Sells Green to Bath

After our descent of the Caen Hill locks we were reluctant to move on Monday morning.   Sells Green was a nice area but we had to use the plank to get on and off and Bess and Brinny were a bit reluctant.  We sailed less than a mile and stopped opposite the Barge Inn at Seend Cleeve.  

Opposite the Barge Inn.  During the spell of hot dry weather we left the wheelhouse down overnight.

As we sailed towards Semington the canal gave us good views across open countryside and we stopped near another pub, The Somerset Arms, where we enjoyed a meal and Kev sampled a pint of cloudy cider.  

The next day the canal took us through woods on the approach to Bradford-on-Avon.   We stopped on a pleasant mooring just outside the town and enjoyed the sunny weather. 

On Friday we sailed down through Bradford Lock and the character of the canal changed again, here it followed the course of the River Avon in its steep-side valley.  At Avoncliff we turned at right angles to cross the Avon on the first of a pair of aqueducts.  We continued along the valley and through the trees saw glimpses of the houses perched on the opposite side.   We moored up for the weekend just before Dundas Aqueduct which crossed back over the river.  During the day we saw several hire boats carrying groups of men on their way to Bath and some more passed on Saturday morning.  Obviously it was going to be rowdy in Bath over the weekend.  

Dundas Aqueduct which was busy with boaters and walkers

The architecture of Dundas aqueduct is better appreciated from the river bank.  

After watching streams of boats passing us all day on Sunday we were beginning to wonder if there were any moorings left at Bath.  We set off on Monday morning, crossing the aqueduct and the county boundary into Somerset.  On the Somerset side we passed the entrance to the Somerset Coal Canal, only half a mile remains navigable and it now serves as a marina.

The entrance to the Somerset Canal is narrow because this was once the site of a lock

The Kennet and Avon continued to follow the course of the river winding it's way to Bathampton where we intended to stop and luckily we spotted a good mooring behind Jen and Bern on Daydream. Jen enjoys patchwork and applique so we compared our current projects.

On Tuesday I took a bus trip into Bath.  It was a wet morning but Bath council had anticipated this and covered over one of their streets with colourful umbrellas.

Umbrellas in Bath

I joined the queue at the Roman Baths and was given a handset for the audio tour which was excellent. The tour took us through various displays giving a good account of the history of the baths and how they were used.

The Great Bath at the Roman Baths 

The overflow from the hot spring, essentially a Roman drain.  The photo shows steam rising off the water and vivid orange iron deposits.  

The tour ended with a taste of the spring water, it wasn't pleasant but not as bad as the sulphuric  Harrogate waters.

I enjoyed a walk around the town with its tall Georgian town houses all constructed in Bath Stone as were the public buildings and Abbey.  At The Circus three impressive arcs of these tall terraced house formed a ring around a central green but I thought the Royal Crescent was a bit disappointing.

An arc of Georgian houses at The Circus

We had decided, in common with several other boaters, not to venture any further down the Kennet and Avon.  However the next winding hole was in Bath so we had to carry on to turn around.  To avoid delays on this busy stretch of canal we were up early and heading for Bath.  On the way we sailed though Sydney Gardens, a park through which the canal flowed hidden from the residents of the suburb.  We entered the park through a tunnel and left it through another.

One of the wrought iron bridges in Sydney Gardens with the tunnel entrance behind it.  The building on the tunnel is Cleveland House and was originally built for the canal company.

We turned round at the winding hole at Bathwick and started our return journey along the Kennet and Avon Canal.