A Wonderful Day's Cruising

Friday 3rd August, 2012 in Bath.
There were many boats on the move early this morning. There are always a lot of hire boats moving on Fridays, as most of them have to be back to their bases early Saturday morning. Today they found themselves moving in heavy rain. The forecast was dire, but about 10:30 the rain eased and we decided to set off towards Bath.
Two very friendly Canal & River Trust volunteers helped us through the town lock.

On the other side, we moored up opposite the famous Tithe Barn and walked down to take a look. The building is very impressive, particularly for its roof, the timbers of which have been dated to about 1350!

Contrary to the forecast, the sun came out and it then turned into a balmy day. The voyage down to Bath was a joy. Most of the way, the canal follows the contours along the hillside, so it is very reminiscent of the Llangollen or the Mon & Brec, in that it sits high above beautiful wooded valleys. All the guide books say that this canal gets better and better as one gets further west; well, it doesn't get much better than this....

We passed the house of our dreams, a charming large period cottage with its own mooring. Then we saw to our surprise that their narrowboat, nb "Tsitsikamma," was also built by Kingsground!! Obviously people of good taste!

Shortly after, came the drama of the day. A large tree, dislodged by all the recent heavy rain, had slid down the bank and fallen across the canal. A narrowboat was already stuck trying to get through. R to the rescue with our bow saw! Half an hour of struggles later, we were all through. 

We crossed two delightful aqueducts, the Avoncliffe and the larger Dundas, both of which cross the river Avon far below. Just past the Dundas aqueduct is the junction of the old Somerset Coal Canal, which is still in water for a short distance as a marina, but looked very sadly abandoned.
We continued down to Bath itself, the canal is a delight all the way. We moored up in a lovely spot just before the top lock of the six locks that take the canal down to the River Avon.

There was only one space available and we were not sure that MM would fit, but she did - with just a few inches to spare!

The River Avon is running very fast after all the recent rain.  Going down to Bristol at the moment with such a strong current would be "exciting" and fighting our way back up again against the current would be tedious, so we have decided to turn here and start back east on Sunday. When we stopped the engine, we saw that MM has done exactly 299.0 hours since new!
We walked down the towpath to see the six locks that we're not going to do. "Thank heavens!" said M as she peered balefully into the vertiginous depths of the 19ft Bath Deep Lock.

We strolled back through the city and happened upon the "Sally Lunn" restaurant. Sally Lunn, who lived in the house, was a French refugee who arrived in Bath in 1680 and invented the famous Sally Lunn Bath Bun. M was delighted, because the Sally Lunn was much celebrated by Gilbert and Sullivan in their operetta "The Sorcerer"; aficionados will remember "the rollicking, rollicking bun" in the banquet scene! Outside, the restaurant was advertising a two course dinner plus wine for £12.50 until 7:00pm. The Abbey clock had struck seven just seconds before we arrived, but they very graciously honoured the offer - and a truly wonderful dinner it was too, quick and courteous service and excellent food in the "oldest house in Bath."

Back at MM, we fell into conversation with Pete and Yvonne on nb "Alma Mary," our neighbour for the next couple of days. A fitting end to a wonderful day.
Today: 9 miles, 1 lock and 4.5 hours.
Trip: 182 miles, 160 locks and 150.1 hours (total 299.0 hours).