We Joined In. How About You?

We have just returned from a few days on Epiphany. Of course there are new photos! These will be uploaded soon. I took some internal pictures to bore you with, mainly to show her now well and truly as "home" - well second one anyway. I suppose we have joined the ranks of second homeowners now, although that is not strictly true as our "first" home goes with BJ's job. Two homers then!

I suppose more importantly we were on Epiphany to join in the protest blockade at Devizes Wharf, K & A canal, on Saturday. Here is a foretaste of the photos, which will be in our gallery. Epiphany decorated with Save Our Waterways posters (third boat from the Wharf) and you can just make out the Skipper! Skipper's Mate was "David Bailey" for the day! Actually I would prefer to be Lord Lichfield I think.

There are more photos of the Devizes blockade and other events around the country on Flickr.com. Also on the Save Our Waterways website, with written reports from other events.

The Devizes event was a great success, about 40 boats blocked the canal at the Wharf, blasted horns and hooters on the hour, enjoyed a barbeque (thank you chefs), nobbled passers by for their signatures on the petition and despite the damp weather generally made our presence known. The Mayor of Devizes came, signed the petition and lots of photos were taken, the local press included. In the afternoon the sun shone but as dedicated boaters nobody minded the weather anyway.

Thanks must go to the organisers, Devizes Boat Club and the K & A Canal Trust. In the evening food and a band were laid on. Unfortunately we had to leave before the band as a 4 hour journey home awaited us. I won a raffle prize though, yeah!

So folks, check out future events on SOW
Make sure YOU make your voice heard, sign the petition and the electronic petition, write to your MP. We need to keep our linear National Park open for use and available for everyone. In 1884 campaigners set up the National Trust for the protection of coastline, countryside and buildings, and government passed an appropriate Act, The National Trust Act. Would the waterways were seen as equally important by all.

Extended Maiden Voyage or First Journey - take your pick!

Bath to Devizes Marina, or "homeward bound", with a crew of friends.
OK, confession time the pictures of the locks down into Bath were taken as I took a walk the morning we left Sydney Wharf. We did not take Epiphany down, but definitely will in the future. It was such a gorgeous morning that as she was watered and fuelled up I wandered with our friends down the Widcombe flight. Not all 6 but down to where I was able to take the views of Bath seen here. It was crisp, cold and what a blue sky!
After leaving Sydney Wharf, Cleveland House (the original HQ of the Kennet and Avon Canal Company) and the ornate bridges of Sydney Gardens provide some lovely reflections. The canal then follows the Avon Valley to Dundas Aqueduct - mentioned in a previous post as a start point for one of our hiring holidays. I couldn't resist taking these photos as we swung onto it - both Johns at the stern.
The next photos are as we climb the Caen Hill flight, paired with another of Bath Narrowboats (Salix Alpha) on its way to Devizes too. Note the steerers on Epiphany, changing as we climb, me first, then Carolyn, finally BJ! We women make sure we pull our weight and fair dos for all. Somehow John missed out as he was happy to lock wheel.
At the top, a few more locks through Devizes. Devizes Wharf is where the canal protest blockade on Saturday 25 November 2006 takes place. Hopefully with about 40 boats, entertainment and food. See Save Our Waterways website.
Devizes Marina is in sight, new pub being built on the doorstep! and Epiphany comes home.
The skipper checks the mooring ropes and we are there for the night. The next day we took Epiphany up to Pewsey Wharf and ate at one of the pubs there. The photos are some evening shots, atmospheric effects courtesy of darkness falling before we moored up. The return to the Marina the next day was in fog, so no pictures as we could only see one boat length ahead!
Sometime BJ will reconfigure this website so we separate the build from journeys but please have patience, and stay with us!

Launch, Launch, and Lots More

Our photos of the launch day are now up on the website, lots of them! In great detail but we hope they will compliment those already up which were taken by friends. No comments yet so I will not link to them individually as the order may change as BJ works on them! The lift out of Sells Green, journey to Bradford on Avon Marina, craning in, celebrations and launch are all there!

The new shell being delivered is the next boat for Bath Narrowboats to work on, also for a customer from the South West. It will be a very different looking boat but we are sure that the owners will be as delightrd as we are with Epiphany. We feel we have made some good friends with all the staff and plan to pester them occasionally!

Included in the gallery are photos taken by Richard Clarke, also a Director of Bath Narrowboats. He is the Sydney Wharf "Boss"!

Also in the same section are photos of the maiden voyage from Bradford on Avon Marina, through Bradford lock, with three of the lads from Bath Narrowboats on board. We moored for the night just below the lock, eating at Lock Inn Cottage. A great place to eat, it was all decked up for Halloween Night - quite spooky!

Next morning BJ and I set off for Bath. It was a glorious day, Epiphany swam beautifully, looked gorgeous and we attracted a few comments. One comment was "thats the best boat I have seen for months".

On the way we passed some well known parts of the K&A. We have called into The George at Bathhampton two or three times when visiting Bath by road. Once when the canal was being worked on and was completely drained for relining. We passed another Bath Narrrowboats boat, a wide beam and also one of their recent narrowboats, as seen on their website for sale.

Bizarrely we also saw one of our Twelfth Night Share Association (share now sold!) owners walking his dog at Bathhampton. He was there working for the day. We pulled in to the towpath for a chat, small world as he lives in Gloucester.

Bath was glorious, views over the city as we approached were tinged with sun. We were making for Sydney Wharf, the other "home" for Bath Narrowboats. There they have the restaurant boat The John Rennie, some day boats and the Anglo Welsh Hire Fleet. A wonderful place to start from on the K&A, in reach of the centre of Bath and it sights and a lovely cruise up the K&A, or onto the River, as far as you can get in the time available on your holiday.

Pictures of the Wharf were taken early in the morning when BJ woke, very artistic! One oftThe hire boats is Silver Dove - photo for nostalgic reasons - she was the last hire boat we had from Anglo Welsh and at the time were very impressed with a microwave on board! We took her from Dundas onto the Thames and back to Newbury with our friends who have been very much part of our Epiphany journey so far. The K&A had not long been fully opened then.

OK, so now we start the Journeys of Epiphany. From now on the blog will be about these, starting with or journey back up to Devizes and all the excitement of lots of locks!

Come On, Join in, Make a Difference

We are still around. Epiphany is at her mooring. Just a few snagging items for Bath Narrowboats to complete. We will be uploading some photos from her maiden voyage eventually! This was completed over 2 days due to getting away from Bradford on Avon later than planned after her launch. See next blog!

As you see on the index home page we have a new link to "Save our Waterways", a vital campaign for anyone interested in our inland waterways, whether it be for their heritage, beauty, leisure or a "means to an end". What would the walkers, cyclists, fishermen, joggers, dogs, wildlife do without the tow paths and the water? It is not only boaters that use canals and rivers.
How would owners of the houses, appartments and offices feel about looking out on a dirty ditch? Which is what they would become without maintenance and boat movements.

I worked in Reading in the mid seventies and I remember walking down the side of where I worked to look at the dirty ditch that the K & A was then. We had an interest in canals even then and had a couple of holidays on hire boats in 73, 74 and planned to continue. Over the years we spent many happy times hiring boats and exploring the cut.

How wonderful the K & A is now thanks to all those who worked and fought to improve and keep it open. 33 years later, here we are using the K&A as our home waters. Strange how life goes!

So make sure you make time to get to one of the protests on Saturday. Lets make our voices heard, keep the pressure on and Save our Waterways. Follow the link for more details

The Birth and Christening

Well, we have had the gestation - shell build and fit out. Now we have the birth as Epiphany leaves Bath Narrowboats at Sells Green. The last minute details were finished. The Amtico flooring and the curtain rails and curtains were in. Now my nerves set in as I watched her hooked up to the forklift, towed out and lifted on to the lorry. Our emotions were running high - excitement, nerves, tears, yes, I did cry as she left the workshop. We had the keys at last!

The picture of the gang shows everybody who has had a hand in the fitting out, plus a few honoured guests, the lorry and crane drivers. From Sells Green she was taken to Bradford on Avon Marina to be craned into the water.

To continue the analogy, we now had the christening and after a few splashes of Champagne, naming and a blessing at last she was in the water. There was very little adjustment needed to her ballasting, a credit to Bath Narrowboats calculations. Epiphany is nearly 16 tons. Someone drank the Champagne; I only had a couple of mouthfuls, despite the picture!

So we were off, plus 3 of the “lads” to finish a couple of jobs and have a bit of a cruise. Unfortunately a very short cruise as the time ran out on us. They helped us through the lock and we spent the night at Bradford on Avon. It was so good to be on Epiphany. She came up to our expectations. She is very quiet, swims wonderfully and is very easy to handle. The more astute of you will have noticed we do not have bow thrusters! We do not want or need them as BJ’s handling of her in the marina demonstrated!

We have had lots of comments and compliments from website watchers, friends, fellow narrow boaters and towpath walkers. As always once a boat settles in the water there is a little “snagging” to do and a few re adjustments, but nothing major.

We had some wonderful days last week, in Bath, on our cruise up to Devizes and finally in her home berth. Words are not really adequate to express out feelings, we have achieved the first step in our dream of living on the water.

We must pay tribute to all those who have helped us so far. We hope they are as pleased and proud as we are. Colecraft – Sam and Dom Cole and their team; Bath Narrowboats – Richard Clarke, Jon Langley and his great, friendly, dedicated team; generous and very supportive friends and all those who have encouraged us, complimented and given advice to us. Also all those owners of narrow boats who have unwittingly given us ideas over the last 30 years as we passed them on the cut or read about their boats.

There will be more pictures so keep with us, let us know your comments and keep a look out for us on Epiphany on your travels too!