Tuesday 17th August

As soon as we left our mooring we were going across the Avoncliff aquaduct – it is only short but nevertheless there are lovely views from the top to the River Avon and the railway. The canal goes along for a couple of miles through Limpley Stoke Valley before going back across the river and the railway at Dundas. Both these aqueducts were built by John Rennie in 1805. Dundas is where the Somerset Coal Canal used to join the K & A. It was built to carry coal from collieries south of Bath. There are seven miles of canal without locks which made a pleasant change. We stopped at Bathampton for lunch – a lovely village. Shortly after Bathampton we came to the top of Bath where we started to get some lovely views of the city. One of the bridges is called the Cleveland House Tunnel which has Cleveland House situated on the top. Cleveland House used to be the headquarters of the K & A Canal Company and had a trap door in the tunnel roof for the exchange of paperwork between clerks above and bargees below. We stopped before Bath Top Lock to some shopping at a local Tesco Express and then loved on to the locks (there are six locks) but had to wait while British Waterways let water through the locks from the top to the bottom. We did the six locks with a two young couples on a hire boat. It turned out that one couple manage a pub in Emsworth and two of the group are from Hayling Island! The fifth lock is known as Bath Deep Lock and is 18ft 8ins deep – I’m glad I had company down at the bottom!! As we came out of the bottom lock we joined the River Avon. We went on down the river for a while but then turned back and went up the river to Pulteney Bridge City Weir. We had to pay for mooring there but we were in a beautiful location and so close to the city. We went for a nice walk round the city after dinner – it was lovely to see it at night.