Eastward Ho!

Mon 21 Sept Welded

My good school friend Sam Howard has welded the two halves of Annie's tiller together this morning, so we are ready to return and fit both tiller and gear change cable, once our home jobs are done.

Sun 20 Sept Homewards in a fashion!

This morning saw John removing the broken gear change cable, then using the lump hammer to free off the tiller stump, so we can take the two parts of the tiller home to be welded together. Eventually, he won! Leaving Annie moored, rudderless, we lugged the trolley with bags to the local train station at Kintbury. Sunday trains meant we travelled east to Reading, west to Westbury, then north to Trowbridge to collect our car and a new gear change cable from the excellent people at The Boatyard, next to Hilperton Marina. GWR staff were good! We tried M4, A34 and A43, M1 to Leicester and home by 2100. A long day.



Sat 19 Sept Great Bedwyn to Dreweat's Lock, Kintbury (14 locks, 10 miles)

John dressed for the cool, autumnal morning, but soon changed into shorts. He missed a great photo as steam engine Tangmere chuffed through Little Bedwyn, past lock and boat. The sun soon beat down on us as we completed the ten locks down to Hungerford, enjoying the beautiful hot, summery weather.

Little Bedwyn lock and station just AFTER the steam engine Tangmere passed through (sob!). You may see the smoke still hanging in the air .....

Liana at work

A rare sight these days, a derelict lock house.

Annie at Hungerford Marsh Lock, a beautiful setting. We had to leave the swing bridge (over the lock) open, as the two of us couldn't close it again.

Stopping at Hungerford, we chatted to a busy boater blacking the hull side of Dover, from the TV series. He had needed to adapt her over the 18 months since he bought her. After shopping at Tescos, followed by coffee watching the joyous newly weds outside the registry office in the sun, we carried on through  four more locks, through lovely scenery before and after Kintbury, where we met horse and horseboat at the lock, as the weather was so good.

Liana admiring the new blacking on NB Dover, now owned by a liveaboard couple

A scorching day, just right for blacking the side of the hull above the waterline, at Hungerford

Annie and Dover moored at Hungerford

Just as we were considering mooring, our idyll was shattered! Entering Dreweat's Lock, John found himself reversing out again! The gear change cable had snapped, so when he set forward gear and revved, we just carried on backwards. Cutting the engine, John could just watch helplessly as Annie drifted back and hit a tree, breaking her tiller, which snapped like a twig as 20 tons of boat stopped from 2 mph :/ That decided our mooring! We moved her back, just beyond the lock landing, using the last bollard and mooring pins to secure her in the gathering dusk.


Fri 18 Sept Pewsey to Great Bedwyn  (14 locks, 8 miles)

What a great weekend! Another idyllic day beckoned us eastwards to Wootton Rivers. This time we managed to get through Brinslade Lock without getting a rope jammed! We sang/bellowed our way through Bruce Tunnel, then went slowly down the Crofton locks in the hot sunshine, stopping for a late lunch by the pumping station. Taking advantage of the gorgeous weather, we carried on to Great Bedwyn, where we found a rareish proper mooring, with pilings and mooring rings, and fed the swans and ducks.

Bruce Tunnel

Tablet at east end of Bruce Tunnel

Annie at Crofton Pumping Station

The rope we picked up on the propeller

Rooftop gardening

Autumn on the K&A

Thursday 17 Sept Something in the air!

Up to a sunny morning after a night of rain, we slept like logs after the 23 locks yesterday. John opened the bottom gate of the Devizes six and checked that Anthony and Rebecca on Selwood were coming with us. A disgruntled lady on a wide beam appeared, and grumbled that we took our time! Then as we emerged from this lock, we saw that they had closed the bottom gates after the widebeam exited, and were filling it! John honked his horn, and had a word with them after mooring, but the people were unrepentant, saying they didn't see us, despite the widebeam lady telling them! Then we found two boats coming down the locks singly, after one refused to share the lock with the other. Liana decided that there must be something in the air today!
After completing the six locks,  we said goodbye and thank you to Anthony and Rebecca and their folks, after a record of 32 locks shared from Bradford on Avon to Devizes! After a pleasant trip into Devizes to shops and market, we car ride on Eastwards towards Pewsey.

An unusual sight on a quiet morning

The White Horse at Alton Priors near Honeystreet

Autumnal shades

Dutch Barge at Wootton Rivers

Liana relaxing in the sun

Burbage Wharf near Wootton Rivers

The cutting leading to Bruce Tunnel

Wed 16 Sept A sharing experience!

After torrential rain overnight, we set off to the five Seend locks in the sunshine. At Seend we joined Selwood and her friendly crew of Aussies, Anthony, Rebecca, Maureen and Denis, plus their friends Aidan and his lovely wife. What teamwork developed as we continued onto the Devizes Caen Hill flight! Caen Hill really is a wonder of the canal world.

Annie entering the bottom lock of the Caen Hill 'thick' of 16 very close locks

Rebecca on Selwood with Annie on Caen Hill

The US Army helped us out at one point!

Rebecca and Anthony, family and friends

 on Selwood partnered us through all of Caen Hill locks

Rain appeared for the last six locks, so we were pretty lucky, really. After a few drinks on Selwood, we had a quite evening before sleeping well!

Tue 15 Sept Heading East

Today we travelled to the boat. After lunch, we set off from Bradford on Avon, sharing with a boat of beginners, who were grateful for advice. Liana took the car to Hilperton marina and rejoined Annie as we continued past Semington, mooring above the locks.

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.

From Burghfield to Devizes, down Caen Hill, Devizes to the Three Magpies near Seend

Tue 1 Sept 2015 down Caen Hill in the sun

Hoorah! The sun was shining this morning, so John walked down and set the first four locks, then checked that Rob and Nick on Westie, our companion Springer narrow boat today, were ready. We found a handful of Canal and River Trust (CRT) volunteers ready to help, so this made our descent much easier. Start 0845, sixteen locks later at 1040 we were down the 'thick' and onto the last six locks before Foxhangers marina.
The sun beat down on our backs for a change, so Liana and I filled Annie with water before mooring and enjoying a well deserved lunch at the Three Magpies. Ellie and Michael Alderdice should be joining us tomorrow, for a trip towards Bradford on Avon. Meanwhile, red wine and a good book seem a good idea!


Mon 31 Aug 2015 A wet Devizes Carnival

Rain poured all night and so we delayed our departure and visited the town centre to enjoy the Carnival and shop for a few bits. By late afternoon we were able to take Annie down six locks and moored yards from the top lock of the famous Caen Hill flight of locks (6 then 16 close together in a 'thick', then 7 down to Foxhangers. The evening sun allowed us to take a few photos as we walked around and enjoyed the view from the hilltop. Rob and Nick asked us to go down with them tomorrow at 0900.


Sun 30 Aug 2015 Pewsey to Devizes




Sat 29 Aug Hungerford to Crofton steam weekend and onto Pewsey



Friday 28 Aug

Thursday 27 Aug Newbury westwards

Annie at the beautiful moorings at Victoria Park, Newbury

horse boat Kennet Valley

horse boat Kennet Valley

Wed 26 August Woolhampton to Newbury

Liana on the long cut, Thatcham

Liana with Annie and Mistral VII moored at Victoria Park, Newbury

Liana at Newbury Lock

Tue 25 August Burghfield to Woolhampton with Damian

The Cunning Man pub moorings, Burghfield

Leaving the car at Burghfield Island Boat Club by kind permission, John bumped the boat at Burghfield lock, which must be one of the cheaply restored locks, as it is made from heavy duty pilings with a large balk of timber sticking out before and after each gate to protect it - oops! You can see one below.

I banged against the other outer big timber post which sticks out to protect the gate

We met Damian Wilson and his cruiser Mistral VII. Damian came with us through the nine varied locks today, so John had to be careful to rope Annie to protect his fragile craft.

Garston Turf sided lock

Rails or scrawny bollard to tie onto

Sheffield lock - scallop sided

Liana and Damian Wilson with his boat Mistral VII at Padworth Lock

We learned that Damian is a musician and singer with a prog metal band called Threshold, and was heading to Frankfurt to perform in a few days. I promised to look them up, and I have - they have some good musicians and write good songs, much more musical than many metal bands; and Damian has an excellent voice. Personally, I think the more lyrical numbers and his acoustic work show off his voice best, both with Threshold and the Damian Wilson Band. (Led Zepp fan talking here ....)

Damian and Mistral VII

Liana in the rain at Padworth Lock

Dutch Barge at Aldermaston Wharf

Aldermaston lift bridge

Aldermaston Lock and lift bridge, looking back

The tree comes first!

Woolhampton Lock was definitely dodgy! As John brought Annie towards the lock the strong cross current swept her sideways, so he had to gun the engine and point into the current to zoom into the lock, which had both gates wide open, ready.

The strong current sweeps in from under the bridge below the lock at Woolhampton

Mon 24 Aug Family visits and back to Annie

Leaving cat Jessica at home, we popped in to see Flo in Nottingham and daughters Sarah and Rachel in Leicester, including Rachel's new house. Rachel and her friends are working hard for her and friend Annie to move in this week with dog Honeypie.

Annie moored at Burghfield Island Boat Club

We were both ready for bed at Burghfield after a very wet and hectic journey down M1, M25 and M4.