Back On The Kennet And Avon Canal

Epiphany is moored at Sydney Wharf - still.
3.51 miles, 4 hours 54 minutes, 7 locks, 2.14 l/mph

We had a late start on Friday as we had a lovely long phone chat to Craig, as it was his birthday.

After an early lunch we set off for the last lock on the River Avon – Weston Lock. Before we went up the Widcombe flight we turned left into the reach leading to Pulteney weir and bridge. We went under North Parade Bridge.

The view was as impressive from the water as it had been when we viewed it from the Riverside walk in Bath.
Winding below the weir we turned the sharp left corner into the Bath Bottom Lock. It was set against us so I stepped off to do the lock.

I let John take the boat through the Bath Deep Lock. The bottom gates are extremely heavy but luckily some passers by helped “as they had done locks before”. Otherwise I would not have been able to open them, or rather it (we only open one gate) by myself.

Someone recently described the bottom gates as “going through the gates of hell”.

I hope I never find out if that’s true! The chapel roof above the lock does display in large letters “Prepare to meet thy God” so I am not sure what to believe!

It had begun to mizzle but being hardened boaters we didn’t care! Anyway there is always something to shelter under.


I was glad to reach the top lock.


It was good to know that we had a night mooring waiting for us at Sydney Wharf, as there were none above the top lock. We are very fortunate and very grateful that Bath Narrowboats allow us to moor Epiphany there when we visit Bath and proud that we can say that we still believe they built us our dreamboat.

As we said to Richard Clarke when we had a bevy and meal in Bath that evening, there is practically nothing we would change on Epiphany and Jon and his team at the workshop at Sells Green excelled in producing her.

We planned a quiet Saturday and as you see I have now caught up on the blog! We move off tomorrow sometime and start our journey back towards Devizes.