On to Bathampton

We leave our mooring this morning but turn around and head towards Bristol again, only  a short while though as there is a handy Sainsburys by the side of the river, so we stop and  it a bit of food shopping before returning  to the boat and then head towards Bath.

One for my Mum as we walked up the path towards Saisbury Mr Ratty was sitting on the path.

He soon ran away as we approached.

At Bath bottom lock the canal joins the river, and then it's the  Wildcombe flight of locks to negotiate, luck has it that a lock keeper is on hand to help, luckily as one of the deepest lock at 19.5 ft deep is next.

Once we are pass the locks the canal is flanked with houses on one side but with magnificent views over Bath on the other. The canal then goes under a tunnel with Clevanand house home to the old canal headquarters which is perched above, in the roof of the tunnel is a hole where in the old days of paying tolls to use the canal a basket would be dropped down so payment could be made.

Beyond this tunnel another cutting carries the waterway pass two pretty cast iron bridges, another ornate bridge with Sydney gardens on the side of the canal, then we are out of Bath and into the countryside and unfortunately the long line of moored boats that never seem to move even though most of them are on 48 hrs moorings.

Anyway it's not long before we are in the lovey Bathampton a village that is still compact and undeveloped , but gradually becoming a suburb of Bath.

http://www.bathampton-village.org.uk/,

A little fact of Bathampton is here is something that all of in our childhood have played with.......................    Plastecine 

William Harbutt invented it here, plus it was also produced here http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Harbutt

And Turn

We get up this morning after a bit of a noisy night with drunken revellers singing and making a noise till about 4.30 am, but saying that we have been very impressed with Bristol Harbour, as said before it's very vibrant and with the different array of boats to look at we have enjoyed our stay in the harbour.

     SS GREAT BRITAIN

    http://www.ssgreatbritain.org/?gclid=Cj0KEQjwpM2pBRChsZCzm_CU0t4BEiQAxDVFmrbVCcTeBVxC_023Go94rVkx0m7FejnapVQ6VKncJ-8aAun68P8HAQ

Anyway we have breakfast and off we set the weather has changed a bit as its grey and colder, we cruise pass SS Great Britain and stop to take on some water, then we travel to the other end of the harbour and call into the Harbour Masters Office and pay for a couple of tokens for a pump out, then we are back on the boat and stop for the pump out and then we leave the harbour and on to the feeder canal befor we stop at Netham lock and await for John the lockeeper to open the lock as the spring tide is making the river high at the moment.

It's not long and we are allowed to carry on up the Avon, we are retracing our waves which we did last week. 

We can make good time on the river, and a few more locks and hours cruiseing and we reach our mooring at Bath. 

If you have never visited Bath before please do as it had so much to offer if you click the link http://visitbath.co.uk/ it will tell what you are missing.We aren't doing the tourist bit as we had a few previous weekends visits.

Here we moor and then have a nice roast dinner before settling down for the night.

A few days of traveling between different countries.

Friday 

We left our isolated mooring early, and make good progress towards Bristol as we are on the river Avon and can speed a little bit faster than we can on the canals. We are the only boat on the river not one boat passed us last night nor this morning, we operate and go through Keynsham lock and then at Hanham lock we are stopped by the lock keeper who asked us to ring Nentham lock to see if we can proceed, I spoke to the lock keeper who asked us to stay where we were as its Spring tide, but to ring him again in a half an hour. We duly ring him and are told to proceed, which we do as I travel towards the lock the engine can feel the pull of the tide.

      Morris dancers. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_dance

It's about an hour before we reach Netham lock where we go through the lock and moor as we need to see the lock keeper and pay for a Liscence as this part of the river is owned by Bristol Authority and not Canal and river trust. the lock keeper, John is very helpful and informative and tell us where the best  mooring spots are in Bristol Floating Harbour.

http://www.bristolfloatingharbour.org.uk/

We proceed down the feeder canal before entering the Floating harbour proper,and what a harbour with loads of different types and classes of boats and al hive of activity.

After a few attempts deciding where to moor we eventually come to the desicion to moor where a lot of bars and restaurants are situated, the reason being is that the mooring space is on a floating pontoon behind a code access gate,and as we are going home for the night then this seemed the safer option.

So we moor get changed before locking up the boat and then walking to the train station, we arrive buy our ticket rush to the platform as our train to Cardiff, Wales was due, got there to find that the train had been cancelled.......

Bloody typical so we wait for another forty minutes for the next train which arrives but not enough seats for two train loads of people, luckily we managed to get a couple of seats.

We got back to Cardiff picked up our prescription before going home, everything was fine at home a few bills  to pay which we did before having a lovely bath. The boat has a shower which we use every night, but both of us loves our bath and bliss it was......ahhhhhh

Then Something to eat before settling down for a night of big television, then bed.

Saturday

Up again early pretty early  a nice bacon sarnie consumed before we locked up our home and caught the bus into the city centre, into the station and no delays today straight onto the train and back to England, then in no time we are back on the boat. the boat was as we left it so we drop of a few things and go for a walk around this vibrant harbour, we stop and have a few shandies, befor going back to the boat and sitting out watching the world go by.

On to the River Avon

We left our moorings early today, we take on water before setting of proper, again we are on tick over speed due to the long trail of moored boats. First we pass Claverton,, here in the manor is the American Museum in Britain, housing exhibits of American decrorative from the 17-C to mid 19-C. Also  at Claverton is the pumping station which houses a waterwheel which is one of it kind.

The canal  is wooded one side with rolling hills on the other, we now pass the pretty area called Bathampton 

before the  main housing starts of the city of Bath, we have five locks to negotiate through the centre of the city, luckily we are helped by lockeepers as we pass on through. I could spend all day writing about Bath but here's a link.http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath,_Somerset

At the end of the fifth lock we are on the River Avon, and as we cruise the river we meet an obstacle to make us stop. The river is being dredged and they have divers in the water marking the rubbish which has been dumped in it, so far they have lifted ten cars and over 500 shopping trolleys plus other things that people discard so easily.

 We only wait about half an hour till we have an escort of a small boat to manoeuvre through the crafts that are cleaning the river.

 They are going to demolish the bridge that crosses the river next week, so hopefully we will be back before that happens. Onwards we carry on down the river we have a few more locks to operate these locks are big and with heavy gates,  we were going to moor in a marina for a few nights and catch the train home, but I phone the marina and they say that they don't do any overnight mooring even though the guide book and the canal app which we have for the IPad says that they did, lucky we found a mooring for tonight on a floating pontoon.

So we have to Change our plan and go to plan B, we will more than likely moor in Bristol and catch the train from their.

No movement, visitors are here

 Awoke this morning to the sound of a drone ( a flying camera) high above us, after speaking to the operator we found out that it wa being used to advertise a mansion that's by the basin which is to be put up for sale.

The  operator of the drone was from Newport and I gave him my email and if our boat is in the film footage he will send us a copy.

Today we are not moving as Denise's sister Val and with her husband Tony will paying us a visit, so Denise gives the boat a clean while I finish off the painting which I started yesterday.

 Tony and Val turned up at lunchtime we met them at the canal visitors centre here at the cafe we had a snack and a drink, it's called. the Anglefish restaraunt, the setting and the food are great but the service was really poor, with the server who didn't have one bit of customer service in his whole body. 

http://www.bath-narrowboats.co.uk/node/4

Tony and Val then came back to the boat to have a look, then we had a chat and a little walk before they went back home. 

It was really nice to see them and as with the rest of our families we never seem to get enough time to see them.

Even a shorter hop

We left our mooring this morning a grey chilly one, but later on it improves to a lovely sunny day, the canal is wooded on one side but open countryside on the other. We cross Avon aqueduct over the railway line set in a deep valley.

The canal since Bradford upon Avon has been a long line of moored boat, We have read that they have a problem with so many boaters just moving a few yards, some of the boats you wonder how they have a Liscence!!!

Anyway we pass on tick over pass all of these continuous moorers, and it not long till we arrive at Dundas Wharf, here we take on some water, and we decide to moor here tonight and tomorrow night as Denise's sister Val is going to pay us a visit from Poole.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dundas_Aqueduct

So I paint the Gunwales (the bottom sides of the boat) while Denise gives the inside a clean, then after lunch we go for a little walk. 

An off shoot from this part of the canal is the Somersetshire Coal canal, opened in 1805 this narrow canal was sponsored by Somerset Coal  

http://www.coalcanal.org/ind-ex.php

      Somerset Coal Canal 

An even shorter trip to Bradford upon Avon ( SNUFFY)

I'm 

Left our moorings to a grey day, but on the plus side it's al lot milder,again this canal is so pretty with open farmland and gentle rolling hills in the distance, we have one swing bridge to operate, then it's plain cruising through the Avon Valley.

At Hilperton wharf we stop and buy some coal and logs, the owner was very helpful in explaining where to moor one the river once we pass Bradford upon Avon,we carry on and it's not long before we reach Bradford upon Avon. At a very busy Bradford Wharf we stop and take on more water before going through the lock and mooring at the bottom of the lock.

http://www.bradfordonavon.co.uk/

Bradford on Avon is one of the beauty spots on this canal and is a lot like the city of Bath, it owes its existence to weaving and at one time it had about 30 water powered cloth factories, but a depression killed the industry and drove the workers away. Some of these buildings still survive today. the canal wharf is attractive as are parts of the town.

A Great tithe barn exists by the canal it was built in the 14-C by the Abbess of Shaftesbury.

Question:
Why did Bradford on Avon have the nickname 'Snuffy'

Answer:
This nickname seems to have first been used in the early 19th century and it is believed that it derives from the foggy and smoky atmosphere that was created in the town by the use of steam power in the cloth factories. At this time the central and lower parts of the town, especially around the river, were run down and little better than slums. The factories were along the river and the smoke laden atmosphere, barefoot and rickety children, waste tipped into the street, adults sitting outside their tenements and the general noise and smell would have greatly surprised the genteel residents of Bath who appear to have given the town its nickname. 

Snuff was made in the town for a short period in the 18th century when a disused cloth mill was used during one of the periodic depressions in the local cloth industry. It would not seem that this brief venture could have justified the nickname when nearby Devizes had a tobacco and snuff industry for a couple of centuries without attracting any appellation from it. Certainly the steam powered cloth factories were built swiftly in Bradford at the start of the 19th century, were fairly close together and the topography of Bradford probably meant that a miasma of smoky fog would hang over much of the town at certain seasons.

Bradfordians also had another nickname in the 19th century, and that was Gudgeons, from the fish on the weather vane on top of the blind house (lock up) on the bridge. Nearby Trowbridgians were called Knobs, from the stone decoration on top of their blind house and there were often fights and battles between the youths and young men of the two towns - the Bradford Gudgeons and the Trowbridge Knobs.

We have a wander around the town and buy some provisions before we go back to the boat and settle down for the night.