Friday 12th July
2019
We both had a broken night’s sleep and so were up ridiculously early.
For a retired couple anyway.
We quickly moved across the aqueduct to the service point, watered,
dumped rubbish, emptied the loo and then moved back onto the mooring before
another boat arrived.
With the starboard side now against the bank, after breakfast we
cleaned, waxed, polished and painted again. While it is very pleasing to have
the boat clean on both sides simultaneously, already the side cleaned yesterday
is dusty.
It is also upsetting to see just how poorly the paintwork is ageing,
with lots of micro-blistering that will have to be addressed. Not what you
should expect from a boat that is just one-year-old.
While waiting for the paint to dry, I walked across the aqueduct to
Dundas Wharf. An interesting place. There is an old workshop, now used by CRT
volunteers, a toll house, gauging lock and an Acramans Crane and stone weights
used to gauge new boats. Whenever a new cargo-carrying boat was launched, she
would be loaded up with weights and her draft measured. A table giving the displacement
and draft would then be produced for that particular boat and, by measuring her
draft in a loaded condition, the amount of cargo being carried could be
calculated and the appropriate toll charged.
Acramans Crane, Gauging
Weights and the entrance to the Somerset Coal Canal
The Somerset Coal Canal joins the K&A at Dundas Wharf with its now
disused stop lock. This canal opened in 1801 and ran from Dundas to Paulton ten
miles away, with a branch to Radstock, so connecting some 80 collieries. A
feature of this canal was the variety of methods used at Coombe Hay to overcome
the height differences between the lower and upper reaches of the canal.
Initially, there was a cassion lock, when this failed an inclined plane tramway
was laid and finally, this was replaced by 22 conventional locks. The Radstock
Arm was never a commercial success and was replaced as early as 1815 with a
tramway. However, the Paulton route flourished for nearly 100 years and was
very profitable, carrying high tonnages of coal.
By the 1880’s, coal production had declined and the canal became
disused after 1898 and officially closed in 1902. In September 2014, restoration work
began on the canal section from Paulton to Radford, with the aim of restoring
the entire canal to navigation in the future. The largest canal drydock in
England has been revealed at Paulton; culverts and bridges nearby are being
reinstated or rebuilt. About ¼ mile of canal from Paulton to Radford has been
in water since summer 2015 and the first ¼ mile at Dundas in water since 1988.
Once
the paint had dried sufficiently, we moved just a mile to Limpley Stoke Bridge.
Our guide said the nearby village of Freshford was well worth the visit. It was
a very hot afternoon and the hill very steep. We passed through the sleepy
village of Limpley Stoke with its disused railway station, closed-down
400-year-old pub, garage and Manor House. Then onwards and upwards, up the
steep hill to Freshford.
The
walk was hot and dusty, but Freshford is a very attractive village, set on the
side of a steep hill that flanks the confluenece of the Rivers Avon and Frome.
The church of St. Peter’s sits at the top of the hill and terraces of handsome
stone houses fall away in both directions, filling the valley below and
crowding the narrow streets.
Freshford
was involved with the production of broad cloth. The factory still survives as apartments
and, for the size of the village, is quite extensive.
We
were considering dropping down the other side of the hill to visit the two
mills on the river, see the Medieval bridge and visit the pub for lunch.
However, we had Harvey with us, who was already beginning to flag so decided to
retrace our steps back to the boat.
Sometimes
we forget that Harvey, at 8½-years-old, is becoming an old man for a Schnauzer.
We
have found it amusing during our travels, to see the uses telephone boxes have
been put to. From containing defibrillators, flower and plant swaps, book swaps
or festooned with flowers. It is great that this icon of Britishness has found other
uses.
Brenda
spent the remainder of her afternoon reading in the front cratch while I did a
bit of fishing and painted the grey flag bracket on the tiller, black.
Weather:
hot, hot, hot.
Day Total: 0 locks; 1 mile; 0 Tunnels; 0 Swing Bridges; 0 Lift
Bridges; 0 Boat Lift; engine running hours 0.7
Overall Total: 560 locks; 1075 miles; 48 tunnels; 38 Swing Bridges; 5
Lift Bridges; 2 Boat Lifts; engine running hours 671.9hrs
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