This part of the Grand Union Canal boasts several series of lock flights - at Bascote Locks, Calcutt Locks and even more of them at Stockton Lock Flight. As you can imagine this stretch of the Canal gets quite busy with people on holiday during the Spring and Summer - particularly on weekends. However if you can visit them during weekdays everything is much more peaceful and enjoyable. Apart from the really interesting standard locks there is also the quite rare opportunity to see a staircase lock as well at Bascote (locks 14 and 15). The Grand Union shares it's path with the Oxford Canal for a short distance when it reaches Napton Junction - these shared canal bridges are shown further down the page.
If you fancy walking the towpath it is in quite good condition throughout (and also
is excellent for cyclists). As a guide for anyone wishing to walk this 10 mile stretch we
parked up at the Church car park at Napton on the Hill (they are ok with you
parking there except on Sundays). There is a bus which you can pick up in the
middle of Napton leaving weekdays and Saturdays at 10:14 hours which will take you on a 50
minute ride into the centre of Leamington. If you get out at the Leamington Parish Church
stop it is only a short walk down to the Grand Union Canal.
Note that when you eventually reach Napton Junction you would need to turn right and go along the
Oxford Canal for a short distance to Napton's Bridge and then walk back up to Napton's church car park.
The Bascote Lock Flight comprises of four locks two of which are staircase locks (14 and 15). Staircase Locks were cheaper to build and can acheive a greater drop in a short space than standard canal locks. These Bascote Staircase Locks share the centre gate - with the upper gate of one lock also being the lower gate of the other. The locks were originally built as singles but were modernised in the 1930s into wide locks - you can still see the location of the original locks.
As the Grand Union approaches Napton Junction there are now quite a few marinas either side of the canal especially a little way after Calcutt Locks and Tom Low Bridge. The Canal meets up with the oder Oxford Canal by the really beautifully shaped Turnover Bridge (Bridge 17) at Napton Junction.
The Grand Union Canal shares it's watery passage with the older Oxford Canal between Napton Junction and Braunston Turn - there are no canal locks along this stretch but there are quite a few canal bridges. These bridges naturally show the Oxford Canal's numbering and naming system (Bridges 91 to 108) however they are also allocated bridge numbers in the Grand Union Canal's sequence although these are not displayed on the bridges themselves. Therefore although these canal bridge photos are shown on our Oxford Canal pages, for completeness each of the bridges are also shown below with both bridge numbers indicated.
The following are our other Grand Union Canal Main Line photos - this series of pages show every one of the Canal's Locks and Bridges:
Birmingham (Salford Junction) through to Lapworth
Lapworth via Hatton Locks to Royal Leamington Spa
Braunston-Gayton Junction-Blisworth Tunnel-Stoke Bruerne-Wolverton
Grand Union Canal Wolverton to Horton
Ivinghoe Lock to Kings Langley
Kings Langley to the end of the Grand Union at The Thames
Please see our Home Page for many other items about England including 100s of English Church Photos, wildflowers, toadstools and quite a few walks to try some of which involve using canal towpaths. Also take a look towards the bottom of our Home Page where there are links to our other travel sites about The Canary Islands, Cyprus, Portugal's Algarve, The Greek Islands and Athens, Egypt, India, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Bangkok, Bali and several other Indonesian Holiday Islands. Visit our Resources topic if you wish to Email Us and/or to see our site privacy policy.