Newbury

We left Derham Bridge in good time on a gray but dry day - a little blue sky emerged mid afternoon but the threat of rain never turned in to reality. Alongside the bridge is but one of the many remains of the war-time defences - the canal was, we believe, a major defensive line.

 

The cruise down to Newbury lock was uneventful - but then things changed! The river flow below the lock is generally quite fast and we soon realised it would be easy when we failed to make the proper arch through the bridge before Victoria Park! We had planned to moor here and we made one attempt - which involved turning in the stream to approach the landing upstream. However, as a result of one boat unkindly mooring one ring away from the end of the available stretch, we only just fitted into the only space - but it did not leave enough spare space to avoid bumping into the adjacent boats.

So, we cast off again and made an attempt to turn in the right direction but failed, the stream was too strong with only a small gap between boats. Hence we went backwards down under the main road bridge, passing the weir, to reach the piling bank just into the canal section.

After mooring - thankfully - we walked the short distance to Sainsbury's for a few basic items and to return the faulty mug which we bought on the way up. Alas, they had no more of the same design on the shelves but they offered us a newspaper in exchange!

Back at the boat we thought the next task would be rather quick - buying a replacement gas bottle for the one we emptied yesterday. However, having turned the boat and then moved along to the shop, we found that they were busy with doing a re-fuel and pump-out for another boat. as a result it was rather later than we wanted by the time we had sorted the gas and found a mooring just above the next lock. Lunch!

The afternoon was generally uneventful - we shared locks with another boat for a short while. Several locks were quite slow but nothing untoward. Moorings are not easy on the Kennet and Avon and so we took what we could a little short of Aldermaston. Alas no satellite signal. Time for dinner!