Saturday 13^th July 2019

We were moving just 2 miles today to get to Avoncliffe close to the railway station. We set off at 10am to time our arrival when the hire boats would be on the move and the moorings free.

Passing down the straight before the aqueduct, two hire boats left their moorings together and the front one did not have any control over his boat at all and was swinging wildly from one bank to the other. We had to go into reverse with a lot of power on to avoid a collision. Getting past him was difficult and we then watched him hit two boats very hard before becoming stuck fast on the offside bank. While we do not complain much, Brenda did phone their hire base.

At Avoncliffe, we were lucky enough to moor on the nice 48 hour moorings. We took the dog for a long walk across the aqueduct and then set off to catch the 16:14 train to Bath, leaving Harvey on the boat.

The trip into Bath was via a change at Bradford-on-Avon, with 5 minutes to change trains. It was a GWR service, known locally as God’s Wonderful Railway, but the train was still 8 minutes late which meant we would not make the connection at Bradford. We had to wait 40 minutes and caught the 16:55 direct service. This got us into Bath at 17:08 and meant we then had to fight our way through the crowds to get to the Abbey for the 17:30 Evening Choral Service.

Brenda’s cousin, Mark, and his partner were down with the Chester Cathedral Choir, singing as a guest choir at the service. It was wonderful to hear and we both felt privileged. It is an emotional feeling, worshipping in such a magnificent building were people have been worshipping for over 1,000 years, made all the more so when you know somebody who is singing.

We managed to meet briefly with Mark and Jan after the service before calling into M&S for a ready Thai meal and catching the 19:07 train back to Avoncliffe. The station was absolutely heaving with people but most caught the London bound service that left before ours and the platform was then almost deserted.

There was quite a bit of confusion with the train we caught. It was an earlier service that was almost an hour late. It consisted of five carriages but the platform at Avoncliffe was only long enough for two. We were sat in the middle and asked the guard about the disembarkation at Avoncliffe. He told us we should have been in the front coach but there was nothing to indicate this.

The track follows the same route as the canal from Bath to Avoncliffe and we could follow our travels over the last week or so. The train passes quickly and unceremoniously under Dundas Aqueduct and you would hardly know what is above you.

 We collected the dog and called into the Cross Guns for a pint and were miffed to find all the tables inside empty. Earlier in the day we had tried to book a table for dinner and were told they were fully booked. When we challenged about this, we were told that everybody had decided to eat outside. Their loss but the menu wasn’t good anyway. All they had on was burgers, hot dogs or fish and chips.

We had a 40-foot-long wide beam boat moored ahead of us owned by a young couple. The boat had an area on the roof where artificial grass was enclosed by a white picket fence and the couple looked as though they were sitting in their garden enjoying the evening sunshine. Fantastic. This couple had elected not to have any kids and spent their winters travelling the world. It was really interesting hearing of their adventures.

We had our dinner quite late but would not hesitate in having an M&S ready meal again.

Weather: a cooler start to the day but hotter later.

Day Total: 0 locks; 2 miles; 0 Tunnels; 0 Swing Bridges; 0 Lift Bridges; 0 Boat Lift; engine running hours 0.9

Overall Total: 560 locks; 1077 miles; 48 tunnels; 38 Swing Bridges; 5 Lift Bridges; 2 Boat Lifts; engine running hours 672.8hrs