Day 22: Banbury to Stratford on Avon

September 28, 2022

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We have lately been feeling better about England and the cycle routes, but NCN 5 put us on a gravel track right out of Banbury. Dodie pushed this, because she really does not want to go flying. The track had some fairly steep down hill bits too, so pushing was the order of the day.

Eventually we came out to some small laneways, and now we could look around and see how terribly beautiful the surroundings are:

We would see really a lot of these stone houses - in fact all houses here are like this. They have to be a "thing", like, something found in magazines.

Just as we were feeling sort of good about the laneways and vistas, NCN 5 came up with a series of gates and meadows for us. We had to push for quite some time, and Dodie began to scan the GPS for some actual roads to ride on. I am reluctant to "bushwack" on road, because an innocent looking road on the map here can turn out to be nerve wracking. Dodie considered just not telling me when we were on some ad hoc road, or on the NCN. Largely, though, we did stick to NCN, and it was OK.

The views continued so pleasing, we were exclaiming "oh, look" at most turns.

The NCN does not go out of its way to take you through towns, but it can not help but show just a few interesting things. Here below is a combination fence of rock and woven branches. We need some of this for deer around our place!

We continued interested in all the stone buildings, which give this region its typical look. The craftsmanship is a real pleasure to look at.

We came upon one of the craftsmen, on the job. Dodie and I had debated whether the common building material was "brick" or "stone", and we had decided to call it "fieldstone". But I asked the craftsman and learned that this is quarried stone that comes out in huge blocks. It is then sawn into "bricks" with four smooth edges to facilitate stacking. The stone here is known as "iron stone" for its iron content and brown/yellow colour. Further north, we were told, the colour becomes more whiteish.

Here is a nearby church, using similar stone

This thatch rook is clearly being renovated. Looking at thatch over the past year we rather assumed that the "reeds" used on the roofs would come from something like a lake. Maybe this requirement determined where thatched roods were found and not. But all that was just wild surmise. Today we saw that the thatch material is straw, maybe from barley.

A minor but interesting event in the day came as we stopped for a break at a crossroads. A sign board there said that there has been an elm tree at this corner for centuries, supported by a local private school. Trees on the corner have fallen victim to lightening and to Dutch elm disease, but they are proud that the current one is doing well. Here it is:

While the road situation today was not too bad, there were a few dicey moments. Here is a little illustrated narrative about some of them. In the first picture below you see the road definitely not passable for the moment. Dodie keeps barreling on, but how about this river crossing the road? Ok, she found a way up and around that.

This machine wants to sweep Dodie right off the road!

Ok, whew, we are back to clear and pleasant path!

We ran in to another stone laying craftsman, and watched him at work for a bit. He boasted 27 years of experience, and we could see it in the way he cut pieces by eye and then fit them in easily.

We are a bit further north now, and we imagine the stones are getting a little whiter?

We spent the middle part of the day just looking at the beautiful stone houses and the green vistas. Hills that we had to push up earlier were now flattening a lot, so we were just cruising and enjoying these two aspects of the ride. Here is a half dozen more shots of stone buildings and distant vistas!

As we began to approach Stratford Upon Avon, to some extent the stone buildings gave way to fachwerk, stucco, and thatch. Here are two great examples of that style:

Within about ten kilometers of Stratford a greenway popped up. We looked forward then to a final run into town free of any aggravation, such as we might find on road. But it was not quite to be. The designer of the greenway, while touting it as for walkers, bicycles, and the disabled, had dreamed up a barricade that was impossible for any but a small and lightweight bike. It was mainly made to accommodate people.

Take your bike or horse or wheelchair or baby buggy here?

However beside the steel revolving thing there was a much simpler hurdle, literally. I guess a horse can step over this, but with our heavy bikes it was difficult not to be crunching a derailleur or pannier. We later found from some locals at another of these impediments, that it was only last week that some thoughtful person had chainsawed the helpful gaps in the wood.

The path itself was quite nice, despite several more of the trying blockades.

At the end of the Greenway there was no "Welcome to Stratford! Cyclists, go this way to find all the amazing Shakespeare oriented stuff you came to see?" Rather, the Greenway just ended with a whimper in a parking lot, with no additional signage at all.

No matter, we can handle that. The GPS took us to our guest house, the Virginia Lodge. Although it seemed like space could be tight there, a covered and secure place was found for the bikes, so we were happy.

Despite the many hills and other cycling impediments today, we had arrived in Stratford in time for a stroll though the town. The tourist map identified the vital spots, like Shakespeare's birth house, his burial site at Holy Trinity church, the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, the Stratford Play House, and the Avon River and Canal. What were we expecting? Well honestly, just a bit of Disneyland, with lots of thatched and fachwerk houses, leaflets announcing upcoming theatre presentations, a birth house with period furniture and the like, maybe Shakespeare's first plume pen that he wrote his first immortal words with? Something!

Reality turned out to be very disappointing. Yes, there were some old houses in town, but my photos are cherry picked from among a lot of regular houses and regular businesses. The Stratford Play House? - a dull white building, the Royal Shakespeare Theatre -a soulless modern structure with illuminated signage. But the craziest one was Shakespeare's birth house. We walked by it, until the GPS turned us back saying we had missed it. Yes, we were on the correct street, near a Shakespeare statue, but the house the GPS pointed to was seemingly derelict and unbelievably, without a sign of any kind! Later internet searching revealed that we had the right place. Maybe it had been a museum but went out of business?

The next six shots are from our walk down to the birth house. Stay with it, and we'll get there and have a look.

The Playhouse - not so inspiring, from the outside anyway.

We thought there might be a special link between Peter Rabbit and Stratford, but no.

Ok, this is it! Shakespeares birth house. There is no signage at all and it seems to be cordoned off and sort of derelict.

Just down the street a few yards we do have the Shakespeare statue and a bit of activity, but there is no Shakespeare Disneyland here.

Here below is a brutally honest shot of buildings just by the Shakespeare statue. After that, a more cherry picked shot of more appropriate looking ones.

A street in Stratford, with the shot frames for things to look as interesting as possible.

Down by the river, there is one more Shakespeare statue. That concludes the Shakespeare stuff you can see on the street!

The canal was interesting for a sign detailing how long it would take to get anywhere on it. You need to pass 185 locks to get to London!

Not quite sure who these figures on the lamp post are. Suggestions?

My favourite part of Stratford was the Avon, and that was because of the swans. We love swans!

How about these swans!

We continued along the river to the church. Once again, there was no signage, and we certainly could not examine all the weather worn headstones! I whipped out my phone and discovered that there is a Shakespeare memorial inside. But not only was the church closed, a sign on the door gave opening times of just a few hours per week!

So there is our attempt to see and learn something in Shakespeare's home town. We would have done better with a Youtube documentary. Oh well. One thing though - we did stop at a Cornish bakery that had really super pasties, and also fully authentic Portugese custard tarts. It was closing time and they were 1/2 price. Chalk up one great Stratford memory!

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Today's ride: 56 km (35 miles)
Total: 771 km (479 miles)

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