Saturday 8th August - pm Stratford upon Avon

We got to Stratford about 12.30 and parked in a huge parking area very close to the centre of the town but on the other side of the river Avon. We had stayed here for one night when we came to Britain in 2010 and there was a carnival on at that time and millions of people to fight your way along footpaths so didn't get to see that much.

We crossed the bridge into the township and found a nice pub for lunch. Shared a sandwich and had a beer. After we walked the streets and to our surprise the footpaths weren't any less crouded than last time. Stratford upon Avon has more than 4 million tourists every year and as it was a Saturday so now knowing that it doesn't surprise us.

It was very hot and we both had sore feet so we meandered back to the river. There were all manner of boats in the town basin, some for hire, rowboats, motor boats, long canal boats all moored to the quayside but we were headed for the chain ferry to get a ride back across the river. The chain ferry is a flat bottomed punt that holds about 30 people. The Ferry Man has this large fly wheel with a handle, and a chain that is on the bed of the river is attached to the fly wheel and the Ferry Man just wound the handle and the punt slowly crossed the river. The journey took about 4-5 minutes and cost 50p. Excellent way of raising funds and the Ferry Man would end up with huge arm muscles.