Trip 15: Riverside Touring Park, Stratford upon Avon.
We had an easy drive down to Stratford and the campsite was easy to find. The warden took us to the motorhome service point where we filled up with water and then we had a choice of pitches so we chose one near the facilities.
The warden guided us on and positioned us perfectly level, no need for the ramps on this outing. We were soon set up and had lunch. I tried to get the TVs set up but it seems that the bedroom TV is broken because it interferes with the main TV even when not plugged into the aerial. I will try again after we have been for a walk.
Our short walk took us to the Muddy Oar pub and restaurant on the site, it is a good looking building with a childrens’ crazy golf course underneath.
There is also outside seating and a burger bar. The venue backs onto the river Avon where you can catch a water taxi into Stratford.
We walked along the river and then back through a new static caravan development within the park. We walked over the bridge to the other half of the complex and walked between the many static homes. We headed back to the van and tomorrow we will go into the town either on foot or by the river taxi.
Day 2:
We caught the river taxi into Stratford. The taxi took us to the rowing club so we followed the river out towards the racecourse.
We past a chain ferry that is pulled across the river by a chain and winding handle, then we came across a rope makers boat displaying ropes to buy.
The next thing we came to was the lock and the weirs. This was the site of Lucy’s mill .The mill is no more and has a large apartment block built on the site but the sluice and the mill race have been incorporated into the development.
A little way past the weirs we crossed the river by the Lucys Mill bridge. We headed back to the town but we stopped off at the Holy Trinity church where William Shakespeare is buried.
It is not a big church but it has a couple of chapels and some great stain glass windows.
There are a couple of interesting memorials to soldiers. One in particular is about a Lieutenant in the Royal Flying Corp who was protecting a machine gun company against nine German planes. He shot one down but eventually got shot down himself.
We left the church and carried on past the Royal Shakespeare theatre and into town.
We walked around looking at all the old original building that have been adapted for todays shops and restaurants. I didn’t realise Shakespeare had so many restaurants and pubs, he also had an ice cream parlour on a boat and also a distillery.
We ended up back at the tramway carriage. We crossed over the Tramway bridge and walked into the park where we sat and ate our lunch.
After lunch we crossed back over the tramway bridge and followed the path that ran beside the river. Eventually we came to the campsite but we had to go out of the field over the main road, along 50yards and cross back into the campsite drive. We could then cross over the river and get back to Iona.
The walk took us 52 minutes and it was only during the last 800yards that we got caught in a rain shower which stopped once we were home.
Day 3:
Today we walked into Stratford via the river side path. We headed for M&S because Sue wanted a new pair of trainers. It was then onto Tesco for some more milk.
We had brought our flasks with us but the plan was to buy a couple of Cornish Pasties and some Danish pastries. We found a bakery cafe where we could buy the pasties but they did not have a very good selection of cakes so we went looking for another bakery.
We must have walked every street in the town, we could find cafes, tea shops and restaurants but not a bakery anywhere. In the end we had to go to a Sainsbury’s but they had sold out of nearly every cake. in the end we bought 4 Yum Yums.
There were a lot of tourists about today so we headed for the park and chose a bench by the river. We were joined by a solitary goose but we did not feed her.
There were quite a few boats going up and down the river and just before we left to catch the river taxi three double canoes full of children came up the river a stopped near us.
Each canoe had a teacher and 10 children and they were very excited. They left the canoes and went into the park to eat their packed lunches.
We met another couple waiting for the river taxi so we chatted with them until the taxi arrived. A Pink foot goose pecked the back of my leg and then promptly sat down next to us. It didn’t move even when the river taxi arrived and the boatman had to move further up the dock so we could get on board.
The sun is out this afternoon and I changed into shorts, only for the sun to go behind some clouds. I gave up and went for a shower.
We spent the rest of the afternoon reading or in Sue’s case sewing.
Day 4:
It is dull and overcast today so we are staying on site. We walked around the entire site and then went for a drink in the Muddy Oar. We were surprised by how good it looked.
Then back to Iona for lunch and we spent the rest of the afternoon reading and people watching. It was not as boring as it sounds.
Iona’s Travels 