A really delightful day's cruising ended with a similar late spring sunny evening. We walked into the local village. I was intrigued to see the clock on the church of St Andrew. One of the clock faces spells out GLORY BE TO GOD in place of the numerals. It was made in 1911 to commemorate the coronation of George V and the mechanism is assembled from a bizarre assortment of agricultural implements. The church sadly was closed.
Wootton Rivers is a really delightful village full of thatched houses and cottages
A delightful place to wander through on such a lovely evening
A new roof under construction
The next day started looking fair but then ominous clouds started to roll in. On the way to our first tunnel we passed Burbage Wharf which marks the summit of our climb (457 ft.) from the Severn Estuary. Built in 19th century to handle trade from Marlborough, the buildings and crane have been sympathetically restored to reflect the importance of this wharf.
During its hey day, the wharf handled large quantities of timber, stone, coal and agricultural produce.
Very soon after the wharf, the woods lining the canal seem to close in to funnel the boats towards Bruce Tunnel
And then the tunnel appears.
Impossible to see at this point whether anything is coming in the opposite direction and is of concern despite the fact that it is wide enough to take 2 boats side by side
Then the end of the tunnel appears which is reassuring - 502 yards.
Taken with flash, it was actually extremely dark.
As the engine starts to labour due to the narrowness of the channel, which reduces the effect of the propeller, it does seem as if you are actually climbing a steep hill........which you know of course is impossible !!! And keeping straight is really hard work
John still following.
And then just as we emerged into the light, the heavens opened and it was full pelt for a safe mooring.
Well it would have been, if the front of my boat had not become impaled upon a floating tree which I then had to battle with for a while before it allowed me to proceed unhindered.
But then as we arrived at the start of the Crofton Flight, the rain started to ease and we settled into 'lock mode' again.
We also had some assistance from 2 CRT (Canal and River Trust) volunteers who spend the whole day helping travellers with the flight of 7 locks.
I met up with Richard who was travelling on his own. He looked a real hobo but turned out to be a retired flight engineer (RAF and British Airways). Used to work on Vulcan Bombers! It is amazing who you meet on the canals. Mind you his engine had only just been reconditioned and he was having problems with it.
At the end of the flight is Crofton Pumping Station which is one of the highlights of the K&A.
Initially it was proposed that a longer tunnel (4,300 yards ) was built during this final phase of the construction of the canal to mark the summit which would be much lower. But with the advice of William Jessop this was amended to the present day set up. But with the summit now being higher, water had to be pumped from Wilton Water 400 feet higher to maintain water levels in the locks. There is a sensor in the top lock that detects the water level and activates the pumps. One piston cycle moves 200 tons of water!
 One attraction along the Kennet & Avon Canal isCrofton Pumping Station. It was built to pump water to the summit level of the Kennet & Avon Canal, a task it still performs (although mainly for tourists, the "real" pumping is now performed by other modern pumping stations).The chimney is 82 feet high, needed for the hand stoked, coal fired Lancashire boiler (below left). It powers two Cornish Beam Engines, the oldest one from 1812 which is the oldest in the world. The other engine is not much younger, being from 1845. Both have been restored and are maintained by volunteers. They keep it under steam on selected weekends (as of writing this on the bank holiday weekends and the last weekends in June, July and September). |  |
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 The beam of the Boulton & Watt engine from 1812. Almost 200 years old and still working... |  Wilton Windmill is approx 1 mile from Crofton Pumping Station. It's the only operating windmill in Wiltshire, built in 1821 and now maintained by volunteers. You can walk to it via a footpath from the pumping station, may be taking a break at the Swan Inn in Wilton. |
Tara and I enjoyed several lovely walks in the area. We stayed 2 days because, on the Friday, very strong winds with severe gusts were forecast.......and arrived!! A case for battening down the hatches
There was a lot of helicopter activity around from one of the local stations. They all looked to be ready for military action.
And numerous families of Canadian geese. This was a shot of 3 families together each having the cygnets in at different stages from very newborn to quite independent.
The next day the winds eased and we were on our way again. No particular destination in mind just to take the day as it came.
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