7/27 (Monday) – Kennett and Avon Canal

Today it alternated rainy and sunny and partly cloudy.  It was rather cool so most of us didn’t spend too much time top side. 

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Mid-day we arrived Crofton, home of the oldest working beam steam engine in the world, built in 1807.  The engine was originally used to pump water from a reservoir into the Kennett and Avon Canal.  Functionally it has been replaced by electrical pumps but  itis fired up monthly.  Unfortunately, we missed the monthly works by one day.

Old Steam Pump

Some of us walked up to the pump building for a quick look around.  Mary wandered off to see if there was a small village nearby.  A query to a passer-by yielded the information that there was a village about a half mile down the road.  That was a reasonable walk so she headed out.  A few minutes later the lady stopped by in her car and offered Mary a ride to the village, which she accepted.  It turned out the village was more like two or three miles away and it was Great Bedwyn, where we had moored the previous night.  So Mary had quite a hike along the tow path to get to the boat.  She made it just in time for lunch.  That was Mary’s Great English Countryside Adventure.

Unfortunately, the electric pumps that filled the top of the canal were apparently not working and the water level dropped, stranding the boat onto the muddy edge of the canal.  Even the assistance from another boat failed to work us off the bank but apparently moved us just enough that Karen was eventually able to work us loose.  Even once back into the canal we still occasionally got a bit stuck in the canal.  Karen said the water was a couple of feet lower than the usual depth.  Hopefully tomorrow the pumps will be working again.

Of course, it was still a very pretty section of the canal (as all the sections are). 

So today we had plenty of adventures.  Fortunately, the rest of the day was uneventful.  However, because of the low water David and Karen stopped the boat for the night much earlier than usual tonight.  Hoping for water in the canal tomorrow.