at first but told us the boat owner had come out and waded into the water to put the tiller back in its shaft. We've a feeling alcohol may have had something to do with it becoming dislodged 🤨

The storm never came in the end but we were glad to have stayed. Wooten Wawen was a lovely relaxing spot.Leia mais