Cool canals Guides & Waterways Directory

Approx distance: 14 miles   Stratford-on-Avon Canal
Start: Lapworth Locks Grid ref: SP178714
Finish: Stratford Basin Grid ref: SP204548
(The towpath crosses the canal several times - just keep following it!)

The 26 locks of the Lapworth Flight spread nearly two miles, with the first & last four straggling away from the main flight. Halfway down the flight, busy Kingswood Junction, with its moored boats, split bridges and white-washed cottages, connects the Stratford Canal to the Grand Union via a short branch boat-filled line. The M40 crosses the canal just before Lapworth Bottom Lock though the noise can be heard for some time before and after. Peace returns again as the canal continues its way through stunning landscape of fields, trees, sheep and geese. There's a traditional 'lengthsman's' cottage available to rent next to Lock 31, and the Fleur-de-Lys pub provides a welcome break just over the canal bridge. Past the private moorings leading up to the next lock, the canal curves round to another lock before reaching the first of Stratford Canal's unique aqueducts, Yarningale. A mile further on, below Preston Bagot Bottom Lock, the surroundings turn ever more rural with just bridges, locks and the occasional house to distract your thoughts until you reach Wootton Wawen. Just past the wide Basin, home to Anglo Welsh boats and the Navigation Inn, Wootton Wawen Aqueduct carries the canal across the main A34. Back in rural landscape for nearly four miles, the only break is Bearley (or Edstone) Aqueduct, the longest of the three (and the longest in England), which carries the canal over a river, a road and the railway. The canal passes through the outskirts of Wilmcote before descending towards Stratford via the 11 Wilmcote Locks. The towpath is wider and better-surfaced from Lock 40, and Stratford is visible from Lock 44 onwards. The outskirts are typical warehouses, trade parks and housing until it becomes more attractive from bridge 55. As with any town, the outskirts can attract the rebel young, but in Stratford, you can almost forgive the messy spray paint of 21st-century bards. Get past this tiny patch of graffiti and enter the basin by the River Avon to be greeted by white swans, excitable tourists and all the sparkle of Stratford.