Bath to the start of the Kennet and Avon Canal - Lock No. 1 on the River Avon, our turnaround point.
It's Friday 5th July, Paul's 50th birthday today!!
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| Balloons and banners decorated the boat, letting everyone know Paul was 50! |
We had a lovely day today. We cycled into Bath and
relaxed in the Thermae Bath Spa, apparently the only one to use the natural hot
bubbling mineral water! Well it was lovely any way. Relaxing in the slow stream
of the Lazy River or enjoying the bubbling jaccuzi, floating in the warm water
in the rooftop pool or standing under the massage jet, amazing. Paul loved it!
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| We posed outside the Thermae Spa Bath, in Bath |
In the evening we went to a Turkish resteraunt and ate
meat! Seemed like we had just asked for meat and we got tons of it! Yummee! We
ate most, and what we didn't eat we took home for Jack.
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| We went to a turkish restaurant and was presented with a plate full of meat, yummee! |
Paul had a great day,
finished off with a glass of wine or two on a sunny canal bank in Bath!
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| Leaving the mooring, and entering the very small 'bridge like' tunnel in Bath |
On Saturday we set off again. It's a busy place here
and we need some peace and quiet now. It's 10am and we set off to go to the
water point, having to moor alongside a widebeam to get to the tap.
We go through Bath and down the flight of 6 locks.
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| Onwards.... to the mean menacing 19' 5" lock |
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| Pretty houses line the towpath |
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| A taster of things to come, they're all pretty deep and nasty! |
With the help of two volunteer lock keepers it seemed ok when we came to the
biggest of the bath locks, Lock 8/9, measuring in at 19' 5"deep!
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| With the help of two lock keepers, I had very little to do! |
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| .... going down... |
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| I feel very small in this huge lock |
Biggest lock I've ever been
in, second biggest lock on the system!
At the bottom of the locks we meet the River Avon, 'a
sharp left turn and with a sound of the horn', as the sign says. Its wide and
ugly, concrete high flood walls line the banks.
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| Leaving the Bath locks as we turn right onto the river Avon |
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| Concrete walls and ugly bridges all around us as we leave Bath for prettier places |
The traffic's busy all around
us as tour busses trundle over the many ugly bridges. We chug on about a mile
for a Sainsburys stop. There's a space on the 24 hr mooring so we pull in and
walk the 200 yds to the supermarket. After stocking up we're on our way again,
more concrete walls line the river banks, high so you can't see over.
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| As we go on out of Bath the river is still very high banked.... |
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| .... but it gets prettier |
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| Trees line the banks now, very pretty but we can't see much. |
After a couple of miles we go through Weston Lock and we leave busy Bath
for the countryside once again.
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| Looking back at Kelston Lock and wier, the hire boat just leaving the lock on the left, pub on the right! |
We get to Kelston lock where we go through with
a group of lads on a hire boat.
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| Imagine the view from here! |
All good, we spot a lovely place to stop for the night
at the side of a meadow near Saltford.
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| Our sun spot for a couple of days, you can just see the roof of the boat through the grassy bank |
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| Our front 'porch', we had a lovely spot so we stayed an extra day |
Really peaceful, we've got a huge meadow
as our front garden and there's hardly anyone about.
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| Our view from our boat, Kelston Round Hill, took us 2 hours to walk there and back! |
There's amazing walks everywhere, a huge hill called Kelston Round Hill, meadows with cut hay all around us, and a river to cool down in! We stayed here a couple of days, walking, conquering the Round Hill! Took us two hours, but what a view!
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| Amazing view from the top.... and our boat is somewhere in the middle of all of that! |
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| .... and what a day, scorchio! |
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| ..... and Wales is on the horizon somewhere |
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| ... over the hills and far away, this was Jack's playground for the next couple of days |
We could see Bristol, Wales, the two Severn bridges. All around us the view was stunning. We layed about in the sun all day, swimming in the refreshing water, going off for walks, cooking outside. It was lovely. We listened to Andy Murray win the 2013 final at Wimbeldon and did a few little jobs around the boat.
Monday 8th July and we're off again, this time to the end of our journey on the Kennet & Avon one way, Lock 1, the beginning of The Kennet & Avon Canal.
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| Leaving the beautiful spot on Saltford Meadows |
We set off to do the remaining 3 locks and 4 miles. Its another scorcher today, we're so lucky to have this amazing weather!
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| Paul tackles the ricketey old locks of the River Avon |
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| Swineford lock, all these locks are stone built ..... |
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| ,... walls are wobbley and uneven, steps are broken... in need of some money spent on them |
It's Saltford lock, then Swineford lock and thirdly Keynsham lock.
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| Hanham Lock, Lock No. 1 on the Kennet and Avon Canal, although the last bit wasn't canal! |
Last stop Hanham lock!
At the end of our journey west we turn the boat round by the two pubs, moor up for a quick look about .... nothing special here.
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Moored up at the end of our journey west along the Kennet and Avon canal, wasnt much to see here!
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| Heading off once again, this time on the return journey back (eventually) to the Thames |
But we've done it, the Kennet and Avon Canal has been completed, all 104 locks and 87 miles.
All we need to do now is the same all over again but the other way round!
So we set off back on our journey eastbound to meet the Thames in Reading once again....
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