The 50th Anniversary Trip - Day 3: Cape to Lapworth

 Sunday, 3rd October 2020

Mark's timetable didn't require an early start this morning as we weren't due at the bottom of Hatton locks until 09.42, where we were due to pick up two visitors for the day, his daughter Beth and her boyfriend Ben, who were arriving on a train due at Warwick Parkway at 09.38 and who brought down the average age of the crew considerably.

We used the time to take water above the second of the Cape locks, where we discovered that the pipe supplied with the boat was missing a vital washer in the connector, which resulted in almost as much water ending up on the towpath as in the tank.  When the amount of water on the path became embarrassingly large we gave up, although the tank was far from full, and set off.

Partly because of this we arrived slightly early at the locks, but as there was a single boat waiting to enter we paired up with them and carried on, with Beth and Ben joining us a couple of locks farther up the flight.

The crew on "Georgina", a hire boat from Kate Boats at Warwick were regular hirers and heading for Stratford,  As the locks at the bottom of the flight are well-spaced, we travelled singly between them with Georgina leading the way.  The steerer apologised for not always being able to keep his boat neatly alongside the lock wall and giving me space to enter cleanly.  I told him not to worry, but suggested he might like to follow my advice, which was "Always let the other boat go first!"

After that, I had no option but to go on ahead and didn't really do much better than him!

Two single-handers on the Hatton flight

As we approached the thick of the flight, where the locks are close together, I handed over the steering and set off to to a bit of lock work. It seemed as though we were being held up by the pair of boats in front of us soI set off to assist But when I got to them I realised that they in turn were being delayed by two single-handers who had the locks against them, so my help was of more use there.

Once I was able to set the locks ahead and then return to help them through the lock below we got on much better. It would have helped even more if they had breasted up and entered each lock side-by-side as a lot of time was being lost by manoeuvring, but they were both experienced boaters and it wasn't my place to say anything. Nevertheless we were now keeping well ahead of the following boats and I even had time to raise a bottom paddle for them.

What with running ahead to set each lock and then doubling back I was quite exhausted by the time we reached the top and was looking forward to a brew and a cake at the cafe, only to realise that I had left all means of payment back on the boat!

Georgina and Grebe showing how it should be done

When Georgina and Grebe arrived I was pleased to see that the two steerers were working together and showing how it should be done, entering the ,locks side-by-side.

After Hatton I spent most of the afternoon recovering in the front well watching the world go by until we reached Lapworth, tying-up on the Lapworth Link moorings as close as possible to the railway bridge, where Beth and Ben left us to catch a train back to London from Lapworth station.

Ideal mooring for railway enthusiasts at Lapworth,

After the experience at the Cape of Good Hope, we'd taken the precaution of booking a table in the Navigation and I was pleased to see that albeit with a bit of redecoration, it was still very much as I remembered it from the day in 2004 when I "sealed the deal" to buy Starcross from its previous owner over a pint there. It wasn't really much different from New Years Eve in 1973 when they happily accommodated three boat loads of scruffy students that descended on them without warning.  They even sell "M&B Brew XI", which was suitably nostalgic for an anniversary trip as in 1971 half the pubs in the midlands sold it (the other half sold Ansells Bitter), although after an obligatory pint we switched to something rather better, in my case Taylor's Landlord.