Canalside supermarket and railway station on the Kennet Navigation

Monday, 13 June 2011 10:27

So I left you in Newbury - we were waiting above Greenham Lock for some slower narrowboats in front of us.

Greenham Island Chandlery

I forgot to mention the small chandlery and services at Greenham Island ....

There is water (£2), rubbish (free) and overnight moorings (negotiable) at Greenham Island. It was once the base for Anglo Welsh hire boats. We left our hire boat Siver Swan here when we were on the K and A in 2000. ( I think that was the year!).

We were now on the River Kennet Navigation and below Greenham Lock, after Whitehouse Roving Bridge (53), we spotted some new bank side planting on the off-side. Beyond it is the Narrowboat pub and a Tesco. I do not know if it is still possible to moor here - it was once, but it might be worth a try. We didn't have time to stop so I would be interested if any other boaters have tried or will be trying to moor.

Tesco hidden by the trees ( I did not have my camera on in time!)

Above the next lock is Ham Marina - where our companion narrowboat left us. We pulled into the lock landing for Ham Lock as we could see the narrowboats ahead still in the lock.

The overhanging willow has not been cut down - or the walkway on the lock fixed. We notified BW of these when we came up nearly a month ago. Apparently they know about them - it must be on some list somewhere of "jobs to be done, sometime"! Meanwhile, boaters cope - how unusual! There were two boats coming up, so I had a bit of a wait - time for a cuppa!

At least there was a nice view of the old watermill, which is actually the back of Newbury Manor Hotel and is their River Bar Restaurant in the restored Grade ll building.

Eventually I was able to get going - almost forgetting I was on a river stretch - and loop into the lock around the willow. Bull's swing bridge and lock were next. Again the river leaves above, at Ham Lock, and enters below Bull's Lock.

Leaving Bull's Lock

Arriving at Widmead Lock we had another wait! Still, I sat on the bank and sunned myself in one of the brief spells of sunshine we had had. I was pretty tired by now and looking forward to mooring up. But we had another lock to do.

Widmead Lock

Below Widmead is the so called "Long Cut" and for some reason the pound was really down. One moored boat above Monkey Marsh Lock had its stern well out of the water with a good list. He would not get off in a hurry unless the water level rose.

Monkey Marsh has remained a turf lock - it is huge. Apparently the turf locks were built on scalloped brick foundations - hence the two scalloped locks further down. As the water was so low I wondered if these bricks would show - but no, it was not that low! This lock has been repaired and restored over the years. At the restoration of the K and A in the late 1980s it was excavated and rebuilt. There's a photo here: Pre restoration in 1976

Monkey Marsh timber construction at top gates

- note the huge cill stretching from the mark on the side to the gates.

Turf sides in Monkey Marsh Lock

We decided to moor beside Thatcham station - a good 48H mooring and surprisingly quiet. It had been a long hard day. The flow was quite fast so we remembered to moor stern first. We were joined by a hire boat later on in the evening who had fun trying to moor ahead of us! (He clearly had not been told that you may only legally run your engine between 8 am and 8pm).

Kennet and Avon Canal, Benham to Thatcham
5 hours 10 minutes, 5.94 miles, 9 locks