Narrow boat Holiday 2015

Once again, written for my family and friends....... 

Flew from Groningen (Eelde) in a two propellor plane! 1 hour and 20 minutes travel time.

Easy walk at London Southend Airport to the train station, then to Paddington and hopefully the right train to Bath Spa.

Sunday arrive at Bath 1900.
Monday walk around Bath in the rain.

We find Sydney Wharf  and then decide to buy a rain jacket and umbrella..... sign of things to come? Coffee and shopping at Waitrose. I find a taxi to take us to Sydney Wharf... but I should have been worried when he kept saying Canary Wharf (which is in London!). I corrected him 3 times before I gave up! Now, we had walked along the towpath in the morning and he dropped us off at the roadside... about a kilometer from where we needed to be! I seriously think the old guy shouldn't have been driving any more, let alone operating a taxi! There was more than just a little doddering..... but anyway, we walked with luggage AND shopping to where we were supposed to be and waited for another 3 hours for the boat. 

Englishcombe - a village near Bath

Sydney Wharf

Sydney Wharf

The cleaning of 6 or more boats seemed to take forever. The chap who gave us the boat / canal instruction was mightily relieved that we knew more than complete boat novices. He was visibly drained because of doing the job with 2 people instead of 4. We headed off only 3 hours late and there were still quite a few to be done, including a boat of  6 Japanese guys whom we had helped to get their giant suitcases on board. They gave us some "add water" food from Japan in what we think of as typically Japanese thanks. More on that later....

 

Our Japanese travellers

We travelled for 3 hours and stayed overnight at Claverton. 

I was not happy with the steering  and resolved to check the propellor in the morning. The chap giving instruction had been pleased to find something we didn't know about and that was the propellor inspection plate. I'm glad now that he explained it so fully. I unscrewed the clamp using a winch key, bashed out the holding bar and lifted out the plate - actually two plates separated by a 30cm vertical shaft. The propellor and sternshaft were now clearly visible just below the waterline. I could reach in easily with one arm going in past my elbow. Now, I found the cause of my concern... a damned rope around the propellor and shaft! Now came the hard part. Luckily there was a breadknife on board so I had to find a way to get two arms and my head in far enough to saw through the rope, holding on desperately to the knife for fear of losing it. It took about half  an hour, several cuts and much grunting to get the rope off.. Steering became much more responsive and we felt like we could go much faster (or not as slow), still being at or around walking pace.

Much relieved, I put everything back and checked that it was sealed by running the motor and turning the prop to make sure we wouldn't sink the boat. (For the boating people - it wasn't our own rope!!).

Tuesday

Then headed off for 3 hours to Bradford on Avon for another walk, lunch and top up shopping. The lock here is very busy as it it is a handy day trip centre.

Bradford on Avon

Bradford on Avon Lock

Another 3 hours to Seende and a canalside English Pub for dinner. Very enjoyable. Janny and Anneke couldn't get over the number of dogs in the pub.

The Barge Inn

We encountered our Japanese friends again (so they had managed ok). One came to explain that he was disappointed with the add water food he had given us. They had bought it in Japan thinking it would be ideal. We might get to try it later.......(we didn't). 

Skipper went to bed early again with thoughts of tackling the "world's steepest flight of locks" the next day. 

Wednesday 

Awoke to find another boat loose from it's moorings. The Japanese guys were further along and preparing to leave for the lower locks. They came to help me get the boat out of the way, a fairly straight forward operation which I must have made look easy. Pegs repositioned and bashed in,  lines all fast, but enough for one of the Japanese guys to say " ah so, you know everything, yes?" I laughed and said we had our own boat and this was easy. 

I thought they had understood my suggestion to travel through the locks together but they went ahead and started closing the lock gates as we were approaching - so Janny yelled at them and asked them to open up. Two boats can just squeeze in together.- and it is easier for both parties as they hold each other in position with just a little bit of fore and aft motoring as the water comes in. It also uses less water, of course.

I was able to talk fairly well with one who had been to Australia quite a few times with his work. I asked him what it was but oh no not anymore we are all retired and most of them are over 70!!! They certainly didn't look it!! They ended up agreeing that it was good to go through together and that it was much "friendlier". They had booked a split journey so not going through Caen Hill but returning to Bath and then going over to the unpronouncable aquaduct in Wales. 

So we left them and teamed up with an owned boat with Bob Jackie and Alex. Alex was  keen on efficiency with the locks, even closing one half before I entered. That certainly puts the pressure on to line up and squeeze in, I even found myself sighting with one eye closed! Even so, it seemed that it was like Dodgem Boats once inside the lock. The first boat in could hold the stern on the side but if the bow drifted offline then it was just a matter of pushing it aside with the incoming boat. Even the experienced owner wandered off line a few times and that with a boat about half the size of ours.

With 2 boats going up the flight of 16 middle locks (29 in total) there were 2 teams of lock operators, sometimes able to leapfrog ahead, open paddles to let the water out if needed and then pushing the gates open for the 2 boats to enter. Then close the gates behind, lower the paddles, fill with water by opening the (other) paddles, open the gates, let boats out and close everything behind you - unless there are boats waiting to come in.. And repeat! We made it to the top with much jubilation and then decided to go through the next 6 locks to get to Devizes.... For a rest! So the days travel had been 7 hours with 34 locks and 2 swing bridges- with Janny and Anneke walking (and working) most of the way. The flight of locks is really beautiful to see - and to contemplate what they must have been thinking when they decided to build it!

- one can only admire the ingenuity and self belief that it could be done. I feel quite an achievement just in being able to navigate it, let alone build it! 

Showing Caen Hill Locks in proportion to others

Thursday is market day in Devizes so we'll have a look and then find a winding hole  ( a specially made hole wide enough) to turn around and do the whole thing again! 

Thursday morning spent looking at the market and then went to the Canal and River Trust museum. Not very big but portrayed the work done by activists and volunteers in getting this canal and others back in working order. Some exhibits of wooden gates showed just how much they had deteriorated. There were also many small exhibits of the original tools used 200 years ago. These had been found when doing dredging for the restoration. Back then it was ALL done with shovels and wheelbarrows. The clay lining was laid by hand and then trampled with herds of cattle being driven through. 

Thursday evening at the Black Horse... what can I say? Totally disappointing. For a pub commanding such a good position for the boating trade, they could do so much better. Especially the food, but the whole atmosphere was not as we had hoped for our "English Pub" experience. 

We arranged for an 0800 start on Friday with the boat moored behind us - also first timers on the return trip 0800 starting with good weather... 

So, 6 hours to get down to the Barge Inn pub, compared with 7 hours on the way up. Once again with company. A family with 2 young boys, the boys doing most of the steering with mum and dad doing the leg work, tag-teaming with Janny and Anneke. With the elder boy we managed to go out and in to the next lock as one unit. Had another excellent meal at The Barge Inn - still can't get over how bad the Black Horse was. Have taken to an Italian beer rather than the local English stuff.  We filled up with water on the way down so we could now shower without fear of running out. The tank holds 100 gallons. Have seen quite a few liveaboards ranging from dropouts (their boats seem to be rotting and rusting where they sit, covered with all sorts of junk)- to alternative lifestyle or, simply choice. Janny spoke with a 60 year old woman who said she just decided to "do it" and has been travelling alone now for 5 months. 

Saturday morning (already!!) eggs and bacon for breakfast. Short day planned for today. Tomorrow to another canal pub and then monday morning early back to Bath before 0900. Only 5 more locks and 3 swing bridges to go - so the passage of time.... 

5 hours travelling to Bradford on Avon . Stopped for lunch at a busy and good restaurant overlooking the canal. Overnighting here. Maybe brekky at 0830 then to the next pub. Janny saw a cockerpoodle dog.... and wants one, of course.

We also had our first queue jumper today, going in to a lock. We were nice and organised with a boat we had been travelling with....and a woman! just pulled out and went in as the 2nd boat in the lock..... And she just waved at us.....duh! 

So breakfast at probably the best food place encountered along the way, at least for breakfast and lunch. Good atmosphere, good food and on the water. Went for a walk and found a Tithe Barn dating from 1502, the actual land being given to an order of nuns in 1001 by King Ethelred the Unready. It seems that we were only 2 miles from Stone Henge.... Maybe next time, it was walking distance, after all. 

So, a late start and 5 hours travelling to our last overnighter at The George Inn, a fairly upmarket hotel with good food, I think tolerating the passing boat trade rather than relying on it. 

We only had 1 hour travel on the last morning to get the boat back by 0900. We were all getting low on clothes by now....

On the way back we stopped to have a look at the Avoncliff Aquaduct - also built way back then! We found it hard to moor close to the bank and a real "boatie" told us that there is a concrete shelf along the side. The original canal was lined with clay but when they rebuilt everything it still kept leaking; so they lined this stretch with concrete. It felt weird that the canal was halfway up the hillside and the river was down below in the valley - hence the aquaduct.

Moored like this because of concrete lining

Monday
Last morning back by 0830, easy handover to a chap who "only had 2 years to work and then away on the narrowboat" .Taxi to pick up the hire car, booked at 1000hrs. We were too early, of couse and being a bank holiday monday no one was interested in work, let alone giving us a friendly hello or offering shelter from the rain. A newspaper headline predicted 14 days rain just for today! Picked up the car, not at all impressed by the lack of service and then drove around in circles trying to get my GPS to work. Luckily Janny's iPhone saved the day and we went through the mountains (reminded me of driving through the Dandenongs). Found the M4, then the M25 and after 7 hours of stressful, wet driving arrived at the Holiday Inn at London Southend Airport. We had a couple of stops at the "Services" on the way. Totally unattractive and crowded, but necessary for a break from driving. Strange experience being back on the left side of the road. Suffice to say     "I'd rather be on the boat" with walking pace speeds! 

While I think of it, the boat was surprisingly very easy to steer and manoeuvre despite it's 58ft (17.6m) length. The 70ft (21.3m)model may have been more difficult in the locks, having less margin for error in keeping the stern clear of the cill under the gates (only going down). 

Excellent hotel, sleep and breakfast. 3 hours to wait before checkin. 

Extra reading about the history of the canals....
https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/canal-history/the-canal-age

Considerations for next time: 

Yes, there'll be a next time.