We have had a fantastic sun filled weeks holiday on the Kennet and Avon on one for the Bruce Trust 61 ‘ Canal Boats, and would highly recommend it to others.
We started are holiday on Saturday 6th July at Great Bedwyn and enjoyed our first day going through a number of locks taking us to the highest part of the canal and we went through the Bruce Tunnel before arriving at Wooten Rivers to enjoying great food at the Royal Oak in the village.
Sunday was a day of dawdling along the canal taking in the scenery, stopping off at a Local Pub to enjoy a Green Pint of Beer, which keeps the Aliens away in this area where there are a number of Crop Circles discovered, we saws the Pewsey white horse on the chalk hillside, we then moored in Devizes for the night, enjoyed playing Dobble a new game we bought for the holiday and lots of laughter was had by all, while enjoying a homemade pizza for tea.
On Monday we went down the Caen Hill Flight of locks, 29 in total and took 6 hours, a brilliant experience for all, we all took it in turns to open and close the locks as well as drive the boat, we continued on to moor the night at The Barge Inn were we enjoyed another lovely meal and a pint before the boys decided to try their luck at fishing, eventually Steven was overjoyed to catch what can only be called a tiddler but a fish nonetheless.
Tuesday we made another early start to set off along the canal to find a suitable turning
point so we could start our return journey. We spotted a number of different birds including Herons, a Cormorant, Moor hens, Swans and their Signets along with lots and lots of Ducks and ducklings. Went over two aqueducts and a number more locks.
The boat was well set out with a hospital bed and wet room which worked really well, mind you the rest of the beds were rather small but we managed and slept well after the busy days. There were lifts to get down into the boat and to get out onto the front, which was brilliant.
Wednesday we set of from Foxhanger and started our return trip back up the Cane Hill flight of locks, once again the canal was quiet, we only past a couple of boats coming down the flight so have to empty and refill a lot of the locks to get to the top, we stopped off for an icecream and at the café at the top and then continues through the last few locks to luckily get the last mooring point outside the Black Horse Pub, where after a short rest we enjoyed another great meal and a pint or two.
Thursday we got up and went through the locks and moored at Devizes wharf where we met Guy’s sister and family. We walked into the town and picked up some essential food items, then visited the Wadsworth Brewery before setting off on a trip to Pewsey, it was another lovely day and great to see family too. We could not resist popping in for another Green Pint of Ale on our way by.
Friday our last full day and gosh there were a lot of horseflies around finding some of us more tasty then other. We enjoyed our last evening of games which involved lots and lots of laughing before heading to bed, so we could be up early to clean the boat ready to hand back.
In total we went through 98 locks, over 6 aqueducts, through 2 tunnels under 112 bridges, opened 16 swing bridges and travelled 60 miles along the canal from Great Bedwyn to Hilperton and back again.
All in all we had a fantastic holiday and cannot thank you enough for the grant that made it possible for us to enjoy this family time together.
Guy, Paula, Zoe, Ben, Steven, Tamzin and Max (our Dog)
