The Caen Hill flight was very tiring for us this time, even though we shared the locks with another boat which had a family with some strong youngsters. Don't believe those brass plaques that tell you 16 locks and 100 and something feet - its quite wrong! There are 29 locks, falling 237 feet, and they stretch for over 2 1/2 miles. I know - I wound every ****** one of them! The culmination being the upper paddle of the bottom (supposedly totally rebuilt!) lock being quite immovable, for both a strong 18 year old, and a not-so-strong clapped-out self, even with an extended reach windlass, so we had to wait whilst the one paddle did the job, only to be told by a bright BW employee, that "there was no problem with that paddle " he "did it every day"! Others have told us that this is not so - it IS almost impossible to wind. Stopping to recover at the right-hand quay below the lock, we were amazed to find that we were aground - a shallow boat in a spot that has boats stopping on it every day - where does the stuff come from? Sure enough, we learned that when Sorrel arrived at the same spot some days later, she too became well and truly stuck on the bottom! We moved and moored just around the corner, and while we were thinking about a meal, we watched the Foxhangers Marina folk launching a new boat endwise-on into the cut from a tractor-towed trailer. Just as in big ship launchings, there were lines ashore to stop the boat taking charge and ramming all and sundry, but the lines were manned by a crowd of chaps, and for a moment we wondered if they would be man enough! In the end, all was well, and everyone looked happy, and the boat was towed away to be fitted-out.
Next day, we had a pleasant short run on a hot morning to the Barge at Seend. Drinks were taken on the boat in the shade of a tree at lunch-time, then a siesta!
The Barge, Seend. We had a pub meal in the evening, and then stayed on the mooring at the pub there overnight with their blessing.
The Wiltshire Millennium Barn under construction.
After a lazy start next day and the two remaining locks, we carried on as far as Bradford and stopped there for the night. We'd seen plenty of blackberries along the canal, though usually on the non-towpath side!, so I picked some of the towpath-side ones at Bradford for a Jean to make a blackberry and apple dessert, and then bought some double cream from Budgens Supermarket to go with it. Another canals group member popped his head around the bow door to say hello! Saturday morning - another nice end-of-summer day for a gentle sail to Dundas.
After a voyage of nearly three months, we arrived at lunch time at our mooring.
Somersetshire Coal Canal, Dundas.
Time for a few sandwiches, put the battery of Jean's Panda on charge - its dead flat after this long time, and started the packing! Then off over the hills to Portishead - home for tea.
Now - it seems very odd starting the car in the morning, without first checking the oil, topping up the gearbox, ditto the water, pumping the bilge, emptying the separators and switching on the heaters! And when will the world stop rocking, and why is there so much water on tap in the house when we haven't filled the tank for days, and where is the handpump for the loo......... not to mention how long is it since it had the last pumpout......? :)
David and Jean Hockin, and little Hailey Wood, back from the trip of her lifetime. Well, if her sea-going salt-water trip, many years ago, down the Bristol Channel from Sharpness to Portishead and then up the Avon to Bristol might have been the most daring, this was certainly the longest, both in time and distance, and the best!
September, 1999.