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 repairs which were totally out of keeping with the Bath stone. This is perhaps even more striking on this aqueduct. 

The mooring at Semington is beside the long abandoned junction of the K&A Canal with the Wiltshire & Berkshire. Today the junction bridge remains although the bridge hole has been filled in, and the junction itself is a winding hole.

The Wiltshire & Berkshire Canal formed a further link between the West Country and the Midlands, joining the K&A Canal with the River Thames at Abingdon. The North Wiltshire Canal merged with the W&B near Swindon and joined to the Thames and Severn Canal at Cricklade. The main canal was 52-miles long with a further 6 miles of branches to Chippenham, Calne, Wantage and Longcot. It was opened in 1810, but abandoned in 1914, a fate hastened by the collapse of one of its aqueducts.

Much of the canal subsequently became unnavigable; many of the structures were blown up as part of World War II army exercises; parts of the route filled in and in some cases built over.

The canal was never a great commercial success; water supply was always a problem and in addition, long stretches of the canal passed through a type of clay that is unsuitable for lining a canal, and so there was a constant need for puddling, the process of sealing a canal bed with clay, making maintenance costs prohibitive.

In 1977 a group was formed with the view of the restoration of the canal. Several locks and bridges have been restored and over 8 miles have been rewatered. However, full restoration seems a long way off, if indeed, ever. A great shame as the route would become very popular, contribute to the local economy and, along with the Cotswold Canals, open up several cruising rings.

We left the mooring about 10am. It had rained heavily throughout the night and the morning was much cooler. However, it did warm up as the morning wore on. We immediately came to the two Semington Locks. With no other boats in sight, we had to negotiate the wide locks ourselves. Beyond the locks, the attractive Semington Dock is passed with its pumping arrangement of an old 3-cylinder Lister engine and the A350 is crossed on a big aqueduct with a curious island in the middle, almost like a traffic separation barrier. There then came some lovely countryside, with tremendous open views behind us, and three swing bridges over a mile. Brenda had decided to walk today and did the whole route on foot, so the engine was kept on tick-over and the bridges opened ahead of the boat.

The day felt as though we were attending an Air Show. As with yesterday, we had a number of big military planes flying low over us, possibly C130’s or Galaxy’s; the Wiltshire Air Ambulance HQ is located at Semington and we saw several helicopters taking off; an Electricity Board helicopter was buzzing very low round about us inspecting overhead cables; and there were numerous military helicopters obviously on training manoeuvres somewhere, we are quite close to Salisbury Plain. At one point two Chinook’s passed loudly, directly overhead, and so low, the whole helicopter would not fit in the camera lens. It really scared Harvey who very nearly fell off the back of the boat with fright.

   

 

 The K&A Air Show

     

At Seend Cleeve, we came upon the Seend Locks but passed through just two of them, again, alone, before being lucky enough to moor opposite the Barge Inn. A volunteer lock keeper tried first telling us we couldn’t moor as we would block the water point, which was not the case, and then directed us onto the lock landing to moor, as “there were not many boats today”, this on the busiest canal we have yet been on. He then tried telling us how to moor!

While CRT would face a terrible plight without the volunteers, and most are very helpful, you occasionally come across one that is a right royal pain.

The Barge Inn was a former wharf house and stables and was once the home of the Wiltshire Giant, Fred Kempster, who reached the height of 8ft 2ins.

We adjourned to the pub and spent quite a number of hours nursing pints, talking to hire boaters who were stopping off for a quick drink, and being totally amused watching some of the boats negotiating the locks and trying to miss each other.

     

At one point a Grass Snake swimming in the canal, the second one we have seen, was attempting to climb onto the boat. I had to cross the canal and chase it off, it then tried on another boat moored outside the pub before disappearing into a reed bed. 

Weather: a cool start after rain overnight. Became warmer as the day wore on.

Day Total: 4 locks; 2 miles; 0 Tunnels; 3 Swing Bridges; 0 Lift Bridges; 0 Boat Lift; engine running hours 3.2

Overall Total: 565 locks; 1085 miles; 48 tunnels; 42 Swing Bridges; 5 Lift Bridges; 2 Boat Lifts; engine running hours 680.4hrs