nb Bridge Street

Saturday 27 th July 2019 We had a rare lay in. Brenda left with Gary and Lisa for Devizes at 11:45 leaving myself on the boat on my own, another rare occurrence. Along with the dog I went to visit Crofton Pumping Station which we had already passed on the canal but couldn’t stop because of the restrictions. I had visited twice before, once when it was in steam, so didn’t pay the admission fee. Crofton is a fascinating place, especially for somebody with an engineering or an industrial past leaning. The site consists of two steam powered beam engines that each drive a pump which takes water from an artificial lake, Wilton Water, and delivers it through a feeder channel to the summit pound above Crofton Locks. What makes Crofton special is that, although the single, Scotch Boiler is not original, the remainder of the plant is. One of the beam engines dates from 1812, prior to the Battle of Waterloo, and the other from 1842. Timing of the live and exhaust steam valves ...

Friday 26 th July 2019 Brenda still has to have her prescription completed from Boots in Devizes. The more progress we make down the canal, the further away we are getting. As it is, it would take a 2 ½ hour, 3 bus journey to get there. Gary and Lisa off nb Caroline have agreed to take Brenda into Devizes on Saturday when Lisa is next working. So in effect we are stuck until then. We both spent the day doing various jobs. Brenda has made a good start on the roof bunting and I finished off making a table top for the sewing box in the front cratch, which Brenda has given the first coat of woodstain to, and made a shelf for storing porthole bungs in the bathroom corridor. Caroline has several problems with her engine which I had told Gary I would look at. The propeller creeps ahead even when in neutral. In the four years they have had the boat, they have never checked the gearbox oil level or changed the oil! The level was below minimum and the oil was black. We de...

Thursday 25 th July 2019 Today was a hard day and one neither of us particularly enjoyed. The locks across the summit have restrictions on them due to the defective pumps that keep the summit filled. The locks are only open on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s between 10am and 12 noon with no boats allowed after noon and the locks locked up after the last boat. Already, on what was to become the hottest day on record, it was hot when we left the moorings at 8:30 for the 3-mile journey to the locks. We had been behind a boat on the mooring, who we had nicknamed Mr. Nasty. A guy who would not engage at all or make eye contact, a shifty character. When he saw us about to leave he promptly pulled out in front of us, presumably to reach the locks first, and then proceeded to go no faster than tick-over all the way to the locks. With our tick-over being faster, we spent half our time in neutral. And the guy just ignored us. The run to the locks again has some lovely scenery, it is pe...

Wednesday 24 th July 2019 We awoke to a strange morning. After the heat of recent weeks and the storm overnight, the morning had a heavy feeling mist that subdued any sound. It all felt a bit weird. Blame Boris. Within a few hundred yards we came upon Allington Swing Bridge. As with all the K&A swing bridges, it is held closed by a square ended spindle that screws into a nut welded to the floor of the bridge. The spindle is unscrewed, the bridge pushed open and, once the boat is through, the bridge closed and the spindle screwed back in place. This spindle had been tightened so much, the windlass key had to be used and kicked to release it. We only travelled 7 miles but the scenery was stunning. The morning mist had lifted and we had lovely views again, over the Ridgeway Hills on one side and open countryside the other. There are no villages at all that border the canal on this stretch, but the villages do have their own wharves around which a few small canal side ...

Tuesday 23 rd July 2019 We started the day with a shopping run, mainly to walk Harvey. We spend a lot of our exploring inside Cathedrals, Abbeys and Churches. We also visit our fair share of pubs. We were not visiting a church in Devizes, so elected for a Brewery Tour instead. The Wadworth Brewery is not big, but produces a good range of beers which change regularly to suit the seasons, while continuing with their most popular brews. They own about 250 pubs and supply to the South West, however, the pubs within Devizes and up to 2 miles away, are still supplied by horse and dray.    The tour was very interesting. We also visited the horses, Max and Sam, and watched their in-house sign writers at work. In the bar afterwards, we got to sample quite a few of their beers with a talk on each. After the tour we did some shopping and became frustrated and annoyed in Boots. Brenda has an arrangement...

Monday 22 nd July 2019 We caught the 10:11 bus from Devizes to Swindon to visit Aaron and see his new flat. However, we bought day rover tickets and stopped off at Avebury for a few hours. Avebury is a centre of Neolithic culture that would be every bit as impressive as Stonehenge, although much older, dating back almost 6,000 years. The Avebury site comprises a large circular bank and ditch with a large outer stone circle and two separate smaller stone circles located inside the centre. The site however, is a part of a much larger prehistoric landscape containing several older monuments nearby, including West Kennet Long Barrow, Windmill Hill and Silbury Hill. We used our National Trust Membership Cards to visit the museum in Avebury Manor Tithe Barn, this tells the story of, and explains, the site through the ages. A further museum displays archaeological finds with some fascinating items.      After walking around the stone ci...

Sunday 21 st July 2019 We had an explore of Devizes. A nice, quaint town with a good mix of architecture, although mainly Georgian.                                                                                                                                               Market Square                                         ...

Saturday 20 th July 2019 We moved from the mooring about 9am, with the weather threatening, to get closer to Caen Hill Locks. There are restrictions at Caen Hill, the flight now only being open from 10am until 12noon. There is a 14mile lock-free pound above the flight which is kept filled by pumps at Wootton Rivers at the far end of the pound. There are three pumps, two have died completely and one is operating intermittently. Apparently spares have been ordered ………. from Holland. Pump spares for goodness sake, do we not make anything anymore? We had wanted to stop at Sells Green and visit the Cider House, which had been recommended, but the moorings were full and it was far too early anyway. We reached Foxhangers at the foot of the Caen Hill Locks when the heavens opened and we quickly moored up. The hire boats at Foxhangers were on their change-over days and, lo and behold, right across from us was “Flying Fox”, the last boat we ever hired back in 2014. Once the r...

Thursday 18 th July 2019 Structures on the canals, no matter how insignificant, never fail to impress, the engineers must have taken a real pride in their work. There is a small aqueduct a few hundred yards from our mooring that takes the canal over a small stream. From the canal or bank, the structure is tiny, only appearing as a wall about 10 feet long and a couple of feet high. And yet, climb down the steps beside it and the aqueduct can be seen for what it really is. The stonework, the ornamentation and the workmanship are superb, there is even a stone plaque within the structure, although now completely worn away, it must have contained either the date or the name of the engineer. Most people would pass this by, probably never notice it and not give it a second thought. But take the time to study it and feel admiration for the work. At Dundas and Avoncliffe Aqueducts, it was mentioned that when the canal was under GWR management, blue engineering bricks were used for re...