We were up early to get underway for our cruise to the base of the Caen Hill Locks in an effort to secure a good mooring. Rachael walked up to set the Bradford Lock, no volunteers on duty this early! Through the lock and straight on to the water point mooring to fill a very thirst Serafina. Kevin and Carol in NB Dunslavin followed about ten minutes later doing a single paddle slow fill of the lock while waiting for us, that is until a broad beam boat appeared below the lock. Kevin and Carol pulled up beside us to tell us the broad beam was coming up and to make sure we were ready to go before the other boat came out of the lock, otherwise it would be a slow trip. As the broad beam peeked above the top gates of the lock we packed up the hose and got on our way.
While cruising we did meet a couple and their family on a hire boat, they were out for a week from somewhere below the Caen Hill Locks and for some reason had decided they were going up them tomorrow. They planned to moor for a couple of days and then come back down the locks, not my idea of fun for a weekly hire! That's especially since they were having difficulty operating this lock. We passed them later on after they had moored at Sells Green.
Cruising on for a little longer, mooring at the base of the Foxhanger locks, I headed off on foot to the base of the Caen Hill Flight to see if there were moorings after Lock 28. Nope, two boats had already taken up prime position for tomorrow! Locks 29 and 44 are locked each evening and all the locks emptied for the night, I assume to minimise seepage. That means that if you are the first boats to go up Caen Hill all the locks will be in your favour to the top.
As expected, we cruised past the moorings at the base of Caen Hill, they were empty. That just meant we had the extra task of emptying the locks before entering. Half way up we met some keen young prospective lock keepers who, after helping with several locks, were keen to go through a few locks on the boat. With mum's ok they jumped on.
Not quite as quick getting through the locks this time, it was a five and half hour journey to cover two miles, mooring at Devizes for the second time this trip. There were a lot more boats passing us this time which slows you up considerably.
Our tour of The Long Pound was uneventful. I do notice coming back from Bath, the trip is much more enjoyable. Perhaps it is because now we know the canal and we know where the moorings are. Initially, on the trip down, I think the sheer number of moored boats may have been a little overwhelming. Still, that doesn't make The Long Pound anymore exciting with a lot of tall reeds making it difficult to see.
Our target for today was Pewsey but as we cruised through the best moorings on offer were caved in banks. We did have an offer from a gentleman that was preparing to leave but we could see how far he was moored from the bank so I politely declined. We cruised on for around an hour where we found two nice moorings at Wooten Rivers. There is enough room for three 57' boats but the other spot in the 24 hour moorings was taken up by a boat that had been moored there when we came past a fortnight ago. Another continuous moorer testing the system! The gentleman that offered his mooring to us at Pewsey was right behind us and waiting for the lock. After a little discussion we breasted up with NB Dunslavin to make room for him to moor for the night. Later that evening we enjoyed a pint at The Royal Oak, a sixteenth century inn.
Yesterday we headed off to Crofton, there were some nice 48 hour moorings there between the locks, we had noticed last time we passed. We made such good time we continued on the extra hour to Great Bedwyn. Unfortunately, all the short stay moorings were full so we spent the night with the bow close to the bank but the stern of the boat tied up about a metre away from the bank. By morning the stern was grounded and the boat was listing to port. This made for some interesting walks up and down the cabin, bumping into doors and walls.
Today we counted ourselves lucky. Rachael walked from our mooring to set the lock (Lock 65) which was fine until we tried to open the top gate, one of the gates had a broken hinge. We moved into the lock through good gate and managed, after some time, to manipulate the hinge into place to close the other gate. We emptied the lock and checked that the top gates had closed correctly, rang the CRT to report the damage and placed a sign on the lock arm. Not sure how long it will take to fix but a call back from the CRT work team about an hour later to confirm details meant that at least they were heading out there today to assess the damage.
Currently we are moored at Hungerford, more mooring pins and soft banks but it seems like a nice little town. Rachael and I will go walking later and check things out!
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