Woolhampton

Lat/Long N51.39539 W001.18201

Map reference  SU 57007 66585

Distance 6 miles

Total 339 Locks 8 Tunnels

Running total mileage 475.3 miles

At long last we have moved on from Newbury and are now at Woolhampton which is notorious among narrow boaters for its lock and swing bridge at the point at which the River Kennet rejoins the canal creating a bit of a flow. Have checked it tonight and it doesn’t seem too bad for the morning. Today’s travel has been fairly good as we have been moving with the current which speeds things up a bit hence 6 miles and 8 locks. The lock shown below is a bit unusual since if does not have brick sides like most locks but just has turf sides (hence turf lock!). There is a turf lock on the Exeter canal nearer to home but I can’t remember whether it has just dirt sides like this one.

Slight cause of concern today was the fact that we found the bilges awash with water. In fairness it has taken 12 months for them to get into this state as it was only today that I found a means of looking under the floorboards. Damp carpet in the rear cabin was the incentive to investigate. The likelihood seems to be that we probably have a slight leak in our domestic water system somewhere which, over 12 months, has filled the bilge. Spent a happy hour bailing out the bilge so will now have to investigate where the water leak is.

Tomorrow aiming to make it to Theale swing bridge and after that hoping to be in Reading by Thursday (fingers crossed!).

Monkey Marsh Turf Lock (scheduled Ancient Monument)