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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 2884 |
14th May 2018 Mt. Biking: Kennet & Avon Canal Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny but breezy. Max Speed: Distance Covered: Sunday 13th May – relax, travel and sightsee walk **** sunny and warm. Our fifth night at the Quarry above Kimmeridge, that’s a record as we have never had 5 nights in a row anywhere before and we have now had 955 nights in this van :) Luckily the noisy BBQ in the old white camper in the corner finished as we went to bed so we had a fairly quiet night apart from the man who has been sleeping in his car all week running his engine at 4 this morning, he must have been freezing. No 50 chattering girls waiting to go on a hike this morning! Just a few walkers setting off for a walk on a lovely sunny morning. With no wind today, it was time to head North but we were in no hurry so had a relaxing start, even had a chat with our neighbours in their brand-new van and yes, it is their first van so we can understand their indecision when they first arrived! Then we sadly left this beautiful spot and drove to Wool along the usually closed Army Range Road and what a top route that is, hikers everywhere plus bikers and cyclist. There was even a cycling road race with marshals and flags everywhere ready to stop the traffic as the bikes whizzed past. We were going to Wool to drop the F2 Stoke 117 windsurfing board Ken Bartlett very kindly lent me in Spain when I broke my board:) We had trouble finding him even with the sat-nav but got there in the end. Ken invited us in and we had a nice chat before unloading the board and heading north. We wanted to get away from the coast as there was a lot of traffic so Mag pointed us to Blandford Forum instead of Ringwood. We stopped at a large Tesco before continuing to Salisbury. We were going to drive straight through but we have never been here before and the Cathedral looked very close and impressive. We found a parking place just over the fast-flowing River Avon and walked towards the Cathedral passing a nervy Heron feeding in a stream:) There are loads of Tudor style buildings and the huge ornate Cathedral was one of the best we have seen, surrounded by a large area of parkland. Although it was £7 a head to get in the main church you could walk around the large cloisters free. However, the biggest surprise of all, you entered a large side room surrounded by huge stained-glass windows and there in the middle was the Magna Carta document!!! Well not the original signed at Runnymede (Windsor) but one of 40 copies made at the times to be distributed around the country! A very smart elderly gentleman with a stick was giving information about the document and how it was written by literate men using swan feather quills, they had to be from female birds called Pens and the quills were fashioned with knives – hence - penknives, well you learn something new every day:) Sadly, you were not allowed to take photos and there were notices everywhere, I set up my camera to take a pic but an embarrassed Mag said ‘please don’t’!!! We had a quick look round the quaint town before setting off back to the van, passing Edward Heath, a Prime Minister from the 70’s large house now opens to the public. Back on the road we started to look for somewhere to stop for the night. After passing some of Salisbury Plain with its tank crossing points we went over a canal so I took the next left to try and find it. Mag soon discovered it was the Kennet and Avon canal and after travelling up and down past beautiful thatched cottages we found a quiet lay-by near the canal near Pewsey. We watched the boats passing under the arched bridge before having a welcome cuppa. With the weather looking promising for tomorrow we hope to get the bikes off as we love a bit of canal cycling:) Monday 14th May – bike ***** Kennet & Avon Canal (Near Pewsey Wharf to Little Bedwyn) sunny but breezy. Quiet night near the Kennet and Avon Canal which links London with Bristol and was built in the 1800s. Woke to a sunny but breezy morning. My friends were enjoying a windsurfing session on the River Stour at Bradfield in the north wind! I texted to arrange the pick up of another F2 Ride 282 to replace the one I broke in France from a man in Northampton for the princely sum of £40, I love an eBay bargain:) We were up and ready fairly early for us and with picnic packed we left the van at about 9.30. As we are in the middle of the Vale of Pewsey a fairly level section of the canal, we consulted our ‘Inland Waterways Map of Great Britain’ and with Devizes a bit too far the Bristol way, we went toward London which had lots more locks and places of interest:) We love a canal bike ride and this was no exception, made even better by the clear blue sky crisscrossed with jet vapor trails, and field after field of vibrant yellow rape, even if a little smelly now. The locks soon started and we stopped to watch a couple of narrow boats go through one, always good to watch. Then we came to a basin with a large boat under repair with an old crane and cottages where we met some Australians having a few days on a narrow boat, we actually biked past them several times! Just around the corner we came to the 502 yard ‘Bruce’ tunnel and we watched the Ossie’s disappear into the dark. It was watercraft only through the tunnel and the tow path went over the top but we still got to the other end before the Australians:) Next place of interest was the Crofton Pumping Station used to pump water to the high section of the canal. We left the bikes and walked across a lock, under the railway and up to the pump house, fully covered in scaffold due to extensive renovation with an impressive brick chimney set behind. Due to building work there were guided tours only, one was in full swing when we got there for £3.5 per head but we just followed the signs to the shop/café and saw the massive steam engines and managed to get some pics but the best pic was of Mag sitting under the huge chimney! We met a couple of young ladies biking over several days from Reading to Bristol, then a bit further along we stopped for a chat with an elderly couple who were walking the length of the canal in sections. They had walked most of the coastal paths in West Country, most impressive:) The land now dropped away and there were more locks. We came to Great Bedwyn with a big church but it was across the canal with awkward access so we continued looking for a spot to end our ride as we were getting tired and hungry and the path was bumpy in places. Then we came to Little Bedwyn, left our bikes and headed over the steep railway bridge to explore a lovely little village of thatched cottages with a nice church on a little green used for community events:) Now heading back we stopped at the first lock away from the village, we crossed the narrow lock and had our delicious tuna salad in the sun watching four Red Kites:) It was then just a matter of riding the ten miles back luckily, we had a tail wind. I was tempted to continue to Pewsey Wharf but we were knackered so called it a day. This has been our longest bike ride of the year covering nearly 20 miles being out 5 hours. After a cuppa and doze in the van we decided to move closer to Northampton. We would like to be home tomorrow as it might be breezy on Wednesday and we are having our haircut on Thursday! We drove to Pewsey which was much bigger than expected and were glad we didn’t bother biking there then on to Marlborough, Swindon, Oxford, Towcester and ending up near Gayton Junction, on the Grand Union Canal just below Northampton. We were relieved to get there as the road was very busy especially with lorries:( Sadly the only carpark we found had a height restriction so we parked in the lane and hope we have a quiet night although the nearby M1 is a bit noisy! Photo Gallery Here |
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