Onwards towards Bristol

We’ve had a sad turn of events today as Bob and June on ‘Autumn Myst’ have decided that, due to a chronic back problem which June has been suffering with since we started cruising, they’ve had to review their travel plans.  We are continuing to Bristol and they will slowly make their way back.  Hopefully, we will catch up with them on our return along the K and A . We have so enjoyed travelling with them over the last few weeks and have missed them very much today, Doug has especially missed Phoenix!

So with sad hearts we decided to proceed towards Bristol today rather than tomorrow.  On our second lock down today we saw this wonderful chimney, which is all that remains of the old steam pumping station at this point.  What superb workmanship we miss out on today.

We were soon in the Bath deep Lock which took us some 18 to 20 feet lower.  It felt like being in a cathedral at the bottom.  Doug had problems operating the lock as the  C&RT volunteer gang were painting and had painted both the black and the white parts of the lock arm!  (Well done!) 

James’s rear view on leaving the Deep Lock.

We had a good run down the River Avon – there being very little flow at the moment.  This was us at Kelston Lock.  Amazingly, there was nothing to stop us going over the weir! (to the left of the picture)

We don’t think we’ve ever seen as much mistletoe in a tree before.

There are some wonderful views to be had.

‘Chance’ waiting in the calm waters of the Avon for Saltford Lock to fill.

We got to Hanham Lock at 5 o’ clock and had caught up with Ian and Karen on nb ‘Tacet’ and are now breasted up on the very crowded visitor moorings.

We’ve been very kindly invited by Ian and Karen to eat with them this evening, so we’re combining our food to feed the “five thousand”!

Tomorrow sees a high spring tide so we are advised by the relevant authorities to be at the lock by 10 o’ clock if we want to get to Bristol after the tide!

Beautiful Bath.

Yesterday evening our friends, Bex and Craig, took the 9 minute train journey from there home in Trowbridge to spend the evening with us in Avoncliff.

The tiny Halt at Avoncliff  (population about 50) has a platform barely long enough for one train carriage, so if your not in the front one when it stops you can’t get off!

Bex, Craig and Doug having a good evening in The Cross Guns - a lovely, atmospheric old pub dating back to the early 1600’s.

Today started, as always, with chores……..

……. and just to prove it James tried to take this surprise shot of the action but Doug turned round at the wrong moment. On the end of the hose is a superb new Dyson, a 1300 watt miracle of domestic engineering which he loves playing with!

We started earlyish at 8:30 and headed towards the next aqueduct at Dundas where we caught up with Bob and June on ‘Autumn Myst’ who had travelled on a bit further than we did yesterday. There’s been an incredible amount of cutting back all along this canal which was well overdue and has opened things up on the non towpath side as you can see.

Here we are half way across the Dundas Aqueduct with ‘Autumn Myst’ just in front watering up.

Our journey was a slow one today as there were rows of moored boats virtually the whole way along.  However, with that behind us the approach into Bath was lovely with magnificent architecture and superb bridges.

Marvellous atmosphere!  Cleveland House is built over the Sidney Gardens tunnel.

We moored up just before the top lock in Bath and we have lovely views over the city.  With all the important things done we went for a walk around the city – which we know very well as we have both worked in Bath in the past.  This is the lovely Pulteney Weir on the River Avon just below Pulteney Bridge.

We found this cute little square off the city centre – The Crystal Palace pub is one which Doug has frequented quite a lot in the past!  The vast London Plane tree in the middle of the square has a bole which is over 8 feet in diameter.

We went to have a look at the new shopping complex which was under construction when we were last in the city.  This is just a small part of it – it’s built entirely of Bath stone (of course) and is stunning.

Continuing on our walk we got to The Circus. A circle of beautiful Georgian houses in four sectors – and, quite by chance, the cars going through match the houses.

Yet another tourist posing in front of the extraordinary Royal Crescent.  John Nash, both father and son, are responsible for a lot of this city’s beauty which is now a World Heritage Site.   

These are our moorings during our two day stay in Bath.  When we arrived Ian and Karen on ‘Tacet’ had already been there a day and there were two spaces next to them ready for us to claim.  So, here we are, three bloggers sitting like the three proverbial three wise  monkeys, enjoying the city, the peace and the view……….

…….and later on this evening the crews from all three boats had a drink and get together on board ‘Chance’.  Bob, Ian, Karen, James and June.

All of mile!

Today we’ve moved all of a mile from Bradford-on-Avon but before we did we walked down the short distance from the canal to have a look around this very beautiful town.

The approach from the canal gives an indication as to some of the architecture.  The K and A canal was started in Bradford-on-Avon with the first turf being cut in 1794.

On the 14th century bridge over the River Avon is this chapel which later became a lock up for the naughty – there’s a lovely golden fish on the weathervane on the top which we’ve missed off the photo (sorry).

The setting for this medieval town is lovely with the River Avon running through.

Some of the side streets (this one is The Shambles) are very atmospheric.

The one big problem is the traffic!  It’s never ending and, unfortunately, spoils much of the enjoyment.  Walking normally on the pavement at the corner of this bridge James was nearly run over by an articulated lorry cutting across. This lovely town so desperately needs a by pass but sadly won’t get one.

This magnificent old pub has settled into a character all of it’s own.

We did the mile journey down to Avoncliff where we’d arranged to meet Craig (from last night) who kindly agreed to collect some chandlery from The Boatyard at Hilperton and bring down for ‘Autumn Myst’.  Our mooring is very nice – just on the approach to the aqueduct over the Avon.

Bless him, Craig arrived with the parts and Doug took him to the nearby “Cross Guns” pub for lunch while James got down into the engine bay for some much needed tidying up and a quick health check on all the mechanicals.  Joining Craig and Doug later, he took this shot of the truly lovely setting of Avoncliff  from the aqueduct.  Craig and Doug are sitting next to the river in the pub garden.

This is a better picture of them (some might say!) with the Avoncliff Aqueduct in the background.  Built by John Rennie, from Bath stone, it takes the K and A canal majestically over the Avon.

The fab. afternoon weather wise, Doug needing the suntan lotion yet again, this setting could not be bettered on this spring day.

Later this evening Bex and Craig are catching the train from Trowbridge to the station here in Avoncliff (only a tiny hamlet but it has train stop!) to join us in the The Cross Keys for its regular folk music evening on Tuesdays.   

Bradford-on-Avon.

We set off from our mooring at Sells Green this morning about 10 o’ clock in bright sunshine after a very quiet night.  These mooring are very good – mooring rings, refuse bins and a water point that delivers the fastest fill we’ve had for a long time!

‘Chance’ following ‘Autumn Myst’ as we leave Sells Green this morning.

We soon left the sunshine behind as dark clouds begin to fill the sky.  Luckily we kept dry all day but the temperature dropped substantially when the sun went in.

We get the odd bit of dual carriageway on the canal system!  This one going over the new bypass around Semington.

After going down through the two Semington Locks we saw this rather unusual floating construction.

Also below the locks at Semington is the point at which the Wilts and Berks Canal will join the K and A one day.  This is site of the original junction where the two canals met when it was a proper working system.

It doesn’t happen very often but here’s a role reversal – James working a swing bridge!

We stopped briefly at “The Boatyard” at Hilperton, run by Spencer and Victoria to order a couple of new fenders for the rear quarters of ‘Chance’.  Victoria made the original ones and they are now looking a bit tatty after doing sterling service.  We’ll collect them on our way back from Bristol sometime in the next few weeks.

Unable to find a place to moor around Hilperton we journeyed on towards Bradford-on-Avon.  Sadly, most of the towpath side of the canal between Hilperton and B on A is lined with dilapidated live- aboards that have not moved for a very long time and it is a depressing sight.

Arriving in Bradford-on-Avon we found the visitor moorings in a dreadful, and dangerous, condition and the only decent space available was a 24 hour section with a C&RT boat moored on it which was being painted by a volunteer.   We had some difficulty “persuading” the C&RT personnel (who admitted that it been there a week!) to move it for us but eventually, and reluctantly, they did.

Having moored up we decided to take the train into Trowbridge to do some shopping and to visit some dear family friends, Bex and Craig, who live there.  We haven’t seen them for quite some time and as they had a free evening we all went to their local pub for a very enjoyable meal.

Bex, Craig and James waiting for their food.

It was a great impromptu evening with you both and thanks for making time for us.  It was only a six minute journey on the train to get back to the boat so we were soon aboard with the fire lit and settled in for the night.

The Caen Hill Flight

Today dawned bright and clear again and we set off bright eyed and bushy tailed to tackle the 29 locks ahead of us.

This our first lock of the day just 100 yards from last nights’ moorings.

After we got past the first few locks we met the volunteer lock keepers Kirsty and Tug who immediately recognised us as we’d met them in The Swan at Fradley last year.  As there was very little “traffic” on the canal they were able to help us down the flight – and we will be eternally grateful to them both for their sterling assistance.  Thanks so much Kirsty and Tug!  

We did a quick pump out at the services before starting the 16 lock decent down Caen Hill.  This pound really was home from home for us as it was our mooring site back in 2007.  The name Caen comes from the home town in France of the French prisoners of war who were made to work on the construction of the flight.

We got a fabulous view from the top of the flight.

There were lots of very friendly gongoozlers around today. (Waiting to see us make a mistake!)

Bob and James skilfully guided both boats side by side from one lock to the next – entering and exiting the locks as if breasted together (James is writing this and self praise is no recommendation!)  James was getting it wrong at first and causing extra work for Bob but after some timely advice everything worked perfectly.  Thank you Bob.

Such a unique experience and such fantastic views.  The 29 locks descend 237 feet in about two miles. 

Another highlight of the day was our old friends Andy and Pauline who used to be our “neighbours” on the moorings at the top of the locks.  Andy has been a lock keeper on the flight for many years and he made it a busman’s holiday today to come down with Pauline and the grandchildren to see us.  Lovely to see you all guys!

Another surprise was to meet blog followers Phil and Terri from nb ‘Silhouette’ who live near us in West Sussex and who happened to be staying in Devizes for the weekend.  They “hunted” us down from our recent blogging's and they too were absolute angels and helped us through the last dozen or so locks.  We’re so pleased to meet you both and thanks for all your timely help just when the ‘official’ crew were getting tired.

Having achieved a remarkable 29 locks in just over four hours (with much appreciated help) we motored on for another 20 minutes and are now moored at Sells Green for the night.  Not long after we stopped we had another surprise visit by Claire (yet another one of Doug’s school friends and blog follower!) and her twin sons Gabriel and Oscar.  We had a great chat, over the all important glass of wine, and the boys were extremely interested in the workings of the boat.  It was a pleasure to explain and show them round and answer their questions.  By way of explanation, Doug used to go to school in this area so it’s an ideal opportunity for some of them to meet up.  

Well, it’s been a hell of a busy day and a very enjoyable one meeting so many people.

Devizes–our “spiritual” canal home.

We left Pewsey this morning at 9’sh and made our way along 12 of the 15 miles of  lockless pound which ends in Devizes and then the canal suddenly changes to 29 locks in two miles! – but that’s a story for tomorrow.

The weather was fantastic today.  Bright, hot sunshine meant that Doug had to don the sun tan cream when he walked a lot of the way from Pewsey to Devizes (mostly with Phoenix).  Here they are with Pickled Hill in the background.

We have to say that this morning, in the sunshine and warmth, with the wonderful open views of the Wiltshire countryside, this stretch of the canal was just heavenly.

‘Autumn Myst’ follows up behind – reeds lining the canal on one side and the hedgerows and trees just starting to burst into life.

The good weather meant we met so many happy people walking and cycling along the canal today and, with no locks to hinder our leisurely pace, we arrived in Devizes early afternoon.  Doug, June and Bob scooted off to the  shops while James was left to get ‘Chance’ back to some presentable form after it seemed to get terribly messed up in Pewsey yesterday. (He enjoys it anyway!)

Devizes, is where we bought our first boat which was called ‘Spirit’ and we lived on the mooring at the top of the Caen Hill Flight for three months before we embarked on our first canal travels in October 2007 - hence we think of it as our “spiritual” home.

Bob and June decided to do a second round of shopping and left Phoenix with us as she was very tired from all the walking and running she’d done today.

While we were sitting on the back deck enjoying the sunshine and a glass of squash (!?) an old school friend of Doug’s arrived with her family to meet up with us.

After they had a look around ‘Chance’ we all went for a walk along the towpath to the top of the Caen Hill Flight of locks which descend out of Devizes towards Bath and which we will be tackling tomorrow .  There are 16 locks in the flight which are all part of the full 29 locks.

Here are Jeremy, Lucy, Doug, Susan (school friend), Sam and Bob with Phoenix at the top of the Caen Hill Flight.

This evening we went aboard ‘Autumn Myst’ for dinner with Bob and June and a recap of the wonderful spring day we’ve just all enjoyed.