Day 8: Sand pits and Splashing

We had a quieter day today, Matthew took our washing to the laundrette whil Anthony, Charlotte and I tidied up , made some rice crispy bars and loom bands!

After lunch we went to the leisure centre, a search on the internet revealed that there was a leisure pool there with water slides. It was good fun although we were restricted to one hour  in the pool. We then went to Sydney Gardens which had a play area. It was a simple play area but the children loved messing around in the sand pit! All in all, a fairly relaxed but fun day. Tomorrow we move on and start making our journey back home. I did like exploring Bath, and I really enjoyed visiting the Roman Baths and seeing the amazing buildings like the Abbey. However, it all feels so big, busy with people and cars and a bit overwhelming. I do prefer country living and I'll be happy to be travelling along the canal back through pretty scenery with lots of green surroundings and wildlife.

Day 7: Walking Back in Time

We awoke to a lovely sunny day, perfect for exploring Bath. We made our way to the Roman Baths and spent a very enjoyable morning exploring them and learning all about the baths, We used portable phone guides which the children loved. It was an amazing place with very impressive masonry. It was also made very wheelchair accessible with only a couple of parts that I couldn't access. After a bite to eat for lunch, we made our way to the Fashion Museum (we bought a combined ticket at the Roman Baths for only a few pounds extra. I found it interesting see the way fashion has changed over the last 200 years but it wasn't Matthew's cup of ea. The children loved listened to more portable phone guides and completing sticker sheets. 

We weren't far from the Royal Crescent which I wanted to visit, so we also visited that and took some photos but it was getting late and windy and we still had to walk all the way back through the city to our boat. We had an enjoyable day and got a real taste of the the culture of Bath.

Day 6: Dead Rats and Journeys to the Centre of the Earth

We left Bradford Upon Avon fairly early with the intention of arriving in Bath around lunchtime. Unfortunately we travelled fairly slowly due to lots of boats moored on the canal. It is beautiful though, and so tranquil, that we didn't mind the slower paces. It reminded me of the Oxfordshire canal, it is so relaxing wth lots of interesting natual features to look at. We travelled over a couple of aquaducts which give a different perspective because we are then looking down on the landscape rather than up at it. 

Anthony and Charlotte were brilliant at working the swing bridges, they know exactly what to do but unfortunately still need a bit of help moving them because they aren't strong enough yet. 

We stopped in the pretty area of Bathampton for lunch and the proceeded to Bath.  There is a flight of about six locks leading into Bath city centre. We were going to moor in the centre near Pulteney Bridge so we carried on through all the locks, although there were moorings between these locks. Just before the Bath Deep Lock, the Dead Rat Musicians came up behind us and asked if we'd go down in the lock with them. We agreed and undertook the adventure together. We were rather apprehensive about squashing them - their boat looked rather small compared to us! It is a huge lock - it felt like we were going into the centre of the earth, never to return. The cill (step) was massive, it really was incredible how they built it. 

Unfortunately, when we got to Pulteney Bridge, the moorings were sectioned off and we weren't allowed to moor there! We did then turn back and take the river towards Bristol to see if there were any suitable moorings in that direction - we really didn't want to go back through all the locks again to the earlier moorings, it was 5pm at night and it would take a couple of hours to get to the moorings at the top of flight. However, the moorings along the river did not look good - too close to the bus station and there were lots of beer bottles around - not a good sign for boaters mooring on a Friday/Saturday night. We travelled back up through three locks, including Deep Lock. This was much more ferocious rising up in it, we got pushed around a bit and the depth made it feel a bit scary, I was glad to get to the top! We found a peaceful mooring sight with a few other boats. It felt much better and safer and it had a very good tow path for me. This will be our home spot for a few days.