Tuesday 19 June 2007

What a team.

29 Locks, 3½ Miles, Now moored at Sells Green.
430 locks, 548 miles, 17 Tunnels, 13 swing bridges and 9 lift bridges since Nov 2006

After a relaxing week-end Monday morning we were all primed up and ready to go so at 7am we set off with the objective of arriving at lock 44, the top of the flight at 8am when BW unlock them. This we achieved with ease only to find that we were not first in the queue. At 8.06am we entered lock 44 and we exited lock 29 at the foot of the flight at 10.26am, 2 hours and 20 minutes which we thought was a good effort.

As there are moorings available here we stopped for half an hour for a cuppa and a snack before the doing the final 7 locks to Sells Green. Just after noon we moored up at the Sells Green water point, 4½ hours actual travelling time which we all considered a bloody good effort.
After lunch and a rest we wandered into the village to get the lay of the land and visit the Devizes Caravan and Camping motor camp site next to the canal. We introduced ourselves to the duty manager at the camp and were given the freedom of the camp to have a look around. The camp fees were of interest in that they have adults, children and concessionaries with low, mid, and high seasons. For club members the fees are cheaper than what we would expect to pay in NZ on a dollar for pound scenario but for non members having to pay a £5 site fee it worked about the same price.

The camp was officially opened in 1999 and was an excellent site with very good facilities. We wandered around the camp and spoke to a couple of the campers before returning to the boat.
While chatting with Derek and Christina on the stern deck of Kalimera a hire boat went past with a family from Papakura NZ on board plus about 5 other hire boats crewed by Canadians. The place is over run with colonials.
This evening I managed to do some fishing resulting in 4 Bream, the biggest being about 2lb in weight. I was quite pleased with the result only to be out done by another fisherman by the bridge who hauled in an 11lb Carp.

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