Hidden amongst the shrubbery!

Here we are, hidden amongst the shrubbery...

Up behind the old Tithe Barn at Bradford-on-Avon

Again I played 'car and boat leapfrog' to get from Semington to Bradford-on-Avon. The weather was good and I enjoy the walking. Before lunch we moved from Semington to Staverton, then I walked back to collect the car. Then we moved gently on to BoA and stopped on the 24 hour mooring so that the girls could go down the town to find cake whilst I surveyed the longer term mooring possibilites behind the Tithe Barn. After moving to 'the shrubbery' we ate and I collected the car. It is amazing how peaceful a late eveing walk along a towpath can be. The high-speed cyclists seem to have retired for the day and everything is quiet. A great time to lookout for wildlife.

Devizes to Semington

Mum & Heather stayed on Constance for the best part of a week in Devizes. They were able to go out around the town and surrounding countryside and enjoy their leisure time.
On Friday, Judy Alison and I went to Devizes because the weather forecast looked good with the purpose of continuing our westward journey down the Caen Hill Lock Flight. We had our team - me driving, Judy, Alison and Heather operating the locks and Mum supervising either from the cratch or from the stern with me.
People often ask 'Why is it always the womenfolk who operate the locks whilst the menfolk do the easy bit of driving?' It seems to be preference. On very rare occasions I can persuade Alison to 'drive' but the rest of the time... I would love to operate locks sometimes!

We set off just before 12 from Devizes Wharf to start the descent. Once you get to Lock 43 you are starting the flight proper and it is then a continuous run until Lock 29 when you reach the bottom. You cannot stop, there is nowhere to stop, you keep going. Good job the weather was good!

At the bottom there is one chance for photos, looking back up at where you have come from.

This is the view from Lock 28 looking back up the Caen Hill Lock Flight.
This has got to rate as one of this Country's greatest man-made achievments!

We stayed the night below Lock 28
Saturday we moved on towards Foxhangers.
Water Lilies - I hope this boat will not get too tangled on the roots!

They have built a new marina there since I last came by this way.

Then on to Sells green and Seend, stopping for the night opposite The Barge Inn at Seend.

Sunday:
Seend to Semington.
On Sunday morning Mum and Heather went shopping. They went to a big Tesco at Trowbridge, a bit of a busman's holiday for Heather!

We had to wait for the rain! The Sunday Lunch crowd at The Barge Inn scattered! The heavens opened, thankfully it was short lived.
There are four locks and three swing bridges between Seend and Semington. Once the threat of rain abated we were on our way. We stopped by Semington road bridge for evening meal and let our passengers off then moved to a longer term mooring so that we could leave Constance for a few days.
Mum & Heather thoroughly enjoyed their week on board.

What a rotten Blogger I am!

A diarist I am not! I have never kept a diary in my life and I keep forgetting to Blog, which is pretty much the same thing.
I see that my last blog for Narrow-Boat Constance was September 2010.
Let's see if we can catch up a little.
September 2010 - we returned to our mooring at Great Bedwyn for the winter.
Summer 2011 we went to Hungerford and stayed there for a week or so, Mum & my Sister, Heather, stayed for a week.
Autumn 2011 I bought a solar panel and pwm controller. Best thing I ever bought. It keeps the leisure battery fully charged all the time. When I get to the boat I can then switch the Battery Isolator to 'both' batteries and the solar panel then charges both batteries. Various bits of maintenance - oil & filter fuel change. I could not get the old style CAV fuel filter to seal without a small drip so I purchased a 'replacement' filter type with the screw-on filter like most cars have. Next time the oil needs changing I will do the same for the oil. Much easier.
2012
Removed and re-painted the cratch cover timbers before they get any more weather damage. Started painting the roof.

The newly painted for'd roof section.

Seen from above and later with cratch assembled.

Went to Crofton whilst it was in steam.

Went back to Crofton again as GB0CBE - amateur Radio Special Events Station to celebrate the 200th Anniversary of the 1812 Boulton & Watt Engine.

HRH The Duke of Gloucester visited

I made bread, this was just before it went into the oven - delicious! Back again a couple of weeks later for the Crofton Music Festival. From Crofton we have moved to the west, here is the pretty Lady's Bridge at Stowell Park, near Pewsey.

Gradually moving westward and now at Devizes.

Heading home

Judy & Alison came back from their trip to Australia and re-joined Constance at Bath. We went down on to the River Avon through the Widcombe Flight.

Bath Deep Lock, all 19' 5" of it!

Then it was out on to the river...

Then towards Pulteney Weir, below the Grand Hotel

Having enjoyed pottering rounf the river we went back up the Widcombe flight to Bathwick and stayed the night. Next day we moved on to Bradford-on-Avon. Another lovely trip through the Avon Valley, high above the river, stopping at Dundas for lunch, tea and ice cream and a wander up to Brassknocker Basin. The rest of the day's journey took us to Bradford-on-Avon, just where we had been some three weeks before, just above the Tithe Barn.

Bathampton to Bath

Heather must have enjoyed her Sunday on Constance - she came back and spent two nights and a day on board the following week.
On Friday I prepared a sheet of 18mm plywood for the deck on which one stands whilst steering. Last weekend it had given way due to being almost completely rotten. The ply would need painting.
On Saturday it rained on and off for mst of the day. I managed to get the board primed and undercoated on both sides but as soon as I finished the second side of undercoat, the heavens opened. The surface of the paint look like the surface of the moon, Never mind, nobody will see it, it was the underside.

Painting at Bathampton.

Sunday was an altogether better day - warm and sunny. We decided to move on towards Bath.

Another part of the journey through delightful countryside, then into what is probably the grandest entrance any canal has as it goes into Bath.

The second of the wrought iron bridges of Sydney Gardens with Cleveland House in the background.

We made our way as far as Widcombe Top Lock, had lunch, a quick visit to the shops and then back a mile or so to find some un-restricted mooring. We are still close enough to walk into Bath. What an idyllic loaction!

Bradford-on-Avon to Bathampton

After a week behind the lovely Tithe Barn at Bradford-on-Avon, Heather & Phil came to join us for the day.

Part of the Bradford-on-Avon Tithe Barn.

We made our way through the beautiful Avon valley, first crossing the Avoncliff Aqueduct, then hugging the valley side, crossed again on the Dundas Aqueduct.

The view back across the Dundas Aqueduct.

Whilst I did the mundane, but very necessary task of 'loo emptying' and water filling, the others wandered off to the 'Angelfish' Tea Rooms along the stub of the somersetshire Coal Canal. After I found my crew again, we moved on towards Bathampton, meeting David along the way. We moored alongside about half a mile from Bathampton. David had prepared a meal for us - it was in his car. We all enjoyed David's lasagne, it was 'first-class'! Heather and Phil enjoyed their day.

Semington to Bradford-on-Avon

Mum & I joined Constance at Semington for the first part of our journey together. We proceeded along the canal to Hilperton, where we stopped for lunch. Here is an example of where some advanced crew training might have been useful... As we stopped alongside the towpath, I hopped ashore with the mid-line and pulled Constance in towards the bank where we wanted to stop. For the sake of safety, I did not take the pins and lump-hammer with me, but asked for them to be thrown ashore on to an empty part of the towpath. The pins came over OK, but the lump hammer bounced a couple of times and gently slid into the canal. Luckily the spare lump-hammer was easily located and came ashore without suffering the same fate. After the boat was suitably moored, a minute or so of trawling with the magnet retrieved the wet lump-hammer. All was OK again.
I walked back to Semington to fetch the car, whilst Mum prepared lunch. In the afternoon we moved on to Bradford-on-Avon and stopped for the night a few hundred yards above the lock. Again, I walked back to get the car. David joined us later in the evening and stayed the night.
Sunday morning we went down through the lock and moored behind the town's great Tithe Barn.

Mum enjoying the view from the cratch.

Whilst David was at the helm.

After mooring, we walked around the town, saw some of the 'Bath Lions' (large and small), the Saxon Church and the adjacent, newer church (only 150 years newer!), then the Tithe Barn.