A trip on the River Avon to Stratford

The Narrow Boat ‘Cloward’s Way’ has made several trips to Stratford-on-Avon. The pictures shown below, which were mostly taken during August 2004 and 2005 (with the addition of 4 taken at Stratford just before the first performance of Shakespeare’s King Lear in the newly reconstructed theatre in February 2011), give some idea of the beauty and interest to be found when cruising on the River Avon between its junction with the River Severn (which is Britain’s longest River) at Tewkesbury and Stratford. ‘Afon’ is the old British word for ‘river’ but it has become the English name for two tributaries of the River Severn. The other joins the Estuary at Bristol within a Local Authority now known as ‘Bristol and Avon District’ so this one is sometimes called the ‘Warwickshire Avon’.


Tewkesbury Abbey, near the river mouth	John Lakin, the Captain of ‘Cloward’s Way’ at the tiller

Narrow boats passing ‘port to port’	Living the ‘solar lifestyle’ by the riverside

One of the lock on the ‘Lower Avon’	The Captain and his crew drink a toast

A Dragon Boat racing	Cloward’s Way entering Evesham

The moorings at Evesham	The lock above Evesham that marks the boundary between the lower and upper reaches of the River

Water lilies on the river	Cattle grazing at the margins of the river bank

One of a number of interesting old bridges crossing the river	Rowing boats for hire at Stratford

People feeding the swans and geese by the entrance of the lock into the basin at Stratford	Shakespeare’s birthplace

The Mulberry Tree said to be descended from one planted by Shakespeare, the ‘Bard of Stratford’	The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre (home to the Royal Shakespeare Company) prior to reconstruction

The new theatre and its distinctive viewing tower	Another view of the new frontage

A view of the river above Stratford to the east from the Tower	The Avon valley looking west along the route of our trip