Tuesday 2 September 2014

On to The Kennet and Avon

At last I have a waterway to blog about that I have not blogged out before!  That’s not to say we haven’t been on this canal before – it was the first canal we did as liveaboards back in 2007 but that was before blog days.  I remember it being very hard work due to the number of double locks and swing/lift bridges and finding mooring spots hard to obtain – we will see.  We did go to Bristol and back in about 3 weeks – far too fast!!

Soon after entering the K&A you come to Blakes Lock, the last under the jurisdiction of the Environment Agency.  The lock keeper was at lunch so we had to sort ourselves out.  (My maiden name just happened to be Blake so nostalgia is hard to suppress!)

On to The Kennett and Avon 023 (640x480)        Blakes Lock      What is this building?

We went round The Abbey Loop really just to see what the moorings are like round there and we found Blake’s Wharf:-

Blake's WharfBlakes Cottages

     Back on the main part of the river we saw his cottages:-

              SO …………………………. who WAS Blake?

Is this statue in his memory?

                                           Is this Blake?On to The Kennett and Avon 024 (480x640)

On to The Kennett and Avon 025 (640x480)

Anyway, onward through the Oracle Centre in Reading.  The last time we did this I remember feeling like a goldfish in a bowl but it didn’t seem so bad this time.

Yesterday Megan had come to find us and she and I had walked in and around the shops in Reading so I now know what retail establishments lie beyond this centre as well as what’s inside it!!

                                

We carried on through and at the second lock outside of Reading we met a lady in her seventies on a small Cornish Crabber – she had set off from Falmouth in the Spring, had gone all along the South coast, come up the Thames and is now making her way to Bristol to go out at Avonmouth.  She’s raising money for the provision of wells in Ethiopia.

A Cornish crabber - the captain (female in her 70's) started out at Falmouth and sailed round to The Thames Estuary.

As in the past we’ve found it difficult to find somewhere to moor for the night so are sort-of stuffed in the reeds up against a meadow!  Lola thinks it’s great!! xxoo

1 comment:

  1. "Stuffed up on the reeds"? Is that the same as aground?

    J.G.

    ReplyDelete