Thursday, 29th August 2024

When a shower on the boat is condsidered a luxury,  you know you’ve been one place worse – camping in wet weather! August has seen us more off the boat than on.  Having eventually arrived in Bristol harbour,  we had an entertaining few days exploring the city,  conveniently moored opposite the SS Great Britain. I didn’t think I was bothered about exploring the ship and yet I’m so glad that we did.  It was fascinating, really well laid out and informative. We walked an hour around the harbour to reach the ship and then took a five minute boat trip across the harbour that landed us right next to our boat.   Bristol itself is very multi faceted.  Walking around you got the feeling that there were different pockets of people and cultures.  Millenium Square was a stones throw from us,  not well populated,  due possibly to the rain.  There was a big screen showing the Olympic games.  Weather permitting, I would happily have taken my deck chair there for a couple of hours! We walked to Clifton, which definitely was up hill and found the Observatory where we had a grand view of Clifton suspension bridge and marvelled at the diverse engineering skill of  Isambard Kingdom Brunel, having already seen his prowess in other quarters. Walking through Clifton village, it seemed a very desirable place to live,  although I wouldn’t relish the daily climbing of the hills!

Our friends arrived to take over the boat and very kindly took it,  in ten days,  all the way back along the Kennet to above the Caen Hill flight, which was something of a relief to us! Meanwhile we borrowed their car and went to Derbyshire to attend a wedding and then directly on to our family seaside holiday place where we took part in a Bond themed event. The extra clothing required for these events meant the boat was packed to the gunwhales on our return,  so we gathered everything together asap and staggered back to London on public transport, clutching ten assorted bags between us,  realising the cost of our peripatectic life style.  A few days later I repeated the experience,  this time with camping gear.  returning alone to the seaside for a couple of days,  before going with daughter and son in law to a christian festival called ‘Wildfires’ near Worthing.  Aside from the rain,  and thinking that maybe I am a bit long in the tooth for camping,  I had a great couple of days.  There were some inspiring talks with renowned speakers and full on worship led by a very loud and lively band. Not to everyone’s taste, but I found it joyful and uplifting.  Meanwhile R went with our other daughter  to his first Notting Hill carnival, which was another experience entirely!

Tuesday saw us reunited and ready to accomplish three long days of cruising in order to get to the outskirts of Reading, ready to leave the K&A canal by September 1st, when we plan to cruise on the River Thames. It’s been an exhausting few days of many locks and swing bridges, but we’ve shared locks with some lovely people and had visitors aboard who have been extra sets of hands as well as good company. A morning irritation was stepping on dog mess on the towpath,  that I inadvertently spread on the back deck and which required quite a bit of cleaning before we could get going.

I had also forgotten how fast the river flows. We are now travelling downstream which requires very different helming skills compared to nine months previous.  A mooring space outside Tesco in Newbury came up just as I was passing another boat, so I was slightly tardy in turning towards the towpath,  resulting in my having to reverse back along the river.  I was soon deep in the blackberry bushes,  with R issuing helpful suggestions from the river bank,  whilst I manfully used the very long boat pole to push off from the side.  Fifteen minutes later I  managed to safely moor up, but it was a stark reminder of how quickly you can get into trouble when navigating a river rather than a canal. 

Just as we thought we could relax and enjoy the sun setting,  a panicked phone call from our daughter,  thinking the flat might be catching fire,  reminded us of the responsibilities we have, but how powerless we are to sort them whilst away from home.  Fortunately  she managed to speak to a kindly electrician who reassured her there was nothing to worry about and saved us a £160 call out charge.

Stopping in Theale,  which seemed to have very little to offer aside from a CoOp, I was intrigued by a signpost to Calcot Retail park. With little else on the agenda I walked the extra half mile,  across the motorway,  and was delighted to find myself at IKEA. Now that was a surprise!! With no husband lurking I could have a good mosey around. With no car and one small shopping bag I walked out with just a packet of Rye crispbread!

The widebeam moored up next to us is for sale so I got chatting to the owners,  who let me have a look around.  By comparison  to our boat, it was just like a proper house. They have found it difficult on the K&A to manoeuvre, so they are selling up and going abroad with a camper van to chase the sun. Earlier today, we spoke to a couple who had a longterm dream to retire to Cyprus.  Then Brexit happened with the 90 day abroad restriction, so they bought a narrowboat instead!

It’s time to sign off on the K&A and look forward to  experiencing the River Thames travelling westwards. Yes, the K&A has had it’s challenges with excess fauna causing a narrowing of the cut in many places and lock gates that could do with an overhaul.  We’ve had to learn to walk the plank due to limited assigned and prepared mooring spaces, but that adds to the excitement at the end of a full-on cruising day! There hasn’t been nearly as much canal traffic as I expected, especially through the summer season,  but the people we have met have been friendly, hospitable and entertaining and it certainly is one of the more beautiful canals that we have navigated to date.

ps Signal not good where we are so I can’t seem to load photos although I have managed to do so on Instagram!