Nearly there just Bristol to go

It was food festival week in Devizes and on the evening of the 11th we went to the Lamb Inn for a food based quiz. Good fun but no prizes. Tuesday we did the Caen Hill flight, 29 locks taking the canal down hill by 237ft in 2 1/4 miles. An easy ride for us all as we had our team with us. When we got to the bottom 5 hours later we all chilled out and fed the crew a pre prepared ( by the ladies) lasagne.

On Wed we set off towards Bradford on Avon. I had spoken to the pilot about our trip up the Severn Estuary, which we have provisionally booked for the 21st. Accordingly we stopped off at 'The Boatyard' at Hilperton to get various bits and engine spares as requested by the pilot. We actually have to collect the pilot from Portishead which is downstream from Bristol and we have to make our own way there. high tide at Bristol on the 21st is 12.30pm which will mean a reasonable 7.30am ish start. we probably won,t be ready to go before the Sunday as we have to explore Bath and Bristol first, so the timings will be different and more friendly by then.

A Buzzard

Thursday was Sue,s birthday when she turned 45 again. we spent the day in Bradford on Avon, a lovely place and ate out in a lovely pub specialising in proper pies and then we at last managed some live jazz in the Swan which was excellent. Friday we moved on to Dundas Wharf where the now defunct ( except a for a restored 400 yard stretch) Somerset Coal Canal branched off the K & A.

A cream tea at 11.30am....take note Lyndsay

Saturday it was raining a lot so we stayed put till lunch time then eventually moved on to the George at Bathampton as we were meeting our friends Sue & Pete again for a meal, but we managed to fit in Claverton pumping station powered by the widest working water wheel (25ft) but unfortunately it was not a working day. Sunday we had a visit from Sarah & Mark and Owen & Eve. they joined us at the George and we motored into Bath which involved 6 locks and a mini tunnel. One of the locks was the second deepest in England at 19 ft something. We all had a great time and a quick look round Bath they even went in to the pump room and tasted the mineral water which was generally found to be yuck. Within 1/2hr of them leaving we were receiving Richard & Liz from Dragonfly who were in Bristol visiting her Mum. Tomorrow and Tuesday we will probably stay in Bath and explore.

9/7/11 to 12/7/11

We spent the weekend in Devizes and have so far managed to miss all the live music, wherever it may be. Still we've had avoid look round Devizes, may have popped into a pub or 2. Devizes is the home of Wadworth makers of 6X so it would be rude not to try it. Saturday Joe had taken Luke to Shepton Mallet for the day to visit the extreme sports event that was on with with a big gig in the evening. As they were so close they spent the night on the boat before setting off home after lunch. We went to the museum after they left, and on Monday we went to the K & A Trust museum on the wharf did some shopping and took a walk down the Caen Hill flight, 29 locks which will take us about 5 hours when we tackle it tomorrow. We should have an easy ride though as Sue & Clive's granddaughter and 4 of her friends are coming for the day to do all the locks for us.

Luke rescued the hedgehog which we found swimming in the canal

Sunday 26/6/11 to Friday 8/7/11

We've been having lazy starts for a few days now and probably more to come as there's four of us to all get sorted, and we are not in a rush anyway yet. Sunday we were moored alongside a beautiful meadow complete with sheep, so we all decided to have coffee before we set off for Woolhampton. It was only 2hours away and 3 locks and very hot so good job we didn't go too far.

We arrived about 1.15pm just in time to meet Joe who was coming to lunch with us at the Rowbarge a favourite haunt of Timothy West and Prunella Scales who cruise this canal a lot. Even though it was hot we all had a roast of the day an excellent lamb shank. It was great to see Joe and hear all about Sweden, he didn't leave until 4 ish so by that time we decided to stay put. Clive changed his engine oil while I fixed his horn and we sat out with a bottle or 3 until it was almost dark, a first this year!

On Monday we did another short trip to just beyond Thatcham as Clive had a mate he had arranged to catch up with, and on Tuesday with did the short hop into Newbury, and an appointment with Mr Tesco as we knew we could get the trolley almost to the boat.

By tomorrow I should be all back to normal as I heard today that my replacement phone is ready and have arranged for it to be delivered to the P.O. in Newbury, and I've also fired up the old computer and got that sorted. You may even get more regular blogs as I've finally got to grips with them from my iPad which seems to be much quicker. Its still a long way to go to get to Bristol having only done about 18 of the 100 miles.

The phone was still in transit by the time we left Newbury so I had to nip back there from Kintbury where we had moved to. It was only one station so I went by train rather than bike as time was tight as the Post Office closed at 5.30. We had reached Hungerford by Thursday 30th and stayed on and had a working day on the Friday. We washed the boat and polished the roof and I also had to mend the air filter, and also watched some Wimbledon. More of the same on Saturday when I refitted the seats that unexpectedly dumped me in the water.

Sunday at Great Bedwyn and Monday at Crofton where we visited the oldest working beam engine which was used to pump water up to the summit of the canal. Once a week when it is in steam it still does but the rest of the time BW use electric pumps. By Tuesday 5th July we had reached the summit after travelling uphill since Reading so now we are going down in the remaining 53 locks to Bristol.

Wednesday 6th July we had an away day and caught the bus to Avebury Ring via Marlborough and by Thursday we were at Honeystreet right outside the Barge Inn, drinks that night and a meal on Friday and heading for Devizes on Saturday in search of live music for a change. Interestingly at Honeystreet we walked to a white horse and a crop circle which had only recently appeared we think, as lots of people were there. One group were standing in the middle holding hands and chanting....whatever floats your boat!!

Reading to London and back in 9 1/2 weeks 12th June to Saturday 18th June

By Monday we were off the River Lee, having stayed put on Sunday as it rained all day. We were hoping to come back into Limehouse Basin by a different route which would have taken us past the Olympic site but due to unfinished towpath improvements that way was closed until the 26th. Instead we moored up just inside the Hertford Union Canal and walked to the site instead. We could see the aquadrome the main stadium the velodrome, the basketball centre the Olympic village and it all looked very advanced.

They had what they called the View Tube. Which was a covered walkway with maps and plans and info on the site the layout and what was going to happen post Olympics and it was all very interesting and we both thought that we would like to be around during the event even though we hadn't got tickets to date. We got to Limehouse basin by 4pm ready for the trip back up the Thames Tideway in the morning. High tide at London Bridge was at 1.30pm and so we had to leave at 10am to get to Teddington Lock (the end of the tidal section) with the rising tide.

It was a beautiful day and very hot not a lot of wind and we were both able to relax more than on the trip down. We had to escort another boat as they did not have the required VHF radio.

The rest of the week was cold windy and quite rainy but we had to press on in order to get back to Reading and to the boat yard that we had chosen to leave Sammy Jo at while we travelled home for Margaret's ear op on Tuesday. We also went back through Henley again and with only 2 weeks to go before the regatta it was very different and busy. The rowing course had been set out down the middle of the river, with with posts and marker buoys and all manner of things in the water. Tents gallore boats everywhere and as it was ladies weekend there was even some racing going on.

So 9 1/2 weeks after the off we are back where we started, but now with the rivers Thames, Lee, Stort, Wey & Godalming Navigation all ticked off the list and also 100 mls, 157 locks and 2 tunnels under our belts. Sunday we all travelled to Roydon by taxi, train, underground, and train, where we collected the car and drove to Kent. Charlie achieved a first by going up the escalator at the Baker Street tube station. Monday Joe became World Squash Champion at his age group at the World Transplant Games. Tuesday Margaret had her ear op....all OK and Joe won a bronze medal in the individual golf at the WTG. Wednesday Margaret a bit spaced out and in the evening John had a cold starting..... with avengance as it turned out.

Thursday we travelled back to the boat arriving about 3.30 pm only to find out that we had left the boat keys at Amy's. At about 7.00pm Sue & Clive went past in Lady Godiva so we agreed to meet them in the morning at their mooring spot just by the pub.

On Friday Joe was on BBC Radio Solent featuring on their Time and Place spot at about 8.20 I also had to send my phone off for repair/replacement after it's dunking in the canal and would you believe it....2hours after backing it up my computer crashed never to start again on this trip. This meant I would not be able to reinstall the phone when I got it back, but luckily the repair co. said they would do it for me. We eat at the pub in the evening and made plans for the next day. Saturday we didn't go to far and ended up staying the night at out lunch spot as it turned out nice. I changed the oil in the engine and Clive had an open air haircut and we watched some tennis. Sunday we moved on to a pub recommended by Timothy West and had lunch with a world squash champion

Wednesday 25th May to Saturday 11th June

As soon as we went under the M25 we left behind the more industrial and boring bit and things improved a lot so we decided to keep going rather than turn as we had discussed. So by Friday 27th we had reached the end of the River Lee Navigation. We had been following the Lea Valley and it was really lovely. Years ago there had been loads of gravel extraction and so now there were a whole series of beautiful lakes and nature reserves with bird hides as well. Also a lot of marshes that were well laid out with footpaths and with the actual River Lee cris crossing. We made a mental note to come back to this area when we have our camper van. On the way we had passed through Waltham Abbey, Cheshunt, Broxbourne, Stanstead Abbots, Ware and finally Hertford. We went into Hertford for a few bits of shopping and the obligatory Fish & Chips then we set off back down the Lee to where the River Stort Navigation branches off to the East. From the start the Stort was lovely, much nicer than the Lee it meandered a lot and the locks were easier although they were not as wide so you could not get 2 boats side by side. We made up for this by not having to close the lock gates on exit as is the practice on rivers. That's fine unless there's been a boat going the same way then the first thing you have to do is close the gates. There was an interesting reason for the narrower locks. This region was a prime grain growing area and the wide Dutch barges on the Lee had a monopoly on transporting the grain to London. Before the Stort was navigable the grain was transported to the Lee by horse and cart and not a lot made it because of loses on route and theft. The navigators decided to make the locks too small for the Dutch barges so that they couldn't steal their trade. The Stort took us through Roydon, Harlow, Sawbridgeworth and finally Bishop's Stortford which is the end of the line. We got there about 5pm on Sunday 29th and from the canal it looked really dreary so we turned round and started back. We had to get back to Roydon by Tuesday night as on the Wednesday I was going back to Reading to collect the car ready for our trip to the New Forest for our family camp. It took me 5 hrs by train and bus and road to reunite boat and car and as soon as we'd had a cuppa we moved the boat into Roydon Marina for a week while we camped. A good time was had by all and by Sunday lunch time they had all gone but we stayed on until Wednesday 8th June as our friends Lyndsay & Chris had joined us on the Sunday. Monday we had a visit from Lin & Mike and by Tuesday tea time 2 other friends had arrived. We went back via Sam's for a birthday BBQ for Luke who was going to be 13 the next day, and eventually got back to the boat at 11.30pm.

We didn't leave the marina until 4pm as we had loads to sort out and washing to do etc.

On Friday we stopped off at the Lea Valley White Water Centre just by Waltham Abbey. It only opened in February and has been built for the Olympic Games, we wondered all round and watched rafts with 10 people in riding the rapids. We wanted to do the Abbey as well but a wedding and time prevented. It's now Saturday 11th and we are almost back to the Thames. We are expecting rain all day Sunday if the forecast is right so we shall probably move on Monday down to Limehouse Basin ready for our return trip on the tidal section on Tuesday. High tide at London Bridge is 1.18pm so we have to leave Limehouse at about 9.45am to go back on the tide. We have notched up 129 locks and 121 hours on the engine which equates to about 181 miles (at 1.5 mph) give or take a few.