On to another new canal

A bright sunny morning as we leave last. Ights mooring and it's only a couple of hundred yards before we turn on to the Kennet and Avon which starts at Avonmouth on the river Severn and runs all the way to Reading and the Thames.

http://www.kennet-avon-canal.co.uk/

We are starting at the Reading end and only traveling as far as Bristol, our first part of the journey is through a built up urban area and our first lock is a big one but fortunately we share with a hire boat and there crew who are Australian, and they have four energetic teenage helper so this and the next couple  of locks are easy. 

A unusual thing on this part of the canal which runs right through the centre of Newbury shopping area the Oracle development is this set of traffic lights for the boaters. 

Here we need to push the button if the light is red then wait till it turns green and then proceed down the twist and turns of this narrow stretch of canal.

Then it's leaving the busy Reading and out to the quite of the countryside, with the once gravel pits now full of water which are used for various water activities.

The busy railway breaks the peace of the canal as does the M4 motorway which crosses the canal,

Our Aussie lock helper leave us as they stop for lunch in the pub, so we now operate locks and swing bridges by ourselves, they are quite hard work and Denise struggles a few times as the gates are hard to push and pull.

We stop and take on much needed water this part of the waterway the taps for water are far and few between as are mooring spots.

We then stop at Aldermaston Wharf for some coal and logs so we can keep warm, before mooring at Aldermaston itself.

Here we light our stove, have dinner, a shower and settle down for the night.

Our boat  in the torrents of water in the lock

An another unusual aspect of this canal is that it has two turf sided locks 

Locks and rare turf sided locks on the Kennet and Avon Canal.

 The river navigation's first locks were turf sided locks - i.e. the lock chamber's were lined from above the low water level with turf sloping out at 45 degrees - below low water level the sides were planked vertically. These turf locks used a huge amount of water but The River Kennet could usually easily provide this - however most of these turf sided canal locks were eventually changed into brick and wooden planked vertical locks. Fortunately two of the Kennet and Avon Canal turf sided locks have been preserved and can be seen at Garston Lock and at Monkey Marsh Lock.

Garston turf-sided Lock is a particularly good example of a canal turf lock.

 Garston Turf-sided Lock is totally surrounded by trees, wildflowers, reeds and so on. Also at Garston turf lock there are two World War 2 pillboxes (which are now under preservation) and both of which fit in beautifully with the immediate area.