Great Bedwyn, Kennet and Avon Canal

Is this the winding hole????

Today I saw the first yellow flag, such a beautiful flower, but only lasts about a week and they are all finished.

It was up to the short summit and then down to Crofton.  We decided to go on to Great Bedwyn. We had rain and hail, but mostly it was dry.

This floating "thing" was moored on the lock landing at the bottom of the Crofton Locks.  It had come from the cottage in the middle of the next pound.  Presume they use it for shopping and have a car parked by Crofton somewhere.  Anyway, it was right in the middle of the lock landing and there was no room to get on or off the boat without difficulty.

Unfortunately when we got to Great Bedwyn there was no room on the visitor moorings and the pound was full of boats, so we had to tac onto the end of the next lock landing, using the bollard on the end and a spike at the back.

A simple Harry Potter card, can't remember where I found the picture, but I die cut it into an oval and matted it onto white card and then blue card which I cut with deckle edged scissors then stuck it onto a white card blank.

Wootton Rivers, Kennet and Avon Canal

Left at 0545 and arrived at Wootton Rivers at

0845.  Just as we arrived at the lock before the moorings the grass cutters arrived. 

We moored up and when they got near loosened the boat so that we did not get covered in grass cuttings.  They were very good and used a blower to get rid of any stray bits of grass.  When they had finished we tied up again.

Unfortunately, about an hour later they came back and the man with the big lawnmower flew past and blew up all the cut blades along the side of the boat.  Can't win!

Occasionally a card making magazine gives out free cards to make.  I made this one using one of these.  It is a heart shaped easel card.

All Canings, Kennet and Avon Canal

 Really, really early David took the boat across to the water point to fill up the water tank and to empty the toilet tank (in that order), then backed the boat onto the moorings.  I took a bus into Bath for a bit more shopping - I've not been shopping for ages!  Honest!

I got back  at 3pm and we set off as the weather was so lovely and had a treat - an afternoon cruise.

PPS:  The two boats were still on the 24 hr moorings when we left!

There are a lot of continuous cruises on this stretch as there are 14 miles with no locks.  The canal was not built for mooring boats (they used little fat boats to travel to wharf to wharf and did not live on the boats like the narrowboaters did) the edges are all shallow, so most of them are moored like the one above and you definitely need a plank to get on and off the boat.  If it is a wide-beam boat then you end up taking up half the canal.

We got to All Cannings at 5.30 (missing the Long Barrow yet again) and found the last free mooring.
I am at home here.  My father's family came from Bishops Cannings and I was brought up to the south, across the next row of hills.

This card and bottle tag was made for a boating neighbour, he was 88, the skateboard was appropriate (he was called Ponytail Pete as he had a ponytail.  Unfortunately he died earlier this year.

The skateboarders are stickers, stuck onto card and cut out to use as toppers fixed with sticky fixers.

I used grungy background paper, matted onto silver card for the blue card and used peel-offs for the sentiment and name

The bottle tag used white card and I added a white panel with peel-off sentiments again onto patterned paper.

I think he liked the whisky, well he never offered any to us!

Devizes, Kennet and Avon Canal

 A rest day, that means the Launderette.  This time I got a service wash so didn't have to spend the morning there.


We popped into town and bought some new hose and 2 funnels (you couldn't get just one) in the new Wilkos (used to be a supermarket) and I finally found a stuffed parrot for our pirate mad grandson in a charity shop.

This lovely little steam powered boat tooted past, out for a cruise and back. 

PS:  The two boats on the 24 hour moorings opposite are still there!

A white card blank and strips of mauve card stuck onto a white card blank.

The "40" was die cut in glitter paper and added and the sentiment was printed onto the card blank before the rest was added.  (It is important to do that first as it mucks up the printer if you do it the other way - you don't need to ask why I know that!)

Devizes, Kennet and Avon Canal

 Slipped out of Honeystreet before 6 and the revellers were still in bed.  It was a beautiful sunny day, but with a sharp wind.  Under the Alton Barnes White Horse, through All Cannings (missing the new long barrow where we are going to have our ashes laid), missed the floating debris and arrived in Devizes before 9.

At 1010 I was on a bus to Salisbury for a nostalgia trip (I was born there) and David was going to change the oil in the engine.  (He couldn't, cos he couldn't find the hose and the funnel!!)

I quite like two tone cards (well 3 if you count the sentiment).  The sentiment was made using a computer, I made a space in Happy for the flower.  It was matted onto yellow card.  The larger panel was dry embossed in the Cuttlebug and matted onto more yellow card.  Some yellow ribbon was wrapped around the bottom and a bow added.  The whole panel was then added to a white card blank.

The Barge, Honeystreet - Kennet and Avon Canal

 As usual we were off just after 6am and discovered one of the few disadvantages of being early.  An empty pound before the top lock at Crofton.

The centre was deepish, but I had to go and send some water down before David could get the boat through.

At the top lock at Little Bedwyn there was this sign on the lock.  I always find it baffling about emptying a full lock to leave it empty to save water, so I posted the question on  "The Friendly Narrowboaters" page on Facebook.  It was suggested that the top gates may drift open if the lock is left full and then water leaks through the bottom lock OR the lock is so badly maintained that water leaks through the lock walls.  Take your pick.

We carried on down the locks and onto the long pound and found  a fishing match, so what with the moored up boats and the fishermen it was a tedious run to the shiny new pilings at Pewsey.  Which were full to bursting, so we had to go on to Honeystreet, where we found a spot right outside the pub garden.

A slightly familiar face came walking up and we had found Keith who used to moor around Birmingham a couple of years ago, he has migrated down to the K&A.  Well it was a good excuse for a beer and a chinwag in the sunshine.

A picture I found on the internet which was matted onto black and red and white spotty paper.  A red and black spotty bow was added to the top left hand corner and a black and white spotty bow was added to the bottom right hand corner.  The panel was then stuck onto a white card blank and 3 red gems were fixed to the bottom right hand corner.

Crofton, Kennet and Avon Canal

 A sad sight at Cobblers Lock outside Hungerford.  A dead lock cottage.

As we were working up Hungerford Lock I saw a head swimming across the canal towards the towpath, it was a tiny muncjak deer, it climbed out of the canal and trotted right up to the lock, right by me before it saw me and ran back down the towpath.  Of course, David did not believe me, until we were working the top lock and it ran up past him too and into the field by the school.

We were hoping to moor up at Great Bedwyn but, unfortunately, the visitor moorings were full.  This has been the first time we have not been able to find room on a VM.  So we went on to Crofton where there was a lot of room.  But within half an hour they had all been taken up with hire boats.

Still, I like Crofton, there is always an excuse for a cup of tea and a cake in the Beam Engine cafe.

One of the stranger boats on the K&A, and that is going some.

While we were locking up the Froxfield locks a lady came running up to the boat and wanted to buy a birthday card.  She actually bought 6 in the end.  What a treat for me.  I had not been able to get out the cards to sell on this trip so far.  But I did get them out at Crofton, next to a boat selling brassware.  Didn't sell any more cards though.

This one has a birdcage topper which was matted in black onto a blue card base.  Some black ribbon was wrapped around the right hand corner and a bow added to the top of the topper.

The sentiment was printed by computer and fixed to a black, matted panel with sticky fixers and a black feather inserted into it.