A Double Bass with Legs, a Lady without Jeans and Jeans without a Lady.

Tuesday 31st July in Bradford-upon-Avon
Overnight showers gave way to a fresh, bright morning as we let go and started off towards Bradford-upon-Avon.

Farewell to the lovely City of Bath. As often seems to be the case, we leave a place wishing we had another day or two to spend there.

At Bathampton, we topped up with water and had hoped to visit the café boat in which we had sheltered from a thunder storm and enjoyed greatly in 2012 - but sadly the lady was only just beginning to set up and wasn't going to open until later, so we moved on.

This really is a lovely stretch of canal, following the valley of the Avon river. Beautiful wooded surroundings high above the river valley.

The Dundas Aqueduct, which spans the River Avon, is much admired but its wonderful architecture is best viewed from below, being on the canal doesn't give its best aspect. What we did see as we crossed it was what appeared to be a double bass on legs walking the other way!

On the left of the picture above is the entrance to the old Somerset Coal Canal, now limited to a short stretch used for private moorings.
This Kingsground narrowboat lives here and we saw it when we passed this way before. It is one of Kingsground's earlier boats and it is still looking good.

It is moored outside the owner's house and M thinks that this would be quite an acceptable location to live, very secluded and with MM moored outside? The house isn't bad either.....

A little further on we both did a double take when we saw this "lady" lounging beside the canal under her umbrella.

The canal sides are quite high along this stretch but several "duckling staircases" are thoughtfully provided so that the smaller ducklings can get out of the water.

The second famous, and much admired, aqueduct on this stretch is Avoncliffe. Like Dundas, the canal view does not do it justice; it is best viewed from beneath.

Like Bath, Bradford-upon-Avon is always very popular for moorings. A situation that was not helped by the fact that there had been a waterborne trader fair at the weekend and all the traders were still moored up. However, we were very lucky to squeeze into a rather oddly shaped mooring just before the lock moorings.

Our reward was a visit to the Bridge Tea Room in the middle of the town. A very quaint Victorian tea room. In 2012, M had what she always said was the best sandwich EVER. Today, she tried it again and was not disappointed!

We dropped into the station to get M's ticket home tomorrow but the ticket office was closed. On the way out, we saw a very imaginative use for some old jeans and boots.

Bradford-upon-Avon has a beautifully preserved 14th century tithe barn with its original cruck roof and 100 tons of stone tiles.

Tomorrow, M has to go home and on Thursday R will put MM into the local marina and follow her as we will both be home at the weekend to celebrate Mick's 70th birthday. Back on Monday!
Today: 9 miles, 0 locks and 3.7 hours.
Trip: 185 miles, 78 locks and 110.3 hours.

Bath, Sally Lunn and the Original Mr. Pickwick.

Friday 27th to Monday 30th July In Bath.
Lovely reflections on the still waters of the canal in the early morning.

M had to go home on the train Friday morning for a routine hospital appointment, returning on the Saturday. In several places in Bath, old telephone boxes had been put to an unusual, but very effective use. M would like one of these in our back garden.....!

Long awaited rain arrived in the afternoon but this marvellously colourful group out on a stag do were undeterred! M said she would have taken any one of them home to meet her Mum...

It rained all night and most of Sunday, but we had to move MM in the rain as we were on a 48 mooring. Luckily, we found another mooring a bit further down the canal (moorings in the Bath area are in high demand).
This handsome building was once the headquarters of the Kennet & Avon Canal Company.

Out came the umbrella, rarely seen this summer, and we set off for the City centre.

First stop on a wet day - Sally Lunn's, reputedly one of the oldest houses in Bath (1482) and, since 1680, home to Sally Lunn's Buns. A young Huguenot refugee named Solange Luyon came to Bath to escape persecution in France and brought with her a unique recipe for a rich brioche bun, which could be eaten sweet or savoury. The locals shortened her name to Sally Lunn and the rest is history.

The tea shop is still one of the most popular in Bath and a must to visit. Definitely worth the wait if there is a queue to get in (there always is!).

The food was, as ever, excellent. We had High Tea at 11:30am! Absolutely yummy.

We greatly admired these flowers outside the Abbey. We thought that they would be perfect for "Idol Hands" as they are in their colours.

The centre was thronged with tourists, mostly foreign, and the queue for the Roman Baths was over a 100yds long.

 M loved the teapot shop opposite the Abbey.

Quite by chance, we saw a free Jane Austen walking tour and tagged along.

Our guide was lovely and eventually delivered us to the Jane Austen Centre in Gay Street, a few doors down from one of the houses that Jane and her family rented while they were in Bath.

M loved this teapot in the Centre's gift shop but resisted the temptation to buy it.

We photographed, but did not enter, this Costa because it is on the site of the "White Hart Inn", which was one's first port of call when entering Bath in Jane Austen's time. 

The White Hart is where you could leave your coach and horses and find temporary lodgings. It was the social centre of the city and very popular. Jane mentions it a number of times in her books and in her letters.

Sadly it was demolished in 1869. It was owned and run by Eleazer Pickwick whose grandfather was the inspiration for Mr. Dicken's Pickwick Papers. In 1794, Eleazer Pickwick was on the board of the canal company, and was also a promoter of, and investor in, the canal. Later, he became Mayor of Bath.

On Monday, Geraldine and Rob came to visit. They are recent recruits to the narrowboating fraternity and happened to be in the area. It was lovely to see them and to have them on board MM again.

A dramatic sunset sky after more rain on Sunday.

Four Days: A very short trip to move our mooring and 9 hours for power.

From Sunrise to Sunset. A Long, Hot Day.

Thursday 26th July 2018 in Bath.
Today we planned to go up the River Avon to Bath. There are very few mooring places on this Avon and M has to go home for a night from Bath Spa Station tomorrow morning, so we decided to do the trip from Bristol to Bath in one day. As it is a long trip, we left our mooring at 6:00am, sailing in towards the rising sun.

We waved goodbye to the SS Great Britain as we passed; she  looked majestic and beautiful in the early sunlight. It was a beautiful still morning with hardly a ripple on the water.

Bristol Floating Harbour is connected to the River Avon by a mile long feeder canal and, at the end, is Netham Lock. We had checked with the Harbour office and been assured that the lock keeper would arrive at 6:50. However, no one was there when we arrived and the lock was locked. Eventually at 7:30, someone (not the keeper) turned up and opened the gates so that we could go on to the river.

About four miles up river, we left the auspices of Bristol Harbour and entered into C&RT territory through Lock No. 1 of the Kennet & Avon Canal (although it is still river until Bath locks). Only 107 locks until we reach the Thames! ("Piece of cake!" said M!).

The river flows through a wooded gorge for much of the way and is very attractive, if a bit isolated.

At this lock, two groups of young Sea Scouts were passing through the lock doing their D of E. They had started in Bristol the day before, camped overnight and were heading for Bath. They all looked a trifle anxious and did not seem to be enjoying the experience very much.

At this lock, a group of C&RT chaps were painting the beams and they kindly closed the wet painted gates behind us.

The locks on the river are very wide and long, which makes the gates very heavy. They took an age to empty or fill, which slowed us down a lot.

Finally, we arrived at Bath Bottom Lock in the centre of the city but found a queue  ahead of us as there was a problem with one of the gates in the flight of six locks up to the canal. We had to wait for the C&RT people to fix the gate and then for the pair of boats in front of us to go up the flight before we could start.

After a wait of nearly an hour, we went through the first bottom lock and then into "Deep" Lock. This lock is 19 ft 5in deep and is the second deepest lock on the canal system (Tuel Lock on the Rochdale Canal is 3 inches deeper). The bottom gates are huge!

They are so large that there is a winding mechanism to open and close them using a windlass; it was a very slow process. At this point, M started going ahead on her own to "set" each of the succeeding locks to save time.

From above, the boats look to be down a very deep hole. Luckily, we were sharing the lock and had enough people for R not to have to climb up the ladders to help.

Our companions through the six locks on a hire boat were from Germany. For some of them it was their fifth trip to England to hire a narrowboat.
Finally, we reached the top lock just on 4:00pm, ten hours since we started. 
Bath is notoriously difficult for moorings due solely to its popularity. We were very fortunate to find a space just above the top lock but it was a few feet too short. However, due to the kindness of "Laura" on nb Dreamer, who moved her boat that few feet, we were able to squeeze in behind her, for which we were very grateful.   A lovely shady mooring after a very long, very hot day.

We both went to bed early but not before we had watched the sun set on the distant horizon. From sunrise to sunset, a long day!

Today: 17 miles, 13 locks and 8.8 hours (engine time).
Trip:  176 miles, 78 locks and 97.6 hours

SS Great Britain and Feathers McGraw.

Tuesday 24th and Wednesday 25th July 2018 in Bristol Floating Harbour.
Our mooring on Baltic Wharf at the far west end of the Floating Harbour is rather magical in the early morning.

We caught the first ferry at 10:00am for the short journey to the SS Great Britain. All summer, Bristol is raising money for Bristol Royal Hospital for Children with a "Gromit Unleashed" festival. There are 67 giant sculptures spread all over Bristol featuring Gromit, Wallace and Feathers McGraw. This morning, we were greeted on the ferry by Feathers McGraw!

The SS Great Britain now rests in the same dry dock in which she was built. It took four years to build her and on 19th July 1843, she was launched (by flooding the dry dock) by Prince Albert.

As we entered the reception area, we were greeted by none other than Isambard Kingdom Brunel himself, with his trade mark cigar (he smoked 48 a day), looking very sprightly for 212 years old!

When you walk into the site, the ship towers above you and it appears to be floating in a flooded dry dock.

Appearances are deceptive as the water in which the ship "floats" is actually only a few inches deep, covering a glass "roof" halfway up the hull. Beneath the glass "roof", the air is maintained at a humidity of just 20%, similar to the conditions in the Arizona Desert. The silver air ducts run the length of the ship.

After the ship was returned to the dry dock for restoration in 1970, it was discovered that the lower hull was still corroding due to the damp air. It was estimated that it would only be about 20 years before the lower hull could no longer support the weight of the ship. The glass roof was installed and the humidity lowered, which should preserve the hull for at least 100 years.
The ship went through several major changes during its lifetime, but has been restored as far as possible to its original condition including a copy of the massive propeller designed by Brunel.

The SS Great Britain was the first large propellor driven, steam powered, iron hulled vessel ever built and so it was a pioneer on many levels and can be considered the Father of all modern ocean and cruise liners.
Looking up from beneath the stern you can see the effect of the water above the glass "roof". Not only does the water look nice, but it actually acts as an insulating layer and helps to reduce the cost of drying the air below.

Up on deck, the masts tower above you and, for a price (£10), you can climb the rigging if you have a mind to. M decided that it was definitely not for her.

The "Weather" Deck is almost flat, without the sort of superstructure familiar on modern ships. There are only a few companionways that lead down to the lower decks. Next to this one, a white line on the deck was the barrier beyond which only first class passengers were pemitted.

The first class area had two decks, the top one was an open area surrounded by cabins. Each cabin contained two very narrow bunks, a wash stand and a bench seat.

 

The lower deck was the dining area and lounge. Again, it was surrounded by cabins with ornate decoration around each door featuring the portrait of a sea-going hero.

The engine room in the centre of the ship divided the first class area at the rear from steerage at the front. The original steam engine was replaced after only 8 years by a smaller but more efficient engine as steam technology advanced very quickly. That, in turn was removed 29 years after that, when she was converted into a cargo only sailing vessel in 1881. Today, the ship contains a full scale replica of its original steam engine.

Going forward, steerage was very cramped with double bunks just two feet apart. The very front section has been left open. It would have contained more steerage compartments and, below that, crew quarters. Now it serves to illustrate the delicate nature of the hull plating, with a worrying amount of daylight showing through lower down! And yes, there were horses on board!

Back on deck, we were greeted by a friendly cow. In 1864, a passenger listed all the animals carried on board for food for the 60-day voyage to Australia including 3 bullocks, 150 sheep, 30 pigs, 500 chickens, 400 ducks 100 geese and 50 turkeys. The ship carried over 20,000 passenges to Australia between 1852 and 1875.

The site also contains two excellent museums, one devoted to the ship and the other to Brunel. The latter contains replicas of his dining room, called the Shakespeare room (because of the paintings Brunel commissioned of Shakespeare plays), and of Brunel's office, both originally in Duke Street, London.
There is an excellent cafe on site, which we visited for lunch on both days that we were there.

Bristol is also famous for the voyage of the "Matthew" by John Cabot to Nova Scotia, which set sail from Bristol in 1497. A sea-going replica of the Matthew can be seen sailing visitors up and down the harbour. You have got to admire people who sailed vessels this small across the Atlantic, especially given that it was very much uncharted territory.

Later on Wednesday, we went into the centre of Bristol so that M could get a "Few Bits" and found these children cooling off in a fountain built on the steps leading down to the central ferry terminal (it was a very hot day!).

We also tried to visit the cathedral, but found that it was closed as graduation ceremonies were taking place all week for Bristol University. So, sadly, we had to content ourselves with a view of the outside. We consoled ourselves with a 99 Flake each.

Finally, we returned to MM on the ferry. We have used the ferries a great deal over the last days and we have got to know most of the crews on a first name basis and very friendly and helpful they have proved to be.

Bristol has been a truly marvellous experience and we shall miss it when we leave very early tomorrow morning.
Two Days: Just 4 hours for power.