nb Bridge Street

July 24, 2019

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 rain had passed, I went to try, unsuccessfully, to find some bread. Returning, there was another boat, Rebellion, just about to start on the flight and they kindly agreed, that we go up with them. Rebellion post on YouTube and there is some interesting footage of us going up the flight together on “Rebellion Afloat, Caen Hill Flight Parts 1, 2, 3 & 4”. They also have footage of their crossing of the Severn Estuary.

It is always a joy when you get two boats together, each knowing how to handle their respective boat and the crews working together on the locks. Rebellion and ourselves passed quickly from one lock to another alongside each other. The trick being that, just as you are about to enter the lock the bows are turned in towards each other and then, once the bows are in the lock, the tillers are turned inwards so the back of the boats come together. We achieved this on all the locks except when we met other boats locking down, great fun, or on the few occasions that the wind was too strong. When this happened, it was agreed that we went first as the bow thruster makes is so much easier to manoeuvre.

This is demonstrated really well on the YouTube footage although it is rather long at over 2½ hours.

Our progress up the locks, and our rhythm, came to an abrupt halt half way up the flight due to the interference of the volunteer lock keepers. Sometimes they can be a real pain. There were about 6 volunteers on duty although we didn’t see any of them actually do anything. This one volunteer was adamant that we hold in a particular lock because there were boats coming down, even though they were several locks from us. We both stopped our engines and were held for about 30 minutes. Neither of us were best pleased.

In total there are 29 locks making up the Caen Hill Locks raising the canal 237 feet in 2 miles. There are 16 in the flight itself, with 7 preceding it and 6 following. When the Kennet and Avon Canal was completed in 1810 the lock flight was still under construction and there was a tramway in place, linking the top of the flight to the bottom. Cargoes had to be offloaded, transported to the opposite end, and reloaded for onward transportation. Bridges crossing the canal over the flight have two bridges holes, one for the canal and the other, although now a footpath, was for the tramway. The pounds between the locks in the flight are short, just a boats length, with big side pounds to act as reservoirs between the locks.

The view of the flight from the bottom must be one of the most spectacular sights on the canal system, with the locks climbing steeply one after another up the hill. The views from the top are almost as good, looking right across the Wiltshire countryside. The whole of the lock flight make for a very popular day out with loads of people watching the boats, the café at the top very busy with queues for ice cream, on such a hot day, coming out the door.

Caen Hill Flight, Devizes

The lock flight was built during the Napoleonic Wars by French Prisoners-of-War, hence the name “Caen”. The bridge at the top of the locks is named Prison Bridge and the hamlet to the north is called “Dunkirk”. Many of the inhabitants today, have French surnames.

We had planned to tackle the flight tomorrow, but were on such a roll we continued on up and completed all the locks in 2 hours 20 minutes, with Brenda clocking up 6½ miles according to FitBit. Once clear of the top lock, we moored in the first available spot, right opposite Devizes Wharf.

We had a walk to see Devizes and were lucky enough to find the Market Square full of people and a free, open air concert in progress. We were treated to listening to a full orchestra playing, amongst many others, the Harry Potter and Game of Thrones theme tunes.