Bradford-upon-Avon

We had such a pleasant night stop at Dundas Wharf. There is space for at least two boats just before the aqueduct (Bath side)and for 4 or 5 just after. The notice says 24hours only but the boat moored opposite us just before the aqueduct showed no sign of life and had definitely been there longer.

Not only were the surroundings beautiful bit the weather was more than kind. To crown it all Geoff was spotted, having his early morning cigarette through the side windows, by a gentleman on a bicycle who turned out to be filming for a series on the local area. He asked if he could come back with his cameraman and film and interview Geoff!! He duly arrived with his cameraman about half an hour later. In the meantime I had got myself up and dressed not wishing to miss out on the potential fame!! However my services were not required, only those of Geoff through the side doors (in his Captain Birdseye pose). We have no idea what programme it was for apart from the fact that it was a series on the west country.

We left later in the morning for the huge (4 mile) trip to Bradford where friends Tony and Di were coming to visit us. I decided to forgo my normal towpath walk and elected instead to sit in the cratch with Ellie and watch the world glide gently by enjoying this brief appearance of summer. Unfortunately she is no longer interested in these morning walks, in fact when I walked the mile from top of Bath to Bathampton a couple of days ago, I thought she would never make it.

As you can see from the pictures this is a very pretty part of the world (especially when the sun shines!). There are also a lot of boats moored along this section go travel is very slow....but who cares......

BW hard at work cutting back trees

On reaching Bradford about 11.45am we wanted to moor beneath the lock as space is limited above. It was also limited below but we managed to just get our bow on the end of the line. Geoff had just finished putting a mooring pin amongst the nettles for the stern when two boats further up decided to leave. We were tempted to stay where we were but the very noisy engine that was running in front of us decided us to move.

About 1/2 an hour after our arrival Tony and Di duly arrived together with the big planter box of salads and herbs which she had kindly planted up for us. This was originally a present from them last year and I did have good intentions about replanting for this year which came to nothing. So we left it with them on our way to Petroc in April and thanks to Di it is now residing on the roof again.
We had a good day with them, exploring Bradford again and ending up for an early dinner at the Lock Inn. We had harboured thought of trying their Boaters Breakfast which they advertise before our departure on Wednesday but our dinner experience quite put us off that idea!