Kennet and Avon

Kennet and Avon Canal
Seend to Bath
April 2004

36 Miles
20 Locks
4 Days

Another trip from the archive. Belle was ferreting through some old prints and came across some of a four day trip in 2004, on the western end of the Kennet and Avon aboard ABC's Empress, part of their Hilperton fleet.


This trip was very significant in that it was our very first boating trip as a family. Some friends had used their Tesco's vouchers for a canal trip from Alvechurch on the Worcester Birmingham Canal and Belle suggested we could do the same. I seem to remember that the £400 of vouchers covered all but £50 of the cost of a four day hire, and we linked the boat trip to a visit to see some relatives in Trowbridge.


Belle captured my look if beatific euphoria as I took the tiller for the first time in nearly 20 years, and I think she realised that at that moment just how much boating meant to me. For me it was like an ex junkie taking a another fix. I was hooked all over again! We only had four days so we struck out westwards along the course of the Avon, meeting yet more family at Bradford on Avon lock and then on across firstly the Avoncliff Aqueduct, and on through the wooded section of Limpley Stoke and over Rennie's magnificent Dundas Aqueduct and the entrance to the Somersetshire Coal Canal (as it was called when built).


A feature of the canal was the huge number of unofficial and officious live aboard boaters who lined the route and made the passage very slow. If I had any sense I would have winded just beyond Cleveland Tunnel, but sadly I didn't and was obliged to descend the top three locks and wind between Bath Deep Lock and Wash House Lock, and then work back up again. Eight locks is a high price to pay for over shooting a winding hole!



We moored above Bath Top lock and spent a very enjoyable afternoon wandering around this ancient city, followed by a family pizza in the evening. We retraced our steps and had a day to spare, so moved on beyond Trowbridge with a view to getting somewhere close to the foot of Caen Hill, which we had walked up during a previous visit to the area. To the west of Hilperton lies the new Semington aqueduct over the A350 Trowbridge to Chippenham Road, all bright and brash in fresh concrete. Its no Dundas but it is still impressive and provides an idea of how the M6 Toll Aqueduct will look when the Lichfield Canal is in water.



In the event we made it past the bricked off entrance to the Wilts and Berks Canal (another basket case but now with real prospects of restoration) and on up the Semington and Seend Locks, finally winding between the two swing bridges near Sells Green. The section to the east of Trowbridge marks a change of scenery, with the canal breaking away from the Avon valley and starting to climb though the Wiltshire farmland. One day, I would like to get back to this area in our own boat ,but with Bath being three weeks cruising from Birmingham its a dream that will have to wait a while yet.

Welsh Canal 1985

Tobermory - Clare Cruisers Ltd
Welsh Canal October 1985
Llangollen Canal, Shropshire Union Canal, Middlewhich Branch Canal and Trent & Mersey Canal

128 miles
50 Locks
7 days

I think that it is true to say that events that mark the end of an era are rarely recognised as such at the time.

This trip was to be the last of an era which stetched from 1969 to 1985, during which time I explored much of the available waterway network with the Capt Snr and Matilda. The travels had started with me as a young eight year old in the company of my brother and ended plus my aunt (the white haired one). At the age of 24 my love of the waterways was surpassed by my newfound love of the snowy Alps and then later my love for Belle, who I married in 1988. You can't' do everything and whilst I always cast a wistful eye in the direction of the inland waterways, this trip represented the start of a long 20 year waterways gap.

The boat, Tobermory, was hired from Clare Cruisers Ltd of Anderton (ceased operations in 1991) and involved a run up the Welsh Canal for what was then my fourth trip on this waterway, the first two being in the late 60's.


Looking back at the slightly faded photos the most apparent change is the loss of the unusual lift bridges which were unique to this route. I particularly remember the rickety wooden lift bridge in Wrenbury. In the 1960's a very young and foolhardy Captain hauled the bridge open, using a dangling chain and then climbed onto the weight box, scrambling up one of he balance beams and letting the bridge slam shut - with me perched up on top. I am not sure which was scarier, the wobbly bridge moving under me or my mother screaming at me to come down! I couldn't see what she was worrying about but I would be equally concerned if I saw Jeff tackle a similar manoeuvre (even at the grand old age of 15!).


This was a late autumn trip when the weather was kind for once. Short sleeves were much in evidence, as was the absence of puddles on the towpath.


The grand features of the Welsh Canal are the Chirk and Pontcysyllte aqueducts, which are virtually unchanged save greater or lesser quantities of undergrowth. One particular feature of this trip was the closure of the narrow feeder channel from Trevor to Llangollen. The length had suffered one of its regular 1980's breaches which were only resolved by the construction of the narrow concrete channels we see today. As we were unable to navigate the last few miles on this occasion I spent a memorable afternoon walking the route, right up to the Horshoe Falls.


Had I realised that this would be the last trip for 20 years I may have made more of it, taking more photos for posterity. Whilst this may be the last entry into the history section of the blog, I have discovered a rich source of transparencies covering the period 1969 to 1979. I have also secured access to a slide to digital imaging gizmo and am looking forward to documenting these really ancient trips, completed when the waterways were at their absolute worst. A time when an essential tool on and trip was a crowbar to force jammed paddles or obstinate gates. I am hoping to publish these images in the New Year.

Llangollen Canal 1984

Llangollen Canal 1984

Just when I thought that my accounts of boating trips in the 1980's was complete, along comes some evidence of yet another journey along the Welsh Canal.


This trip was undertaken during Easter 1984 in the company of Jon, my best friend and later my best man, plus Rod and Rita, married friends from Norwich. Whilst I have lost all my photographic records of this trip, Jon has been more organised and was able to track them down in a rusting photo album.

Rod and Rita

A young Captain Ahab

We had planned to attend Spring Harvest, an Easter time church event in Prestatyn, but our inefficiency in submitting a booking form left us out in the cold. So we decided to go to Wales anyhow, and hire a cruiser form Maestermyn Cruisers - much to Rita's delight who insisted on referring to them as Mr Men boats, a joke which was probably funnier in the Roger Hargreaves heyday. The actual boat was the Maestermyn Countess.

I am sure that flat caps were in fashion in the 1980's!

Even in 1984, the canal was familiar territory but the trip was rich in anecdote:

We stared by heading west, initially over Chirk Aqueduct where we discovered Rita's aversion to heights, and then onto Pontcysyllte where Rod and Rita took refuge in the front well deck. With nothing much to do at the back except "mind the shop", Jon and I hopped off leaving the boat to find its own way across whereupon we wandered along to the front of the boat, engaging them in idle chat. This continued for a couple of minutes before a horrified Rita realised than no one was steering, and went ape. No amount of assurances did any good, we were reprimanded severely and chivvied back to the stern to do who knows what. A cheap schoolboy prank, but as I often say ,"a cheap laugh is better than no laugh at all". I have to admit that as a principle for maintaining healthy relationships it is somewhat deficient and has caused me all sorts of grief over the years.

A less common view of the aqueduct

Next up it was the Woody Allen film "The Sleeper". Now Woody Allen is an acquired taste and The Sleeper is his only film that I have ever enjoyed, and that is probably because I watched it on the boat with Rod, Rita and Jon. If you have never seen it you should, at least once. The basic plot is that he was cryogenically frozen for about 150 years and the film traces his reactions to life when he was thawed out. By the time he re-entered the land of the living ,sex was a thing of the past, having been replaced by the Orgasmatron - a sort of small wooden cupboard - a bit like an on board loo. You can see where this is going. Even to day I get the urge to refer to the toilet cubicle as the Orgasmatron - but no one would get the joke.

You can see why Belle married me.... fresh out of the Orgasmatron!

We then retraced our steps back across the aqueducts (staying at the tiller this time) and on down the Grindley Brook flight to Hurleston junction.

Grindley Brook staircase

Somewhere along this stretch we witnessed a portion of the televised Miss World competition. Rita's enlightened views were way ahead of the times, a period when we were accustomed to regular near nudity on shows such as The Sweeny and Minder. The more Rita vented her strongly held feeling about this "cattle market" the less Jon and I could see the problem. As I recall, Rod valued his marriage more than a cheap laugh and remained firmly on the fence, leaving the Rita baiting to the two of us, who has so much less to lose.

Monkey business on the lift bridges

The Llangollen still had some of its old style lift bridges in the early 1980's, the sort with a big box of rocks at the end of the balance beam and two lovely steel bars running up each arm. Having looked at the photos I can now remember how I managed to climb to the top as a teenager! It looks like I still enjoyed the stunt in my 20's.

Minshull Lock - Middlewich Branch

The trip included a journey part way down the Middlewich Arm, passing Minshull Lock which sold delicious apple pies. I mentioned this to Jeff as we passed this Easter and his question was "did they taste good?". Well actually, yes they did. Even now, all these years later, I can still taste those excellent Bramley pies.


I also remember the weather on the Middlewich. We hit one of those freak Easter storms where hail descends in a solid sheet, so fast that the boat became a sheet of ice in about one minute flat, and then melted away again almost as fast.


This was a memorable trip but sadly I have lost track of Rod and Rita. The last I heard of Rod he had become an Anglican Vicar and a quick search of the web reveals a very familiar face, but where has the hair gone?

As for Jon, he is still my best friend even though we live 150 miles apart and we don't see each other as much we would like. I guess that best friends are for life, not just the Welsh canal.

Reading to Weedon Shuttle 1983

Reading to Weedon 1983
Thames, Oxford Canal and Grand Union

104 Miles
66 Locks
50 Hours

This trip proves the importance of making records. When I rediscovered the photos of this trip I couldn't believe that even my father (Capt Snr) would consider a Weedon to Reading and back trip as a viable possibility in just one week.
Not only would such a trip be impossibly taxing, it was equally mystifying how this could have taken place without me even remembering the effort involved.

I was therefore relieved to note that the Capt Snr had annotated the photos as "Reading to Weedon - shuttle trip - September 83". This was therefore clearly a one way trip with Weedon Narowboats shuttling us to nb Shoreweed which was lying in Reading for the start of the trip.

This was the third and final trip with Weedon Narrowboats who offered a one way option, providing you didnt mind which way you went. One way trips vastly extend your range and is a tactic we regularly employ on WB, with friends returning the boat to Calf Heath in return for a free week on the water. It works all round.

It may be a good idea to record a few reminisces about the Capt Snr, who died in 2002. My father was passionate about boats and water travel and had his life turned out differently he would probably have gone to sea in the Merchant Marine. However, this never happened and during the war he was shot on the leg by friendly fire. Friendly of not, a bullet in the thigh is no fun whoever shot it! He nearly lost his right leg and whilst he made a good recovery, he could never walk very far. In the mid 1960's he became interested in the near derelict canal network and would have to be regarded as one of the early pioneer recreational canal users, hiring flimsy plywood boats and covering great distances.

Canals really worked for the Capt Snt because they gave him a freedom to get out in the country in spite of his disability, at the same time as satisfying his urge for water travel. However, exploring the dilapidated canal system called for a crew to do the locks and initially this muscle was provided by my elder brother and, when he married I was into my teens and able to take on the mantle.

Our historic canal adventures, driven and paid for by the Captain Snr therefore fell into three distinct phases:

1. The early days in the late 60's with brother in all manner of Heath Robinson boats

2. The mid phase during the 70's when The Captn Snr, mother and I focused on the linked river systems in plastic cruisers

3. The final chapter in the early 1980's, when we returned to the canals in steel narrow boats, plus my widowed aunt.

The boat trips represented some of the happiest periods of my fathers life and his enthusiasm for water travel was boundless. With family boating suspended due to a lack of crew he embarked on enormous cruises in northern Europe, travelling far beyond the arctic circle and visiting remote and beautiful spots across the North Atlantic and Baltic.

I am sad that the Captian Snr was unable to see or travel on WB - owning a boat was a dream he never realised. As I criss cross these historic ramblings I can almost feel him there with us, drinking his tea, munching on "a little something" and always pressing on that little bit further in search of the perfect mooring.

Shoreweed at Abingdon

Kings Lock, Thames

Kidlington drawbridge, Oxford Canal

Oxford Canal

Oxford Canal / Grand Union approaching Braunston

Braunston, Grand Union

Shoreweed with 1983 crew (Capt Snr behing the lens)

Warwickshire Ring 1982

Warwickshire Ring
September 1982

114 Miles
119 Locks
60 Hours

Grand Union, Birmingham and Fazeley, Coventry and Northern Oxford
6 days - September 1982

Following the 1981 debacle on the Leeds Liverpool Canal the same quartet (Captain Snr, Captain Jnr, Mother and Aunt) tried another route, this time tackling what has become known as the Warwickshire Ring.
The loop was tackled from Weedon on the Grand union and therefore involved a lengthy trek north to Braunston where the Grand Union and North Oxford overlap and the circuit starts.

This was the second of three trips involving the "weed" boats which prosaically were based at Weedon and formed part of the Weedon Narrowboat fleet. This trip was on Duckweed, which previously hired in 1980 for a madcap dash round the East Midlands ring, a trip which was so rushed that no photographic evidence remains!

I would like to think that flat caps were fashionable at some point in the early 1980's but I can't find any evidence to support this argument....

This trip started with a run up the Grand Union, thorough the Braunston tunnel and then on to the Hatton flight. This ring is really a 10 day route, even without the extra legs to and from Weedon, so we were under pressure from day one. The descent to the Leamington / Warwick sump pound and then back up the full Hatton Flight was tackled in a single day with your truly providing most of the lock-side muscle.

The journey then took a dive through south east Birmingham descending through the narrow Camp Hill Locks before veering to the right to the Birmingham and Fazeley via the Saltley Cut and Garrison Locks.

The Captain Snr had a major aversion to stopping in Birmingham (probably wise) so this section was again tackled in a single day, before stopping close to the Dog and Doublet.

Having passed the unchanged footbridge at Market Drayton it was on to the Coventry Canal and up the Atherstone Flight before stopping in an unmodernised Coventry basin.

I had no idea that this trip would cover what has become our boating back yard, and that in seven years I would be married and living in Birmingham. Its a small world.
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