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Day Four : Bath back to Hilperton

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Thursday 2nd May Leaving Bath we cruised past some interesting craft and  through the swing bridges with the intention of stopping for lunch at an old favoured watering hole, "The Cross Guns" at Avoncliff. Problems with ropes and ready to turn sharp left over Dundas Aqueduct Pictured below is where we moored for our lunchtime stop.   Sadly  "The Cross Guns" had new young go ahead owners, who whilst they had done a lot to improve the internal layout, including moving the toilet facilities inside from a pretty decrepit outside shed, the quality of the beer had gone way downhill and the food was disappointing to say the least - well my fish and chips were well over done.  I quite like crispy batter but this was of another order! After our lunch we regrouped, discussed how to move the boat which had grounded and to proceed over Avoncliff Aqueduct, a scene which had challenged our pilot 8 years ago - especially the seco...
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Monday 29th April To Friday 3rd May

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In 2012 we had our first canal trip on the Kennet & Avon Canal starting from Hilperton near Trowbridge in Wiltshire.   For our eighth successive excursion we again returned to the same base for our potentially final cruise vacation.   Through these years we’ve had five stalwarts (Paddy, Garry, Phil, John and myself), introduced two new crew members (Patrick and Roger) and reintroduced Brian who came on the first two.   So for this cruise we comprised a crew of 8. With this number of people you need the biggest boat on the canal network at 70' and this substantially reduces your options of bases to centre your activities, especially as the majority of hire companies these days take fright at large single sex parties demanding a cash deposit of £1,000 before letting you out on the water.   Over the last three years we have used the boats of ABC Boat hire who have been excellent with their pricing and general assistance.   Prior to arranging this t...
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Day 1 - Hilperton to Seend Cleeve

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Monday 29th April As is our custom  crew arranged to meet in Trowbridge at a gigantic Tesco superstore for our pre cruise shop and as it had a cafe, a lunch to keep us going to our expected evening feast.   Some crew members took this to the extreme with large breakfasts but there is a no blame culture on our boats so Brian and Paddy will not be identified.  The rest of us just had a sandwich and coffee.   Then on to do the usual shop for the week with essentials such as wine, beer and Guinness.   To balance this we did also buy some 50 hot cross buns - well on the basis of how long they were offered during the week for snacks it seemed at least that number.   We had also decided that this year we wouldn't ask Garry to provide a full English breakfast with tomatoes, eggs, bacon, sausage, mushrooms, beans  and fried bread as for 8 and with limited cooking space this was becoming daunting.   Instead Garry was insistent he'd offer...
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Day Two : Seend Cleeve to Bradford-on-Avon

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Tuesday 30th April A lovely bright morning for a day where the plan was to go through 5 locks to a "winding hole" big enough for our 70' boat, return through the locks and cruise onto our overnight mooring in Bradford-on-Avon. A sign suggesting our evening pub was only 200 yards - Wiltshire yards are even more elastic than their Cornish cousins... Such hard work keeping these canal boats moving  and the turn  You may recall those hot cross buns... And back through the locks  Sharing a lock before mooring to enjoy a picnic lunch at Semington. After lunch a gentle cruise back past the boatyard to Bradford and our evening mooring by the Tithe Barn. Passing Hilperton we did catch sight of an unusual craft propulsion system - potentially very green  And then our final lock of the day in Bradford-on-Avon it leaks a little... Ou...
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