BEAUTIFUL BATH

 I must admit the beautiful city of Bath has made the journey along the K&A worth all the hard work.

Our final part of the journey took us a couple of days. First the Captain received the exciting news that his cousin John and family from South Africa were coming to England in September, so plans are being put in place to meet up with them.

We spent a night at Bradford on Avon, we didn’t go into the town itself, but tried a couple of pints at the Lock Inn and The Barge Inn. We weren’t to impressed with the Lock Inn as on their menu they had a Cornish stout, but when we asked for it unfortunately they only had Guinness. Now the Captain is a bit fussy when it comes to Guinness, so rather than risk a bad pint he opted for lager. It was table service and some how they took our drinks to the wrong table. So only one in there before heading for the Barge Inn. Much better, and we sat in the beer garden at the side of the canal and enjoyed a couple of pints.

Before heading down the lock the next day we moored up, put water in, and got rid of the rubbish. There were boaters toilets too which require a BW key to access them. I spotted a lady and child trying the door and said ‘you need a key’, rather rudely she replied ’I can see that’ and walked off. If she had engaged politely with me I would have offered to lend her our key. Her loss.

This part of the K&A is very busy with hire and private boats, so the going was slow. Which was great, as on the stretch between Bradford and Bath the views are absolutely stunning, so it gave us more time to admire them, well me, as the Captain had to concentrate on steering with so many boats moving.

Along this stretch there are 2 aqueducts, Avoncliffe and Dundass, both have a sharp turn to get on them, but the Captain managed no problem.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avoncliff_Aqueduct

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dundas_Aqueduct

During these last few days of travels I had been wondering were all the bird and wild life had disappeared to. We had see the usual mallards, moorhens, swans and wood pigeons, but nothing unusual. Then a rustling in the undergrowth and a snapping of twigs and a tiny Muncjac deer appeared, it looked startled to see us cruising by, and with a flip of its little white tail it was gone. Then a few seconds later a grey squirrel collecting nuts in the trees above our head.

The blackberries are now ripening at apace, and I have picked enough to make a pie and a crumble using the apples I scrumped in Newbury.

We moored up just a short distance from Bath, and planned to get there around lunch time the next day, the theory being, like in Newbury people staying just a night or a couple of days would be gone, and others would still be travelling. And it worked kind of.

We arrived at our preferred mooring and found a spot which was about 2ft to short, but the Captain was happy to let the nose stick out a little until one of the boats moved. I was hanging on to the centre line as usual when I noticed a boat a couple of spaces ahead untying. I sent the Captain down to enquire if he was in fact leaving and he was, yippee. It was just the right length for us and we moored up. Behind us were 2 boats brested up and the guy off them came out to give us a hand. His name was Tony and his partner had recently given birth to a little boy called Ruddy. He was concerned about us running our engine (because of fumes going into his boat) which some boats do to heat water and charge batteries. We assured him we had no need to do this because of our solar panels.

After a rest we had a walk to Bath Abbey, a beautiful 16C church with fantastic fan vaulted ceilings

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_Abbey

We then had a little walk round the town which is full of amazing buildings and things to see.

Of course we had to try a pint, first the Bath Brew House and although they had a great selection of ales on not one dark, so the Captain made do with a bitter.

https://www.thebathbrewhouse.com/

Then the Wetherspoons, The Silk Mercer, again no dark ales so Singha, a Thai lager the he actually quite likes.

After a hot tiring day we returned to the boat and made plans for the next day.

The plan was to take a steady walk to the Royal Crescent and go out for tea. It was quite a long walk (for us) and we stopped and had some lovely ice cream, then taking our time walking through the centre looking at the buildings. Of course we stopped and had a pint in the Raven, and praise be they had 2 dark ales on so the Captain was spoiled for choice.

The walk to the Crescent was well worth it. It is a stunning sight, and being a big Jane Austin fan it really brings the regency period to life.

Then off to Wetherspoons for tea. Now the Captain has been talking about trying their cocktail pitchers for a while, and today was the day. He chose to try Zombie, a rum based cocktail, whilst I had Ginberry Fizz. At £12.95 for 2 they container 100mil of spirit which is 4 singles, so really good value for money, and they were very refreshing. I have to admit I actually preferred his to mine.

After tea a very steady walk back to the boat and another hot night.

It was time to leave Bath next day, and after filling up with water and getting a few bits a Tesco, which is right be the bridge, we set off hoping to be able to wind (turn round) just before the lock, but we were about 6” too long so we had to go down one lock to do it. Tony came and gave me a hand with the lock and wished us well for the rest of our journey.

I appear to have become the returner of lost things, during this journey I have reunited 2 windlasses with their owners and a wallet dropped by a gongoozler.

That’s all for now folks.