Annual Canal Adventure 2017

The usual crew of Paddy, Phil, Patrick, Garry and John joined me in this latest exploration of an English canal.

The 2017 trip was scheduled for the week commencing 24th April in the misplaced hope that warm and sunny weather may be the norm - oh when will we learn!  

After the last few years in the Midlands we decided to revisit the Southern waters of the Kennet & Avon, a waterway which would be a new experience for us all, although our initial group trip in 2012 had been on the Western extremes of this canal.  Accordingly a boat was hired from Aldermaston Wharf with the plan of navigating as far as Hungerford.  

Our boat was the appropriately named "Trumpeter Swan"

After the usual briefing from the boatyard (and the election/appointment/nomination) of me as Captain (link to boat name apparently) we proved we had all watched the pre cruise DVD by querying the correct pronunciation of a "winding" hole, although I for one am still befuddled,

we set off on our way to first night mooring at Thatcham.  Immediately we had our first obstacle with the Aldermaston swing bridge, a busy road with rush hour restrictions

and straight into our first lock

We then motored on until the next obstacle with the swing bridge at Woolhampton

Unfortunately adjoining this bridge was a distraction, but as he is a kindly soul, the Captain suggested a variation to Phil's navigation plans with an unscheduled stop at 

A decision that nearly came to haunt the voyage as due to this unscheduled stop (and possibly the extra pint consumed by the more mutinous members of the crew) we only just made it to our overnight mooring that night!

We did cruise some of the way with another boat from the yard thus sharing some of the locks and work with swing bridges, although we left them behind before our evening mooring - strangely two of their crew were teetotal and clearly held sway as they planned to moor up in the middle of nowhere.........weird!

After a meal at "The Swan" at Thatcham we returned to the boat to open the emergency package provided by our original skipper Brian 

none of this lasted for very long!!!

Tuesday 25th April

On day two we left our mooring at Thatcham 

for the longest day of cruising to Hungerford.   Our first obstacle was a Turf Lock 

followed by a swing bridge

after which we were accompanied by another boat through to the outskirts of Newbury.

Here we briefly met up with Phil's brother, Nick who produced a dozen eggs from his own chickens before disappearing back to work 

and we moored in the centre of Newbury for a picnic lunch.

Then onwards through our final electric swing bridge of the outward voyage 

Our next stop would be Kintbury for water

Motoring on from Kintbury we headed for our overnight mooring at Hungerford

  a seat sponsored by celebrated canal folk

An interesting stop at Hungerford, and a rare occasion where Phil's book let us down.  His first choice of hostelry ("John O'Gaunt") suffered from that common South East disease of expense for both ale and food ad none of us were too impressed withe beer.  The next pub ("Railway Tavern") we were assured did inexpensive food but this turned out to be NO food.  However the young girl behind the bar steered us well to the "Hungerford Arms" which proved to be excellent for both ale and food.

Wednesday 26th April

Due to a misprint in my Pearson's canal guide, we had overshot the winding hole at Hungerford the night before and so our first task would be to pull the boat back under the bridge and some 300 yards to the turning point.

 It amazingly worked really well.

It was then a leisurely cruise back to Kintbury

These youngsters brave or foolish

and to Kintbury for a cuppa and a water top up

and an exhibition of how to turn a horse drawn barge with no mechanical assistance

For lunch we had another picnic stop with the chance for the usual group shot

Then we motored onto our evening mooring at Newbury

and a visit to one of the Wetherspoons in Newbury, where Phil's brother joined us for a beer.

Thursday 27th April

A cold frosty early morning so an early morning cup of coffee to warm us up

and as Phil was in his element steering (all day) it sadly reduced his volume of photographs

so these are mainly now just mine 

and here we're joined for a few hours by my brother Robin

and then another picnic lunch at Thatcham before Robin had to return by train to Wokingham while we motored back towards Aldermaston and the boatyard.

We had to negotiate the swing bridge at Woolhampton again

and as we couldn't pass through the one at Aldermaston before 5:30, the crew thought it would be a good idea to visit the "Row Barge" again 

although some customers there were unimpressed about what they had to do to get a drink........

Despite his grumpiness the rest of us had a cracking trip. 

Maybe again next year?

PS Many thanks to Phil for his photos and to all members of the crew just for being there!