When the sun comes streaming through Oliver’s beautiful window it’s hard to stay asleep so  we were up and about bright and early and our departure from the Marina at 7:25 seemed to go unnoticed.

The first part of our journey was pretty slow as the water was rather shallow particularly around Wilmcote where we passed Casual Water’s mooring.

The first three locks all needed filling so progress was still somewhat pedestrian.  However we struck lucky at Lock 43 where three volunteers were on hand to help us down the next five locks and Romy just had to drive out of one and into the next that had already been prepared – wonderful.  We had then started to meet all the boats returning from the festival so every lock was in our favour and there was usually someone to help with the heavy gates.  This was particularly welcome at lock 53 by bridge 67 (see entry on June 30).

We arrived in Stratford at 12:30 and moored under a shady tree just before the basin.  All in all we felt we had made really good time for the journey.

A bit of shopping.  A bit of a rest. A little stroll.  Dinner at The Opposition.  Afters at Hoorays.  All set for another sunny day tomorrow.