Enjoying the beauty of the River Avon valley to Bath

Sept 5 From Bathampton to Bradford on Avon, then homewards

Saturday morning saw us passing loads of hire boats heading to Bath. Our thought was to moor at either Avoncliffe, near the beautiful aqueduct, or at Bradford on Avon, as there are railway stations here to use to get back to the car near Reading. The ledge was huge near Avoncliffe, so we motored on to Bradford on Avon. John bought a couple more mooring pins from the marina as we were warned that pins get pulled out easily here. Five should be enough, hopefully!!

Sept 4 Visiting Bath and returning to Bathampton

The moorings on the river, half a mile below the bottom lock are ok, although you have to tie up to the metal railings. The moorings up towards Pulteney Weir are temporarily not available for use, unfortunately.
Our morning was spent enjoying the beauty of Bath. We both thought the £12.50 fee for the Roman Bath was excellent value, as they have really done a good job to let you see everything, including using a decent audio guide. We had an interesting chat with a group of New Zealanders doing the grand tour.
Afternoon saw us taking Annie up the river to the impressive Pulteney Weir before we headed back up the flight of locks, so we can leave the boat safely on the canal for a while.

Sept 3 From Bradford on Avon to Bath

Cool but sunny at times, John cruised slowly to Avoncliffe Aqueduct and stopped just before the Dundas Aqueduct, both beautiful Georgian structures. We had a gentle walk along the Somerset Coal canal, all 400m of it, at Brassknocker Basin, where we had coffee and cake.
Meandering along the Avon valley through pretty Bathampton, we let four boats through one swing bridge!
Reaching Bath, we passed under Cleveland House and down six locks to the river, by which time we were well ready to moor down river and rest.

Sept 2 From Sells Green, Seend to Bradford on Avon, with a short visit from Ellie, Evie and Henry


a rural scene near Semington

 Lyn and Mike on NB Woolleycat accompanied us down the five Seend locks and Semington Locks, which produced good conversation and made life much easier.


Liana in beautiful scenery



tame heron

We stopped at The Boatyard at Hilperton for diesel, and also bought a couple of fenders and our wedding anniversary present, a Sea Searcher magnet! John received useful advice about preparing the engine for river and estuary travel.
We picked up Ellie, Evie and Henry and they travelled with us as Annie idled her way to Bradford on Avon in the sun. No sooner had we passed through the lock and moored than it poured down, so we zoomed into a coffee house and had coffee and cake or icecream, much to Evie's delight.

Ellie, Evie and Henry with John on Annie

 After they departed, we had a walk around Bradford, shopped at Budgens and meandered back to the boat for a steak meal, tv and a good book.