Locks, Locks and more Locks

Since we left our mates on the other two boats at Reading we have had quite a different trip. The Kennet and Avon goes from Reading to Bristol and back, so, everyone on it is going basically there and back. This means that you get to meet people on different boats over and over again as they leapfrog you going in the same direction then turn around and come back. We have met so many people. The funny thing is you feel you have known them forever.

Locking with Mick, one of our new friends we feel like we've known 'forever'

The Kennet and Avon is famous for the 'Caen Hill' flight of locks at Devizes. There are 29 in total which have to be completed once started, this takes on average 5-6 hours. We did this flight on Sunday, we were going down. We bumped into Mick at the top of the flight who we had done some locking with a couple of days earlier so we paired up for this flight with him as it would make lighter work of it. Thank god we did, it was shattering. We tied our two boats together for some of the locks so that Ken and I could work together. We started the flight at 09.15 and finished it at 17.25, a long day. We moored, went to the pub for dinner and then sat outside the boat talking to neighbours on other boats. It was such a lovely evening.

Caen Hill Flight at Devizes

I must say we have been really blessed with the weather. The sun has shone on us almost every day. Since leavng home I thnk we have only had a week of bad weather in total. Ken is as brown as a berry.

We are getting closer to Bristol now. We have just been through Bradford-on-Avon. It is a beautiful, old and quaint village/town. However, it has to be the noisiest and busiest damn place I have ever been to. The traffic is horrible and getting across the road is impossible. But I still liked it.

We have just been to Bath. Not sure what I think of Bath atually. We went to see all the usual things like the Roman Baths and the Royal Crescent. There are a lot of shops, a little market and a lot of people. It grew on me as the day went on. The mooring was strangely a bit pongy. There are a lot of seaguls, which Max seemed to ignore really.

Bath Deep Lock - 19 Foot drop!

At the moment we are moored right out in the middle of no-where. Its a great place for Max - no bikes! We got here about tea-time and now it is nearly bed-time, so far we have seen, very strangely, three people, three dogs and three boats!!!!