(Written 29 April)
It seems like months
since we set out from Saul Junction, but it's only been two weeks.
Since then we've cruised around 80 miles, gone through 54 locks,
emptied the toilet tank twice and stopped at a few pubs along the
way.
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| Waiting for other shipping in Sharpness docks - thought we'd better give way to this one |
The highlight for me was the leg from Sharpness to Bristol. We were never planning to do this - Gloucester lock has been out of action for several months, meaning we couldn't get out onto the Severn to head north on our journey. We had options: put our trip on hold, hire a crane and lorry to get us to Evesham, or head south into the Severn estuary to Bristol. We chose the estuary, and I'm very glad we did. It took a lot of organising to book pilots (all done by Janey, I only fitted some navigation lights), and we were both slightly nervous about it, but turned out to be a wonderful experience. Our pilots Tim and Steve were reassuringly expert, the weather and tides were in our favour, and after a 6 o'clock start we found ourselves happily cruising down the Severn on the ebb tide. Seeing the motorway bridges from below was a surreal experience, as was the feeling of being very much out to sea on a boat designed for 3 foot deep canals.
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| Under the second Severn crossing |
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| And under the Clifton suspension bridge |
Caen Hill flight was another high point (literally) - 21 locks in less than two miles, going up through a marvel of 19th century engineering. We aimed for an early start, and were the first boat through when the gates were unlocked by the lock keeper at 8:00. All the locks were set for us, we had Scott our willing friend to help, plus excellent Canal and Rivers Trust volunteers were on hand to guide us through, open a few sluices and generally chat about the canal. Hard work - but a fun day.
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| Waiting to start Caen Hill flight |
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| Janey expertly steers Manzanilla into a lock |
There have been some more testing times. Cruising up the Avon in the rain was not fun - it was that peculiarly wetting English rain than seeps into every crevice. We’ve also had some technical problem with the boat – we lost all domestic power at one point due to a faulty isolator switch, which I managed to bodge and then replace with a new one from the well stocked Hilperton Marina chandlery. But it looks like we'll need to buy a new central heating unit - this died for some unknown reason, then I hammered a further nail into its coffin by breaking off one of the power supply pins. More expense, but looking forward to having heating and hot water – it’s been a cold end to April.
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| Delightful cruising between Bath and Bradford on Avon |
Overall it’s been
a great start to our canal journey – not always easy, but always
interesting.
