July29
We weren’t going to set sail until the Saturday morning but by Friday evening we were chomping at the bit, untethered our pea-green boat, and set off into the sunset. We moored for the night by the Bridge at Sainsburys in Bradford on Avon to stock up on supplies and awoke the next morning bright and early to pass through our first lock of many.
We met Dao (Will) on the way through and said hello before we continued on our way to our first swing bridge at Bathampton (or was it Bathwick?).
We stopped for food at the George and moored soon after for the night.
We moored up just before the Lock Flight down to Bath and had a wander around Sydney Gardens. Really beautiful!
Unfortunately we managed to share locks with complete noobs on the way down. The guy driving the boat had no clue whatsoever and his crew were a little embarrassed but he wouldn’t let them drive. The 5 locks down were tedious and we were glad to lose them as we entered the River Avon.
Lottie relished in opening up the throttle and we hurriedly meandered along the River at a good pace. It was really beautiful and the weirs we were so scared of really weren’t that scary after all. The River was almost unspoilt of human intervention. The odd pub with limited mooring and a few hidden marinas. For the most part it was a glorious wilderness.
I think there were 6 locks to contend with. The ferocity of the water intake was daunting as I watched Lottie contend with the strong flow in. Many of the lock gates were extremely heavy too and I needed help with one of them.
A sharp right turn, with a small sign as opposed to the large ones we’d encountered earlier, just before the last largest weir where chains hung from the bridge (to grab in case you didn’t turn in time to hang on for dear life and watch your boat go over?), and we were on the feeder canal heading toward Netham Lock. The Lock Master was a lovely old guy who was more worried about me crossing the road back to the boat than being on the River as noobs.
The journey into Bristol Harbour was exhilarating. It was so BIG! Boats of all shapes and sizes took residence all around and some serious building work had taken place quite recently by the looks of it.
The Lock Keeper at Netham had already marked on a map our destination mooring spot – right by the Harbour Master’s office outside the Cottage Inn pub. As we hadn’t eaten all day (literally) we were famished.
However, our meal was almost ruined by possibly the most annoying human being in the whole world. He didn’t shut up once and his jokes wore thin. We scoffed our food and wearily boarded the boat and fell fast asleep.

The seagulls woke me early but instead of being annoying it was fantastic. I’d opened my cabin curtains before going to bed so I could see the wonderful sight as I woke up. It was heavenly.

We paid for two nights here and enjoyed the following day walking around Bristol and taking lunch at the Piano & Pitcher (or was it Pitcher and Piano?). Anyway, the food was good and the waiter better. Phwoar!
A cute little ferry boat took us across to the other side of the Harbour and returned us later that day, next to the SS Great Britain. What a ship!
Lottie was complaining of blisters on her heels (they were bad!) so I sent her into a shop to buy some cheap flip-flops – makes sense right? Out she comes, half an hour later, with a pair of bloody Pineapple Hi-Tops~! I was livid with rage and hoped they hurt for the rest of the day
Another night in the Harbour was blissful. And another early awakening found us winding the boat around without any furious manoeuvres due to the sheer size of water available to us. We were now heading back up the feeder canal toward Netham Lock.
The few pubs along the River Avon had very limited mooring. We just managed to get in at the Jolly Sailor where we had a meal before moving on to moor for the night farther down just before the Deep lock at Bath.
The weather had been good to us all week. Sometimes too hot so when the sun went behind clouds we were glad.
We met some American holidaymakers on the Bath Flight up and they were really enjoying it.
Back at the George we ate and slept again. It’s a great pub and a lovely spot.
Another couple of stops, one including the Hop Pole Inn, before we hit home made the week perfect. Mind you, Lottie and I had a bit of a spat about her not putting the Puppy first so I had to set her straight. We’re friends again now though :)
So, another successful cruise. Still get annoyed at the number of Widebeam boats on the relatively narrow K&A – move to a bigger waterway!
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