Kennet & Avon Canal 26 September 2015

Field trip!  Avoncliff to Semington Bridge. This is the second stage of a walk along the Kennet & Avon Canal, the first part happened earlier in the summer before I joined. It took some very complicated planning and meticulous timing which involved trains from Slough to Reading, Reading to Bath Spa, Bath Spa to Avoncliff. A six mile walk along the canal, then a bus ride from Semington Bridge to Swindon, train from Swindon to Reading, and then a another train from Reading to Slough. Fortunately someone else did the planning, I just tagged along. What beautiful countryside it is out there. It was another lovely summer day and it was great to be out.

 

The trains were crowded - everyone taking in the last of the lovely summer weather. I just saw Bath from the train but I'll definitely go back to explore. We hopped off the train at Avoncliffe and the walk started almost immediately - in fact the canal was in the bridge that went over the railway line. Strange to think of basically a river crossing a railway line!  From the bridge you looked down on to the Avon river and a weir. For a good distance the canal is built up and as you walk you look down on the surrounding countryside. It was built between 1784 and 1810 so much of it was built without heavy machinery - imagine that! 

 

The canal is incredibly busy with barges / houseboats all along the length - some sumptuously luxurious, some spartanly utilitarian and some just plain messy.

 

 



 

Canal Art ...

 



 

Quite soon we came into Bradford on Avon and had a look around the very impressive Tithe Barn.

 



Onwards.  We couldn't tarry otherwise we might miss a connecting bus or train, so it was a brief visit.
But tea was built into the programme - I don't recall the name of the village but it had quite a busy lock which was entertaining to watch. Often it was the women doing the opening and closing of the locks and the men who did the steering of the barge. Why is that do you think?

The barges are obliged to travel at no more than 4 miles an hour and we were walking faster than that. The paths are excellent and you share them with cyclists and runners. We saw this Heron from a way off and it was really unperturbed by any of the activity going on around it.

Then we were at our turnoff to Semington Bridge.

The next stage of the walk along the canal will happen in March 2016 and will start from this point.

We had been walking quite fast so there was time to stop off in the pub for a quick drink - cider it was and it went straight to my head! Who thought it would be that strong. Lucky the bus stop wasn't too far off.

Nobody had done the bus trip before and it was a real surprise to see that it went through Avebury. We thought we might see the stones in the distance but lo and behold we pretty much drove through the middle of the field! Apparently this is the world's largest prehistoric stone circle - actually there are 3 circles, two inside the larger outer ring. It is also, at this stage, still accessible. It was pretty late in the day and we had trains to catch! So we didn't stop, but this is definitely one for the list.

Talking of the list - if you think of anything I should make the effort to see - let me know.

And that was it- it was really pleasant to get onto the train and just sit for a while. A good day out!