Untied from the pontoon at The Boathouse at Newbridge about 10:30 ...
... there are some big houses up on the hill ...
... and the views are spectacular ...
... but soon closes in as we pass through the valley ...
... not much traffic today ...
... has this been left deliberately? I hope the ground is too wet for it to spread
Signs of a very, very old wooden bridge under bridge 209 Kelston Park Railway now part of the cycle track
cooo, that's a big one ...
... lots of gentle curves in the river ...
... and a few rowers about to keep us on our toes!
A bivouac or a tent? There are no anglers about ...
... but there is this Caterham Seven parked at RLL Boats ...
... and Venice + motor - FMC working boats at Saltford
... and so into Kelston Lock ...
... with a 3'1" drop and beautiful old stone walls and steps ...
by the Kelston Weir and Riverside hostelry ...
... and then Out of the Blue - very nice ...
... and kids having fun building a raft ...
... you can see for miles and miles ...
... and see tents (or bivouacs) in the woods - the boat is in the throes of being fitted out ....
... a lovely splash of colour ...
... in all that green
Lads whiling away the school holidays on the lock gates at Saltford ...
... they were swinging from a rope on the other side of the river, dropping into the water and swimming over to the lock landing ...
... but they were no problem to us at all, they even helped to close the gate as we left albeit a couple of them stood on top of the gate as it closed - my heart was in my mouth!
Saltford weir in flow ...
... and this strange building just above the lock - anyone know what it is?
According to Nicholson's Guide the water point (and towpath) is on our right but that's wrong as they're both on the left and we could easily have mistaken this pontoon as a private mooring ...
... facilities only available from April to September.
Oops ...
... never mind - live in the caravan instead!
... he must be waiting for the lock too ...
... but hasn't left enough space for us to get in front of him on the lock landing - George is on the tiller and has decided to wait in the channel while that boat comes up Swineford Lock ...
... a swan comes to greet me as we wait ...
... and here comes another boat for the lock - will we all be able to fit?
.. of course we will ...
... with a little bit of lateral thinking!
... although we can't open this gate yet as I couldn't move out of the way until the hire boat had left
There should be some moorings around here somewhere ...
... brilliant, a lovely spot ...
... a colourful trip boat comes under the disused railway bridge
... and Bywater hotel boats pass tied abreast.
We didn't find the cycle/workers path on the disused railway a pleasure to walk as it's more like a motorway for cyclists - not my cup of tea at all!
The weather forecast is very heavy rain tomorrow - and if that happens we're not moving from here!
Lovely pictures as always.
ReplyDeleteThe unidentified structure looked a bit like the old furnace at Moira to me and a bit of searching found this,
http://www.bittonfamilies.com/KelstonMill.html
It is one of the two furnaces (the other is the ivy covered mass to the right) at the Kelston brass mill.