An Idyllic Waterway.

Tuesday 18th June 2019 in Welford.
Another lovely morning on this idyllic waterway.

Our goal today is to return to the village of Welford, where R moored last Thursday and Friday.
The surrounding landscape was as beautiful as yesterday. As there are no villages near the canal, very few people walk or cycle this towpath so it is a smooth and grassy path, which is a delight to walk on. M took advantage of this and walked for much of the way.

June is the month for wild roses and they were growing in abundance all along both sides of the canal.

Some of the fields beside the canal are absolutely huge; it took us 15 minutes to sail the length of some of them and they disappeared into the distance over the small hills.
On the towpath side, the hedge was high and thick; in fact, in the twelve miles between Crick and Welford, we only saw one break in the hedge (other than bridges) for this footpath gate.

M really wanted to include this photograph - not because of the gate but because of the massive field of ripening peas behind it. "Heaven", she said!
A lovely vista, which is typical of our memories of this waterway (the photograph of the bridge below, not the peas).

We watched the lucky occupant of this glider from the local gliding club as he was towed up into the sky.

As we approached the entrance to the Welford Arm, we were passed by a pair of working boats on their way to the Braunston Historic Boats Rally.

The arm up to Welford Wharf is just over a mile long. It was originally built as a feeder for the Grand Union Canal to bring water down from two large local reservoirs. It has one shallow lock that is very pretty and very well maintained. It included a notice asking boaters to water the flowerbed as they waited for the lock - a request that has been a bit unnecessary in the last few very wet days!

The moorings at the end of the arm are normally very popular, so we were quite surprised to find that there was nobody moored on the visitors' moorings. So, we filled up with water and then moored up just past the winding hole.

The Stratford Avon rises just east of Welford and the pedestrian and road bridge over it forms the border between Northamptonshire and Leicestershire.

Signs on either side of the road bridge welcome you one way or the other.

We walked into the town to the very small post office and general store. In most shops, the top shelf of the magazine rack is populated by publications featuring young ladies illustrating a severe clothing shortage; but this is farming country and their top shelf was devoted to...Tractors! Hooray!!!

The Wharf used to be a hive of activity and the ruins of a range of seven lime kilns have recently been excavated. Coal and limestone were brought in by narrowboat and the quicklime and slaked lime taken out. An excellent series of boards explain the history of the Wharf.

We stopped off at the little "Totty Tea Room" at the Wharf for the mandatory tea and cake on the way back to MM. M had her usual "pot of tea for one" in this cheery colourful teapot.

Today: 6 miles, 1 lock and 3.7 hours.
Trip: 115 miles, 41 locks and 60.5 hours.