Avon Valley Railway

On a recent day out we visited the Avon Valley Railway between Bristol and Bath.  It’s a restored steam railway sharing the track bed of a former railway line with the Bristol to Bath cycle route.

Trains run both ways from the restored station in the centre of the line.  To the south the line crosses the Bristol River Avon with a station at Avon Riverside.  Here the engine runs round the train ready to head back north on the next of the regular trains.

At Avon Riverside there’s a place to picnic by the river and boat trips along the River Avon, and the opportunity to walk to Swineford Lock.  We did all three on a fine sunny afternoon.

The river level was well down.  If you look at the vertical poles the pontoons are attached to so they can float up and down you can see there’s room to float a long way up.

Boaters can moor to visit the railway, or have a picnic, the opposite to our travels.  There’s more pictures in the photo gallery.

Posted on Thursday, April 30, 2009 at 22:09        Comments (0)
Category(s): River Avon (Bristol)

Now we have an Architect in the family

Andrew, our son, pictured here at his graduation, received his letter yesterday saying he had passed his final exam and he is now a qualified Architect.

Seven years study, including two stints at University, has all been worth it.  Now he can look at the job adverts for “qualified” rather than “part qualified” Architects.

I wonder if this means that he can work locks or steer a narrowboat any better?

Posted on Thursday, April 30, 2009 at 09:20        Comments (1)
Category(s): News

The crew of Narrowboat Oakfield

While helping Balmaha and Sarah-Kate down the Caen Hill locks yesterday a lady and gentleman on the bank said they read Balamaha’s blog.

They introduced themselves as Ann, Keith and Sam - the crew of Narrowboat Oakfield, still under construction.

It’s great to meet blog readers when they introduce themselves, otherwise they just remain anonymous spectators.

Posted on Friday, April 24, 2009 at 11:15        Comments (0)
Category(s): Kennet and Avon

Descending the Caen Hill Flight

We had a great day out yesterday, helping work Balmaha and Sarah-Kate down the Caen Hill Flight of Locks on the Kennet & Avon Canal near Devizes.  We’d followed the blog of Balmaha for some time, and exchanged occasional emails and comments with Mo and Vanessa.

We’d been watching them approaching Caen Hill, working along the Kennet & Avon with Mike & Jo aboard Sarah-Kate.  With Mo recovering from a broken rib and Jo’s broken arm we thought they might like some help.

We joined them at Devizes Wharf after a picnic lunch and off we went.  Vanessa, Christine and I wound the paddles and worked the locks.

Jo assisted, doing her best with her broken arm, which didn’t stop her opening and closing gates through the flight.

Mo and Mike steered the boats while trying to behave, unsuccessfully at one moment when Mike seemed to be having trouble with his hair style, bringing the cameras out quickly.

The weather was sensible, light sunshine but not too hot for this work.

We moored up at the bottom and chatted about all sorts of canal stuff into the evening, being well fed by Vanessa’s cooking, and a syrup tart from Jo.  We just sat back and were plied with food and drink - thank you.

It was great to meet them for real after reading so much about them.

Posted on Friday, April 24, 2009 at 11:01        Comments (0)
Category(s): Kennet and Avon

Moira Lock on the Ashby Canal

The Ashby Canal is often described as a lock free cruise, From Marston Junction it’s 21 miles each way to the end of navigation with no locks in sight.

The canal was shortened by 6 or 7 miles many years ago after subsidence near the end. 

There are plans to reopen the closed sections, following a new route in places where the old alignment has been developed, and is no longer available.

Bath Yard Basin and the final 1¼ miles of the canal have already been restored although the basin is now at a lower level with boats lowered from the main canal level in a new lock at Moira.

This is a grand affair, being a broad lock on a narrow canal.  A former stop lock at Marston Junction ensures that only narrow boats can enter the Ashby Canal, so why a broad lock?  It can hardly be to handle large numbers of boats quickly as on the Grand Union Canal.

The broad lock will also use a lot of water and that’s probably why it has 3 sets of gates which allow shorter boats to just use part of the lock to reduce water loss when the passing through the lock.

When the canal is reopened it might be rather daunting for those expecting a lock free cruise to find a broad lock with 3 sets of gates near the end, especially if it’s half full and half empty when you arrive.  There’s a more in the photo gallery.

The is one of the few which ends in a sump pound, taking water from the main canal - and just the restored length for now which makes water usage critical.  A pump has been installed which lifts water back from the basin level to replace that used in lock operation and leakage.

It pumps back next to the overflow weir which gives the unusual sight of water appearing to be coming up the weir above the locks.  If the pump doesn’t stop soon it will start to go back over the weir in a novel recycling concept !

Posted on Friday, April 17, 2009 at 13:56        Comments (0)
Category(s): Ashby

Canal Voyagers

Snipe and Taurus, the Canal Voyagers hotel boat pair run by Corinne and Neil Thomsett are moored at Newbury.  Today is the start of their season which will take them all around the country and their lucky guests will be arriving this afternoon.

They have two crew members, the second of which had just arrived, to help them work the boats and look after the guests.  It will be hard work, especially hauling the butty around on the ropes at locks, but very enjoyable.

I dropped in to see them for a few minutes because they will be offering our DVDs to their guests.  There’s not enough room to stock all our DVDs on the boats so they have a sample DVD for the guests to watch, and leaflets to browse.

They take the orders from the guests, and email them to us.  Then we post them out and, for orders placed early in the cruise, they will be waiting when the guests return home.

It won’t make our fortunes, but it’s an important part of improving the experience for the guests.  I hope they have a great 2009 season.  There’s still a few spaces left if you’d like to join them on their exciting itinerary.

Posted on Saturday, April 11, 2009 at 16:43        Comments (0)
Category(s): Hotel Boats

Birmingham Mini Ring

We have just released the Birmingham Mini Ring DVDs.

Just as for the Four Counties Ring and the  Llangollen Canal there are two DVDs - in Popular and Bowcam format.

The Popular format is a cross between a holiday programme and a documentary with a touch of history - all presented to entertain.

The Bowcam is filmed from a forward facing camera and is edited to provide a continuous high speed view covering all the ring.

Both travel clockwise around the ring from King’s Norton Junction.  Birmingham brings the famous Gas Street Basin and Worcester Bar.  Farmers Bridge are the first locks - the broad Knowle locks following later.  The attractive Kingswood and Lapworth Junctions are followed by the Lapworth locks and three lifting bridges.

There are short extracts onto YouTube so you can see how they look yourself - but please be aware these are low resolution and quality compared to the originals.

Both versions are available Combined in one box.

Posted on Tuesday, April 7, 2009 at 21:33        Comments (0)
Category(s): Birmingham Mini Ring