CAEN HILL TO BRADFORD-ON-AVON

I'm afraid there's not so much to report this week.
We stayed on the same mooring for a couple of days and I've been away on a course,
so no great adventures!

Wednesday, 7th July
Last week, we left you at the bottom of the Caen Hill flight.
The forecast for today was for winds of fifty m.p.h., so we decided to stay put.
Trev walked to Devizes, back up the Caen Hill flight,
to fetch a paper and to check on the hire car I'm having tomorrow.
It took him about an hour each way.
It was a good decision not to move on today, since, after Trev got back,
the wind really got up, and the rain lashed down.

Thursday, 8th July
Today I'm off for three days, to The Bramble Patch at Weedon in Northamptonshire.

Click here to read about The Bramble Patch

I'm going to do a patchwork course.
I've already been on several courses there and really enjoyed them.
Patchwork isn't just sewing hexagonals together you know!
Oh no, far from it.
There are all sorts of wonderful creations one can make,
and I'm learning about them.
I've already made cushions and a very large, useful bag.
Next I'm on to the BIG PROJECT, a quilt.

So Trev went to fetch the car for me from Devizes. Isn't he a treasure?
He'd left before I woke up--which isn't difficult, given the time I usually wake up!
And at 10.15, I set off.
One thing I would recommend to you is--never drive through/round Swindon.
Especially on your own, when you need to read the road signs AND drive at the same time.
It's just dreadful, and it was only due to my supreme prowess
that I managed it at all!!!!!!!!!!!

After Swindon, I got on to the Fosse Way, and had a delightful journey through the Cotswolds.
I stayed in a B&B (busman's holiday!) at Priors Marston and was spoilt rotten!
I had a 5' bed all to myself--which was most pleasant after being used to wrestling
with Trev for at least a quarter of our bed for myself!
The course came up to expectations
and I was back on the boat again by about 8.00 p.m. on Saturday.
Trev had moved the boat on a short distance--all by himself.
Obviously I'm surplus to requirements!
Or maybe he was just trying to escape me.....

I realise I've taken hardly any photos this week.
But instead you may have a bonus.
When our friend John spent a day with us last week,
he took loads of photos, which he put on to disc and sent to me.
So, unusually, you can have some photos of me!




Sunday, 11th July
Today our postmen came from Solihull, and we retired to
the Three Magpies at Sells Green for lunch.
When they left, we moved the boat on a little way, as we were on a 24 hour mooring spot.
I can't remember if I've told you about mooring on the canal?
Any way, you might have forgotten, so I'll tell you again!
Generally, one is allowed to moor anywhere on the towpath side,
unless there is a sign to the contrary.
Signs to the contrary might say "24 Hour mooring only" or "48 Hour Mooring"
or even, if one is really lucky "14 Day Max".
There are wardens who police it, or so we're told,
though I haven't seen one yet.
Maybe they're heavily disguised as boaters or, hikers.
Or even the dreaded fishermen......

Have I told you about the fishermen?
I know I told you about the amusing incident last year,
when we ended up cruising straight through a very serious angling competition.

You can read about it here--click!

However, they're a strange breed, these anglers.
They choose to fish from the canal or river bank, often in the most inconvenient places
such as just by a lock when one is trying to manoeuvre, or on a bend
or hidden in the undergrowth so that they can't be seen until it's too late.
Boaters are asked to slow down so as not to stir up the mud on the bottom, and we always do.
After all, we are nice people......
But 90% of them will have no eye contact at all,
a few give a cursory nod, and the notable exceptions give a smile or even thank us for slowing down.
It seems that anglers believe the canals were actually constructed solely for their use.

Well, that's got today's grouse out of the way.



Monday, 12th July
Today we did the flight of four locks at Seend and rather a lot of swing bridges,
though they were only for farm tracks or public footpaths.
So we didn't have to hold up the traffic.
We moored up at Hilperton, near Devizes, and Trev serviced the boat engine.
It has to be serviced every 250 hours.

Whilst I was away in the hire car, I went to B&Q and bought a trolley cart.
It will be useful for transporting bags of coal and gas bottles.
Of course, it was self assembly, and, when we opened it,
one of the parts had been welded together wrongly and we couldn't fix it.
So Trev got on the bike and went to find the Devizes B&Q.
After about half an hour, he came back to say that he'd ridden miles
and it was miles more to the store along busy ring roads.
That, if you like, is a downside of living on a boat!
But I think I can live with it!
We hope a friend who lives in Weston-Super-Mare will come to visit us soon,
and then we can inveigle him into taking us to B&Q and sorting the problem out.



Tuesday, 13th July
And so we continued to Bradford-on-Avon.
We were lucky and got a mooring near town, albeit a 24 hour one.
I've been looking forward to visiting B-on-A as I've heard it was a pretty little town. And indeed it is.
It's a real old English town, all higgledy piggledy, with narrow streets,
and snickets and delightful ancient buildings.
But the traffic is horrendous and the pavements are very narrow or non-existent.
Here, the traffic hoots at pedestrians to warn them that they are coming,
so as to give them a fighting chance of survival
by compressing themselves in to the nearest doorway!

So, that was our week, and I think there was more to tell you than I expected,
so I hope you enjoyed it!
Next week will see us at the end of the Kennet & Avon Canal.
I would have been quite happy to have stopped at Bath,
but, no, Trev insists we do the last bit right in to Bristol.
I'm not looking forward to this bit, I think it's a bit hairy.
Come back and see!

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