Monday 16th August

A lovely day which became hotter! We took things much more leisurely today after yesterday’s exertions. We wanted to get to Bradford-on-Avon which meant eight locks but also a great deal of canal without locks. As we were going through one lock we came across a group of cyclists who turned out to be German. They were fascinated with the locks, how they worked and the narrow boats. Shortly after that lock we came to a swing bridge where they had all moved to and been met by a van with their lunch – a good way to have a holiday I think :-) There are a lot of moorings in and around Bradford-on-Avon but all the ones before the lock were taken so we went through a very busy lock and managed to find a mooring on the other side. Bradford-on-Avon is where the Kennet & Avon canal all began with the first sod being cut there in 1794. We walked into the town to do some shopping but there are no food shops in the actual town – only a Sainsburys on the outskirts. We found a small supermarket – well an enlarged newsagents really – and bought the basics but we had nothing for dinner! When we got back to the boat Richard went off on his bike along the towpath to see if there was anything further on and came back and said he had found a very nice pub with plenty of mooring and did I want to move! We moved down to Avoncliff and went and had a very nice meal at the Cross Guns.