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The rain held back until today - and today it barely let up! Mud underfoot made for slow and slippery progress - not great for those who like to stride out.

Parking at Henley-in-Arden station we followed walk 2841 from Walking World, described thus:

" From the picturesque High Street of Henley-in-Arden, follow the River Alne through Wotton Wawen and then join the canal to cross beautiful countryside and take in two spectacular aqueducts, before reaching historic Wilmcote and finally the many interesting sites of Stratford-upon-Avon. There is an easy return journey by hourly train service."

And it's a good walk, though we stopped short of Stratford and caught the train from Wilmcote back to Henley-in-Arden.

The bridges on the Strateford canal are particularly interesting because they are split in the centre. They cantilever out from the bank but leave a gap so that, in earlier times, the rope from the horse towing the boat, could pass through without unhitching.

This is an early canal, started in 1796.

At a stretch of the Stratford canal we encountered a shy young couple ill at ease with their hired narrow boat and helped them operate the lock and point their boat in the general direction of the narrow aqueduct ahead. When last seen they had bounced into the bank at the aqueduct entrance, but when we came back after lunch there was no terrifying overflow from a punctured cast iron trough so they must have made it.

The aqueducts are a feature of the Stratford canal. The Edstone (above) is the longest canal aqueduct in England (145 metres, opened 1816) and the Wootten Wawen is impressive too as we walked along the towpath with the boats at eye level. We'd be happy to visit The Navigation Inn at Wootten Wawen basin (below) any time, however we had more walking to do.

Lunch was at the almost empty Golden Cross Inn at Bearley Cross, Wootten Wawen, which was very pleasant and deserved more customers. Don't be put off by the remarkably dull exterior photo on their website!

Back along the towpath, very boggy in places, ending up at Wilmcote Station ready for the brief trip back to Henley-in-Arden and the car.

Both stations were once grand but now empty and unloved. Nowhere even to buy a ticket ....

Finally the drive home with Warwickshire and Staffordshire our 25th and 26th counties "bagged".