The final leg to the River Severn

The River Avon from Bath to Bristol

The final stretch to Bristol is on the River Avon.  We were a bit nervous about this trip as there had been a lot of rain that summer and we had been getting email alerts every so often when the river was closed for a day or more at a time.  When it gets too high it becomes too dangerous for inland craft to use and the locks are padlocked up.
Many of the old wharves in Bath had been converted to yuppie apartments as in many river./canal towns around the country.

image

It was our first time on tidal waters so it gave Diesel a chance to wear his life jacket.

 image

Some of the permanent moorings looked a bit precarious, especially these next to a weir.

image

We saw more kingfishers per mile than we ever had anywhere else.  At times it felt that they were the most common bird on the river.  I have yet to get a close up picture of a kingfisher but will do one day.  We had left the boat for two weeks at Bathampton in July.  We returned on a lovely sunny Friday evening and were having a glass of wine on the front deck.  Suddenly a kingfisher alighted on the mooring line no more than four feet away from us.  We had noticed that they use mooring lines as fishing perches and this one had obviously got used to the boat being empty.  There was no way I could get a picture as the first movement we made would scare it off. I will never forget the image of being that close to such a beautiful bird though.

Locks on the River Avon

The locks on the Avon were larger than on the canals but not as large as those on the River Thames.  Like the majority of those on the canals they were all manually operated.

image

Hanham lock

This was the last lock before Bristol and you have to call the Bristol harbourmaster to get permission to leave the lock and continue downstream . We had to wait an hour for the tide to rise before we were allowed to go through.  As you can see the river is same height both sides of the lock.

image

After three more miles we finally saw the sign that said we were at the harbour.

image

Entering and nosing round Bristol harbour

Bristol harbour felt massive and far larger than any basin we had been in before.  There were no worries about finding places to turn.  We had a good cruise around before finding where we wanted to moor.  The harbour is 2 1/2 miles long so there were plenty of places to moor.  We went to the dock by the Watershed first but then realised that it would be incredibly noisy at night because of the bars and restaurants.  It transpired we were right as whenever we walked down there it was full of hen and stag parties so we nicknamed it ‘Hen alley’.

We ended up on new pontoons opposite the SS Great Britain down near the western end of the harbour.  It was nice and quiet and hardly any other boats moored there whilst we stayed there. The weather was still pretty miserable as it was most of the 2012 summer.  

image 

image

Around the harbour  

We stayed in the harbour for three weeks whilst waiting for the weather to improve.  We needed calm conditions before we could hire a pilot to take us out to Sharpness and up the River Severn to Gloucester.  

image

It would have been a fantastic journey going up the Severn, especially under the two M4 bridges.  We had discussions with the pilots’ office every day but the weather was never settled enough.  In the end we had to agree to try another year and head back east to Reading.  It was also getting very expensive paying mooring fees in the harbour.  I suspect we will end up doing it in the opposite direction one day when we have toured the north and are heading back down south through Stratford to Gloucester.

Our final evening in the harbour coincided with the closing ceremony of the 2012 Olympics and, ironically, it was a lovely warm evening and the squares with outside screens were packed.

image

Life as continuous cruisers

Logistics

We gave up our moorings at Newbury on October 1st 2011 and started continuously cruising.  As we were both working this generally meant every other weekend was spent like this:
  • Friday evening - drive to boat and visit pub
  • Saturday - cruise to next place where boat could be left for two weeks
  • Sunday - walk back to get car and drive home
Deciding where to leave the boat entailed using a map to find a likely spot near a road bridge and a pub (for that Friday drink).  Then a look at the satellite view on a PC to make sure there would be places to park the car and moor the boat.
The only drawback to this approach was that we had to cruise on a Saturday whatever the weather.  But providing we were dressed for the occasion it didn’t matter, especially if we had the slow cooker going for an evening meal.  Sometimes it meant cycling or walking back to the car in the rain.  I remember one day when we cycled and the bikes were absolutely filthy so I dunked them in the canal before putting them in the car.  A lady walking her dog said she wasn’t surprised that I found bikes in the canal but wondered how I knew they were there!

image

Off to Reading

We fancied going to visit Oxford so we headed east to the end of the Kennet & Avon canal (the K&A) at Reading where we could then pick up the Thames to Oxford. 

On the way down to Reading we went through Monkey Marsh lock which is one of only two turf sided locks in the country.  A guy in an old suit walks from Thatcham to this lock nearly every day and sits inside a pill box next to the lock until a boat comes along (The K&A has pill boxes along its length - no idea why we thought the invading Germans would use a canal).  When a boat comes the guy gets out of the box to operate the lock.  I never managed to get him to talk but he obviously feels the lock is his - we refer to him as Monkey Marsh Man.

image

The K&A cuts through the centre of the Oracle shopping centre in Reading but they have not made much of it.  Unlike Birmingham and other towns you are not allowed to moor up and the canal is very much kept at arms length.  It even has traffic lights to enforce one way traffic through the centre.

image

The Thames & Oxford

Our canal licence doesn’t cover us for using the Thames so there is a daily charge to use the river. The charge varies according to the length of the boat and as it was going to cost us £40 a day we didn’t really want to hang around for long.

It was quite an experience going on the Thames.  The locks were operated by lock keepers and they directed the boats into the locks which are large and can accommodate far more boats than canal locks.  It was fun sharing locks with the plastic gin palaces - just looking at their faces, frightened our big steel boat would crush them, was entertaining.  The locks all had well tended gardens and the lock keepers were very friendly.  Unfortunately, in 2013, the Environment Agency announced that they were to make the majority of the lock keepers redundant and replace them with voluntary staff.  

image

We turned right off the Thames at Oxford to go down a narrow cut to the Oxford canal.  On the cut we passed an old railway swing bridge - health and safety wouldn’t allow such a thing these days.  Around a tight left hand bend we saw the entrance to the Oxford, the first lock and how narrow it seemed compared with the Thames’ locks.  We left the boat in Jericho for a couple of weeks and spent time visiting Oxford.  Lauren was studying at Oxford Brookes at the time and working in Boswell’s.  Like a lot of towns many people are not aware there is a canal passing through; the Oxford canal starts at the back of the rail station and runs north through Jericho.  It is our favourite canal to date, the single width locks mean there are no wide craft and it passes some really rural areas on its way to Coventry.

image

We then decided we would like to get down to Bristol and up the river Severn to Gloucester before the end of the summer so we headed back south to Reading to travel the length of the Kennet & Avon to Bristol.

Back to Reading and west to Devizes (Queen’s Diamond Jubilee)

On our way back to Reading we saw that preparations had already started for Reading festival even though it was only April.

image

On our way through Hungerford we spent some time with our friends Sharon and Simon who were helping out on the annual Devizes to Westminster canoe race.  Here they are with their son, Robin, who is in the back. 

image

At the summit of the K&A is Bruce’s tunnel, our first canal tunnel.  The shot taken inside was with a flash so it’s not really that bright - the light from the headlight can be seen at the front. 

image

As it was the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee we cut out cloth triangles and Karen painstakingly sewed them to form a 150’ long bunting to adorn the boat. 

image

This was about the time we got to Devizes and its famous Caen Hill locks; 29 in two miles with 16 in close succession.  It takes a good few hours to do these and fortunately Karen had Jo to help her as we locked down.  Jo looked like she needed that mug of tea I had made her as we neared the bottom.

image
Next we headed for Bath on our way to Bristol…

Bath

The next stop on on our way to Bristol was in Bath.  Matthew, Catherine and Joanna joined us for a weekend and Catherine was reminded that studying is still required even when she was away from uni.

image
 
Bath has one of the largest communities of liveaboard boaters outside of London.  Consequently it can be very difficult to find moorings unless you get right into the city where the moorings are 24 or 48 hour only. 

image
 
The canal architecture is ornate as it passes through Bath.

image

We spent quite a bit of time wandering around Bath but, as usual, didn’t seem to take many pictures.

 image
 
More proof of my cackhandedness appeared again when we were moored in Bath when I assembled a barbecue for use on the towpath.  It was only when I finished that I realised I had put the handle on the base.

image
 

There is a flight of six locks in the middle of Bath taking the canal down to meet the River Avon.  The penultimate lock is the second deepest in the country with a drop of 19’ 5”, about three times deeper than the average lock.  As you can imagine the gates are massive and Karen could not move them on her own.  Fortunately there is a road bridge crossing the end of the lock and some white ‘venmen’ saw her struggling and stopped in the road and leapt over the fence to help her.

image

Leaving the last lock at Bath we joined the River Avon and this sign told us we were on the last leg to Bristol.

 image

Next trip, Bristol harbour…

On the way to Bristol - part 2

Bradford-on-Avon

Continuing our travels westwards on the Kennet and Avon canal (K&A) we went through pretty Bradford-on-Avon:

image

Looking down from the bridge crossing the River Avon we saw this swan on her nest and got talking to a local lady who was also watching it.  She told us that the swan’s previous nest had been washed away by the swollen river two weeks earlier.  The silly thing (the swan) had built the new nest in the same spot!  She (the local lady) also explained that she spent as much time on the bridge as possible as she had previously chased some young yobs who were throwing stones at the nest.  By the time we came back through Bradford-on-Avon the nest was empty so we never found out whether the swan was successful.

image

Aqueducts

There are two major aqueducts on the K&A and they are both in this area.  They were both built to cross the River Avon from one side of the valley to the other.
First we came to Avoncliffe aqueduct.  We found the turns a bit tight when we hired a boat here years ago and grounded the boat in front of a crowd of tourists but were OK this time round.  There is a nice old micro brewery pub just off the aqueduct.  The banks along here are full of wild garlic; the smell is wonderful at the right time of year.  It is the leaves from this plant that are used in cooking so we made sure we took what we needed for the next few days.

image

Dundas aqueduct was next.  This is a honey pot for tourists; the old Somersetshire Coal canal joins at the aqueduct and has a rowing boat hire centre and cafes. 

image

Strange art/sculptures

Well, they were strange to us. I’m sure artists find them normal.  There were several of these pieces between Bradford-on-Avon and Bath.  Here are three that we managed to photograph.

image

Pumping stations

After Dundas aqueduct we went past Claverton pumping station.  Pumping stations were built at the same time as the canals and were/are used to pump water up to the higher levels. The highest level on a canal is known as the summit level.  The summit level on the K&A is 15 miles long, i.e. 15 miles without a lock.  The stretches between locks are called pounds.

image

Many pumping stations are open to the public and are fascinating to visit.  We had spent some time at Crofton pumping station (just west of Hungerford).  They say it is the oldest steam beam engine in the world that still works and is still in its original building.  I suppose they mean not restored and rebuilt in a museum.  It was here that we had the clever idea of pressure washing the boat.  Unfortunately the water pressure at the water point was not high enough to get the pressure pump working.  Still, it provided a good spectacle for the visitors to the pumping station who had wandered down to the canal for picnics or to gongoozle.  Here is a link to an informative video about the Crofton beam engines.

image

As regular canal travellers we get email alerts of breakdowns, blockages and stoppages etc. to help us plan our journeys.  Coincidentally I received this one yesterday; it would have been a bit frustrating if we were travelling through that area at the moment.

image
1 note

Polelathe on the way to Bristol

Devizes (where all the pubs sell 6X)

We spent a few nights in Devizes and found some quaint places.  My eldest sons Chris and Steve came down for a weekend to help with odd jobs on the boat and enjoy a bit of cruising.  I seem to remember that the Saturday evening was one of those where it seems a great idea to crack open the port.

image

Wootton Rivers

Unusual dial on this church clock at Wootton Rivers.  


image

Pewsey

Our good friends, John & Heather, joined us at Pewsey for a long weekend.  We had an unfortunate start on the Saturday morning.  Whilst filling up with water at Pewsey Wharf we heard a massive bang/crash and a white van had hit the side of the canal bridge and flipped over completely blocking the road.  As some of the bridge coping stones had been displaced the police put tape across the canal to stop us travelling until structural engineers arrived and passed it safe.  It was OK as there was a pub on the wharf right next to where we were moored and we weren’t driving anywhere.  When the engineers arrived they just pushed the loose stones into the canal and we were on our way. Would have made the repairers’ job more difficult as they would have had to retrieve the stones first.

We eventually got through and had a pleasant weekend cruising, albeit in a lot of rain, down to a place called Horton.  I believe we had another ‘good idea for port’ nights on the Saturday.  As we had two cars between us we had already stationed one car at the the Bridge inn in Horton to make it easy to go back for the other car once we finished cruising.  When we arrived we couldn’t find the key to the car at the Bridge inn so John and I had to cycle back to his car at Pewsey in the hope we had dropped the keys in his car on on the canal side.  Karen and Heather took refuge in the pub of course. It was rather a long cycle as we had cruised a long way assuming we would be using the cars,  All was OK in the end as I had dropped the keys in John’s car.

image

Traders

We have seen all sorts of boat traders but this guy has been the most interesting.  We bumped into him around Pewsey and he had made a polelathe and carried it on his boat (dismantled) and assembled it on the towpath to turn bowls and plates etc.

image

Limpley Stoke

My youngest daughter, Polly, joined us for a weekend with two of her friends.  We had a great weekend and found a good ice cream boat and saw our first book swap telephone box.

image