After a short foray to the nearby Sainsbury for a newspaper and a few more larder items we set off in good time. we had moored just below the start of the Kennet and Avon canal below Bath Locks but first came the tourist obligatory - a trip up to Pultney Weir.
It is only a short trip, much favoured by trip boats, and only the last few hundred metres are scenic. This section has been cleared of moored boats. Ostensibly on the grounds of urgent repairs to the bank but more likely to keep happy those who like their scenic views to be neat and tidy! Certainly there was no sign of any work in progress and all the notices threatening severe legal action against anyone who has the temerity to even touch the landing seem to have been there a while and look decidedly permanent!
It was another bright warm day and the sky was blue most of the time but gradually more cloud cover arrived as the day wore on. We almost felt a drop of rain at one point but it came to nothing.
A lady (Val) walking the canal offered to help us and she stayed with us throughout the flight. By coincidence she keeps her touring caravan in a park outside Padstow!
The deep lock took quite a time, firstly making sure that the boat was secure and then filling slowly - too much and the boat would be thrown around. Since we came down, someone has fixed a couple of road cones on chains (not sure what happened to the photo) to act as a warning to boats not to get their tiller caught under the walkways on the upstream side of the bottom gate. All too easily done. In fact all but one of the river locks have the same hazard but perhaps what makes this lock more vulnerable is that more attention has to be paid to bringing the boat up smoothly that it is easy to miss out that the boat has drifted back under the overhang.
Although this flight is labelled Bath Locks on the modern signs, it seems from an older notice that they were once named after a nearby suburb of the city.
There were plenty of gongoozlers and by the time we reached the top lock we felt that we had done a pretty good job of entertainment.
Christine was looking out for the flat where Joanna spent some of her student days - she thinks that it was one of those in this photo.
There are then no more locks until Bradford but progress was very slow. Just as we left the top lock, a wide beam trip boat pulled away in front of us and travelled rather slowly. Only after a while did we realise that its speed was dictated by the same hire boat with a party of Americans that we had encountered (LTRU) on the River Avon between Hanham and Netham on the way down. Not only do they travel exceptionally slowly but seemed to have no notion of letting other boats go past.
We noted the Humane Society's lifebouy on the way down but this time we also saw this reminder of times past. (Who remembers shillings?)
Another boat came up behind us and demanded to be let past. We tried to explain that there was a queue, also a long line of moored boats that made the passage narrow but also a number of boats, mostly just setting out with their hire boat, coming in the opposite direction, no to mention plenty of tight bends.
Eventually, there was a more open and straight section with nothing coming so we let it pass only for it to spend the next half hour tail fendering the wide beam! Much later it forced its way past both the wide beam and the Americans. The wide beam also made it past - but with a near miss in the process, leaving us to follow guess who at a snail's pace.
They stuck resolutely to the middle of the channel but wandering from side to side whenever room permitted such that attempting to pass uninvited would have been very dangerous. Amusingly, they attempted to cut a corner and in the process went aground giving us the chance to slip by as they sorted themselves out.
All afternoon there were numerous small craft and canoes - fortunately no swimmers today - but several very long boats whose newbie steerers found quite difficult to take around tight corners.
We stopped very briefly at Dundas Wharf to empty the elsan but moved off as quickly as we could to avoid letting any slower boat get in front again!
The wooded section between the two aqueducts is very pretty and with the sunshine pushing its way through the leaves from time to time, speed did not really matter - just as well as we were still passing many lines of moored boats. The photo shows one of the rarer occasions with none in sight.
Christine alighted to walk across Avoncliff Aqueduct and hence took off-boat pictures.
A near miss with this canoe which decided to attempt to come through a bridge hole before we had finally come through!
It was rather busy below Bradford Lock and a queue had built up. On the other hand, once Christine went up to give instruction to some young lads not sure how to operate a lock, we went through quite smoothly. In any event, it gave a chance to chat with the crew of the next boat to arrive that breasted up ready to go into the lock when our turn came.
After we had cleared Bradford we did not go on much longer finding a quite mooring spot fairly soon.
11.9 miles - 7 locks
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