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Hungerford in the sunshine |
Morning All
For
the first time in ages, we've needed to brolly up as we chugged
between locks. We've had several very wet evenings and some heavy
overnight rain including a bit of thunder one night, much to the
disgust of our little pooch! Generally, it's been sunny and we're
two layers warmer than chilly April.
We
reached Newbury mid week and liked it so much we dallied for a couple
of days, then carried on through Kintbury to the delightful town of
Hungerford where we moored in full sun by the town bridge. Families
picnic on the benches nearby, couples stroll along the towpath and
tourists snap photos of us from the footbridge over the canal - thank
goodness I managed to get my hair cut in Newbury! We wandered up the
High Street with Tricky on Saturday, and found that Hungerford has
several large antique shops with names like 'Below Stairs' and
'Aunties Attic' as well as the more usual gift shops and charity
shops. It's a very attractive town and once again, we're in no hurry
to leave, this may be our one and only trip down the Kennet and Avon
so we want to make the most of it. The number of locks between us
and Bath is still a bit daunting and they'll all still be there on
the return journey!
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Beautiful house in Hungerford |
The
Kennet and Avon locks are broad and often very deep, the design
changes every few miles as if no-one could agree on the best
combination of gates and paddles, so they tried them all. The top
gates have a stirrup arrangement, which I've not come across before.
It's a very poor design - too narrow for wide feet in big boots.
Once you've jammed your foot in and heaved yourself up onto the lock
arm and walked over to the other side, that's when you find out that
you can't see where to put your foot to get down. I tried mounting
the lock arm like a horse, one foot in stirrup, swing other leg up
and haul with arms until I had both feet together on the arm - so far
so good. I reached the other side, turned round and lowered my leg
over the edge, toe swinging backwards and forwards trying to locate
the stirrup, arms gradually lowering me closer to the ground until it
was easier to step straight onto the ground than to keep searching
for the stirrup - talk about splitting your difference (now that's an
expression I haven't heard for a while!)
We'd
heard a lot about the turf-sided locks and I was looking forward to
seeing the quaintly named Monkey Marsh Lock. The Nicholson's guide
book told us that it's listed as an Ancient Monument by English
Heritage and one of only two remaining on the system. I walked up
from our mooring at Thatcham in the evening, hoping to take photos
that captured the sun setting over the gleaming green turf. I was
very disappointed to find a weedy old lock with very ugly iron
scaffolding preventing the whole thing from collapsing. It didn't
look very picturesque at all. It may be an engineering miracle but
I'm afraid I couldn't see what the fuss was about. I took a photo
for the blog - see what you think. I was more impressed by the
scalloped walls of Sheffield lock at Theale. Lock walls are normally
straight, both vertically and horizontally, very sensible. I can
find no reason for the crimped arrangement of the walls on this lock
which does make the Kennet and Avon a very interesting waterway as
you don't know what to expect next.
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Sheffield Lock with scalloped sides |
Carl
is paying particular attention to the Navigation Notes in the
Nicholson's these days - every page has some dire warning about
'Strong Currents' and 'Hazardous Weirs'. I'm very glad that it's been
a dry year and that the river levels are low. If we get any
significant rainfall while we're travelling to Bath then we may find
ourselves stuck on the K&A for longer than we anticipated. Did I
mention the swing bridges? Some of them are notoriously hard to
swing and sure enough, we arrived at a bridge in the middle of
nowhere and it was jammed solid. We're not scared of any old swing
bridge though - we've been over the Pennines on the Leeds and
Liverpool Canal and if you can swing those bridges then you can
tackle anything. Once we realised that no amount of huffing and
puffing was going to move it, and looking in vain for a dog walker or
cyclist to press-gang, we decided to put a rope on it and pull it
open with the boat. Carl had to explain the laws of physics to me -
something about fulcrums and levers, so that we got the rope tied in
the right place (Mr Dye, my physics teacher, was right when he
advised me to drop sciences in the fourth year - I did parley-vous
francais instead and look how useful that's been!)Eh Voila! The
bridge swung open and Carl nipped through while I wedged it shut
again and we chugged off feeling pleased that we'd won that little
battle.
I
have a lot to report from the Nature Table this week - a kingfisher,
a water vole and a great spotted woodpecker all seen on one stretch
of the canal near Brunsden Lock. We heard a cuckoo in Thatcham and
again in Kintbury. Red kites are a common sight along here and we
never tire of the fluffy yellow goslings swimming along in a line
between their parents. No cygnets yet, but I'm sure they'll be along
any day now. Swifts were spotted last night by Eric the Eagle Eyed
Twitcher – My sister Jean and Eric happened to be passing and
popped in for an evening of jollity which was mainly spent discussing
our advancing old age and choosing our favourite funeral hymns. Come
again soon you two - it was great to see you.
The
sun's going down here and we've missed Countryfile - no amount of
aerial twitching could locate BBC1 so we've no idea what the weather
will be this week. The weather app on my phone has been wrong
everyday this week so I think we'll do it the old fashioned way -
look out of the window!
That's
all from me for this week my lovely friends. I hope you're getting
out and about, maybe getting into the garden at long last. Let me
know that you're receiving me loud and clear - this cyber attack is
very worrying, I hope you're not raking through your purse looking
for bit coins!!
Lots
of Love and Hugs as always
The
Floating Chandlers
PS We fuelled up at Newbury Marina and it was a relief to pay just 77p per litre - its been double that on the Thames. Not only did we get good service but the chatty proprietor gave us a free bottle of boat shampoo and a pen - we'll make sure to call there on the way back.
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Monkey Marsh Lock - a turf sided lock |
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Sunny morning at Bull's Lock |
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Bulls Lock with Swing Bridge |
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Newbury town moorings |
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Someone wouldn't have been happy to get this wrapped around their prop |
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Newbury West Mills |
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Newbury |
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Pretty church in Newbury |
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Newbury Lock |
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Kintbury - a very interesting turnstile gate |
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