On top of Kennet & Avon

After a rather damp afternoon I've reached the summit of the K&A. That is to say I've been going uphill so far and now face a relaxing 12 lock free miles to Devizes before reaching the Caen Hill flight to begin the descent to Bath and Bristol.

This canal has a reputation for being hard work and it is true. There are over 100 locks, averaging two per mile so far, and also a few swing bridges, some are powered but there remain several manual ones which are very heavy to push open. One was so bad I had to use a rope to pull it open with the boat.
That said the scenery more than makes up for the effort. I was a little unsure about doing the trip in late Autumn rather than summer but the colours are quite stunning and of course the canal is quieter out of season.

Autumn

I stopped overnight in Hungerford earlier in the week. A pretty little town where the main industry seems to be antique shops.

Running alongside the canal is the small river Dun which also bisects the town.

Beyond Hungerford the canal continues to rise gently through a mixture of woodland and open pasture.

At the Crofton flight if 6 locks is a pumping house containing the oldest working beam engine in the world. Unfortunately it was closed, one drawback of travelling out of season. For the uninitiated the pumping house is used to pump water from the bottom of the lock flight back up to the top to maintain the water supply at the higher level. Each boat passing through the flight will use several thousand gallons of water.

After reaching the top of the flight the canal passes through a short tunnel before emerging once again into a blaze of Autumn gold.

Shortly afterwards the rain arrived and I moored up in near the wonderfully named village of Wootton Rivers where I'm now snuggled up by the fire. The forecast for the weekend is good and I look forward to an easy lock free 12 miles to Devizes tomorrow before descending the Caen Hill flight on Sunday.
I'll leave you with a couple of shots of the beautiful tree lined summit.