Our 2013 Blog Begins Here

Sue and I hope you all had a wonderful time over Christmas and the New Year. We travelled 1298 miles over that period but unfortunately not aboard Tempranillo. We drove a round trip that included Yeovil in Somerset, Gateshead, Glasgow, Loch Fyne, back to Gateshead and then back home to Devizes. Worth it though to be with close family members who are scattered around the UK.

A cold and windy Loch Fyne.

Our Grandson watches the waves.

So back to our voyage to Bristol in September. We had got as far as the outskirts of Bath and entered Bath Deep Lock that dropped us down the the lower level of Pultney Weir right in the heart of the city.

Tempranillo waiting for the water level to drop to allow us to pass under the white van men ahead.

This lock is the second deepest in England and Wales. At 19ft 5ins it has a rise and fall of only 3.5ins less than Tuel Lane lock on the Rochdale canal

The same lock looks like this as the water drops almost to the level of the River Avon.

The massive gates close behind Tempranillo.

One more lock and we arrive at the junction of the K&A and the Avon. We turned a very sharp right and headed up the short spur to moor just below Pultney Weir. 

The River Avon above the weir is navigated by boats but it is not possible to sail past the weir itself. This means boats on the upper part can only cruise on that stretch of water, so it is mainly hire boats found along there. We were met by a very helpful warden who very politely suggested that there would be a charge to moor overnight. A very modest charge considering the location. And a charge that reduced the more nights we moored. He also cycled off to his office and returned shortly afterwards with lots of leaflets and brochures about Bath and things to do therein. We didn't have the heart to tell him that we used to live in Bath and new it very well.

to be continued.......

We Will Be Back Soon

Another month gone and we still have lots of things to say about our voyage to Bristol. Please come back to see our next update. But in the meantime Sue and I would like to wish you a Very Merry Christmas and Health and Wealth for 2013.

For those who might be still interested!

Can't believe it's been over 2 months since I last updated this blog. How time flies. Today I spent the morning polishing Tempranillo in an attempt to add a little protection against the extreme wintery weather that is supposed to be arriving at any time now. She had her first annual engine service recently, yes it is over a year since the launch at Crick Marina, and the marine engineer discovered a broken air box on top of the engine whilst working on it.

Oops!

The engine has a 2 year warranty and Vetus, the engine makers, were fantastic. I e-mailed them with the problem and two days later a brand new replacement part arrived at our door. No quibbles. Brilliant.

So anyway where were we two months ago....ah yes. The Cain Flight. 29 locks of pure joy!!! We were on our way to Bristol which would eventually complete our journey of the full length of The Kennet and Avon Canal. We started that journey by turning off the Thames at Reading onto the K & A back in June this year. But at my last update we were moored at Seend and had just woken up to a misty morning.

Swan in the mist.

When the mist eventually cleared we cruised on to Bradford-on-Avon. The lovely weather had brought every boater out and we had to await our turn to get through the lock.

 Busy Bradford-on-Avon lock

A beautiful wooden hulled steam boat, 'Sarah Jane', passed us earlier in the day and we caught up with her at the lock. It was in perfect condition and the smell of steam was just lovely. Not sure the dogs on board were quite so happy with it though.

Next stop was Avoncliff where my sister Jill came to join us for lunch. Here the canal crosses over the River Avon and the mainline to London.

Avoncliff Aqueduct

 

 View from the aqueduct

This was to become a trip of nostalgia and reminiscence as we welcomed family, old friends, ex-neighbours and work colleagues from years gone by to join us aboard Tempranillo. Those of you who don't know our history, we regard the West Country as our home and my first full-time job was with West of England Film Studios in Bristol back in the 1960's. ( I started work at a very young age!)

Our next overnight mooring was in Bathampton on the outskirts of Bath. Right outside a pub. The George Inn. How did that happen, I wonder?

Bathampton

The canal runs close to the River Avon for quite some distance but most of the time they are not within sight of each other as the canal is much higher and straighter than the river. To the right, as you view the picture above, is a fast and furious weir on the Avon close to a very narrow toll road linking it to Batheaston.

Bathampton Mill

The toll bridge dates back to the early 19th Century. The toll house is a rectangular shape and two stories high with a large porch. It is still used by the toll collector when on duty.

Bathampton is also the place were William Harbutt lived. He invented Plasticine and his company produced it here from 1900 until 1983.

The weather again next morning was in our favour as got closer to the centre of Bath.

Bathwick from the canal.

It is really interesting to approach a city you thought you knew so well from a different angle. Bath was  the first place Sue and I lived after we got married but we never saw it from water level.

And we have never seen anything like this before.....ever....anywhere!!!

 Its name is 'Murdock'.

I think it is the right way up!!! Anyway we were about to start the climb down into Bath itself through a flight that includes the second deepest lock chamber on the whole UK canal network.

Come back soon and see how we got on as we continue our nostalgia trip to Bristol. 

Cruising Again...at long last.

It's been a while since our last serious trip. Last time our journey came to an abrupt end at Pewsey on the Kennet and Avon caused by a massive fallen tree completely blocking the canal. It had just happened the night before we got there and luckily no-one was passing when it happened. It was seriously large.
We heard later that it took 4 days to remove it before the canal was open again.

So here we are moored up outside The Barge Inn at Seend on the Kennet and Avon Canal. Yesterday we plucked up the courage...and strength to take on the mighty Caen Flight of locks. 29 in total.
Here is what you see before entering the top one.

It doesn't look terribly exciting at this point but....

The first lock dropped us very tightly under the road leaving Devizes as we head west.

Straight ahead are 16 locks. Once we started there is no stopping until all 16 were completed. Each lock has a side pound of water which allowed them to be built close together in a straight line down the steep slope. An amazing feat considering they were built in the 18th Century! In 1996 a new pumping station was added at the bottom of the fight to return the water to the top. It is capable of returning 32 million litres of water very day. Equivalent to one lock full every 11 minutes.

Here is the view from the bottom of the 16.

But we were not finished then. There are 29 and we had only done the 16, plus 7 before the flight. We still had 6 more before we could rest.

However we had paired up with Narrow Boat 'Camali' befroe starting the whole flight and Dave and Eileen along with their guest crew were very helpful. We did it in 5 hours, which is very reasonable.

Although it took most of the day, we had only travelled 2 miles, and we had dropped 237 feet in that distance.

We found the last mooring space at Sells Green and settled down to a beautiful sunset. But Sue missed it as she was so tired she was asleep by 8:45 and stayed that way for 12 hours.

We woke up to this:

Perfect.....cheers!

Where is the summer?

We are still waiting for the summer of 2012. Since we came home life has been hectic preparing for our daughter's wedding, amongst other things but now find myself with a bit of time to catch up on our voyage from a couple of months ago. Although I asked "where is the summer?" looking back at the photos below, it all looked very summery! How soon we forget.

Last post on here we were tied up at Napton Junction and about to start our journey south down the Oxford Canal.

Morning at Napton

We awoke to a fine day, filled everything up. Diesel, water, coal. Batteries were fully charged as we had been plugged in overnight. Sue even used the on-board washer/dryer so we had all clean clothes too. So off we went. We had done this stretch before during our first voyage after launching Tempranillo in late 2011 so we sort of knew what to expect but due to the water shortage, hard to believe there was one now, we could only enter the Napton Flight of locks between certain hours. Sue got very courageous. To save her walking the length of each lock to open and close the small double gates, she decided to 'fly' across them.

Shall I......Shan't I?

Steady does it!

Yesssss! Told you I could.

As you can see the weather was great that day and for the next few days too. We had lunch moored near Claydon the next day.

A lovely, quiet remote spot before reaching more locks where the water restrictions were controlled very strictly by a BW Official. The queue we passed  next morning going the other way was horrendous.

Part of the overnight queue for Claydon Locks.

We spent a night at Cropredy and were passed a few times by canoeists. They really 'rock the boat' when they pass. We Narrow boaters have the courtesy to slow when we pass other boats! 

Look how choppy the water is. Anyway it is good to see the canals being used so much.

Our next stop was Banbury. 

It's really good to be able to moor up right in the heart of a town. You step off the boat right by the shopping centre. We thought we should see Banbury Cross as we were so close to it but when we got there we found this:

Not what we wanted to see at all. Apparently it was being done up for the Queen's Jubilee celebrations the following month.

After leaving Banbury we passed under the M40. Here is the big and the small of bridges.

We also encountered some rather deep locks:

Somerton Lock. A big step down.

More of our journey down the Oxford Canal will be on here again soon.

Cruising onward...

Firstly here is our small contribution to the Jubilee celebrations, unfortunately dampened somewhat by the weather.

Since our last posting we visited Warwick Castle.

You may remember previously as we descended the Hatton Flight of locks the spire of the Collegiate Church of St Mary was visible from the top of the flight on the horizon. Here it is below in close up in Warwick's very pretty town centre.

Whilst in Warwick we enjoyed a visit from a work colleague of mine, Gaffer-Spark Derek whom I worked with on Dalziel and Pascoe a few years ago. It's always good to catch up on the industry gossip as and when the opportunity arises.

The next day we reached the junction where the Grand Union Canal meets the Oxford Canal at Napton on the Hill. We passed here last year on our very first long trip out on Tempranillo. You may remember the windmill on the hill.

It was time to top everything up, such as water, fuel, battery power, coal, elsan etc... so we stopped overnight at Wigrams Turn Marina where we received a very warm welcome and the staff there could not have been more helpful. I can highly recommend this marina for an overnight stop. And very reasonably priced too.

We plugged in for the night and enjoyed the sunset.

The following morning we set off down the Oxford Canal to meet the Thames at Oxford.

It's been a while since...

It's been a while since I last updated mainly because we are having such an enjoyable time cruising due to the fabulous weather. And also the beautiful Oxford Canal meanders through such remote places that internet connections have been few and far between.

The Oxford Canal becomes the river Cherwell for a short distance.

Here's First Mate preparing to work a very deep lock.

And here is the last picture for now.

Sunset over Napton Marina.

Night Night.