On the move again

The stretch of the canal may not have started well for us at Bordesley Junction but once past Catherine-de-Barnes we were back in countryside and our mooring on the outskirts of Knowle was ideal....so much so that we decided to pause awhile.........
It was a 10 minute walk into Knowle which had good shops, huge church and a selection of pubs and restaurants.   We explored on Friday, checked the times of the church services for Sunday and booked a meal for Sunday.   This time we chose to go in the evening as it was Father's day and we thought there might be less children at that time!!!   Also the Greswolde Arms Hotel were offering 3 course for £14 instead of 2 if you went after 6pm......
Knowle Parish Church as they seem to call themselves(St John the Baptist and St Lawrence & Anne is what the book says) is huge with lots going on, 5 services on Sunday and lots of groups for the younger generation.   We chose the 11am Communion and met a large number of families coming out of the 9.30 service.   There must have been a good 50+ at our service.  Later we walked back to the village (it is really a bit more than a village) for our dinner which was excellent.......recommended if anyone is passing that way.
After a 4 day stay in a very pleasant spot we set off bright and early to tackle our first double locks of the year.   My day did not start well as Barney indicated to me that he wanted to go out at 5.30am....most unusual for him so I felt I had to comply.......it was a false alarm.......my day never really recovered, I felt out of sorts all day!!   The locks themselves were OK as we were going down, but there is nowhere to tie up in the large in-between pounds and they were all set against us so it was a long hover for me and a fair bit of walking for Geoff & Barney...  
The stretch to the junction was pleasant enough and this looked like a good cruising club.

When we reached Kingswood junction we turned to go down the Stratford canal and met our first boat of the day on the move......and guess what.......they were just starting down the locks!!!!!    I knew it wasn't my day......
We completed 5 locks and then someone passing told us there was a hold up ahead as one of the lock gates was stuck.   Since we were in a pretty enough spot and with room to moor between the lock bollards we decided to call it a day.  (No internet connection)

The sun made it's only appearance of the day through the trees later in the evening

This morning was another early start and this was a much better day........nobody in front of us for the locks (no one else gets up at that time of the morning!!!)  several set in our favour and the ones that were against were because of leaky gates.

Under the M40 to start 

Glad we are underneath

Pretty flowers on the banks all along this stretch

Unusual lock cottages

Patiently waiting for the lock to empty

Pretty bridges over many of the locks with a gap in the middle for the horses rope to pass through

another lock cottage

and yet another....rather a strange one....

The Edstone Aqueduct, not quite the Pontcysyllte  but  I preferred Geoff to be steering!

...and so to Wilmcote moorings....ahead are another 16 locks to Stratford so as it was nearly lunch time we decided to stop for the day.   We are still amazed at how quiet the canal is...........every boat yard we pass seems to have plenty of their boats idle.......

Monday 17th

Total distance:4.87 miles 
Elapsed time:5h52m30s 
Locks:9
Bridges:11 
Average speed:0.83 mph (2.36 lock/mph)

Tuesday 18th

Total distance:8.54 miles
 Elapsed time:5h7m43s
 Locks:14
Bridges:21 
Average speed:1.66 mph (4.39 lock/mph)