Seeking Lost Canals

Yesterday we cruised down to Abingdon. The weather was good, bright and quite warm.  We came through the locks with other boats each time, 3 others moving same way as us. Last week we only saw one other boat moving all week!

leaving Sandford lock with dutch barge Mimosa behind

and Paringa ahead

Last night we had rain, lots of it, and this morning we laid in bed listening to the rain and not getting up! When the rain had stopped we set out to find the old route of the Wilts and Berks Canal.

The site of the old junction with the Thames, the lock onto the canal was where the stone wall across the road is now.

Using a bit of imagination you can find the line of the canal along the edge of the hedge on the left,

along the grass verge,

between the back gardens,

and across the fields.
A new junction has been made a little further downstream and a few hundred yards along a new cut has been started to link the Thames with the Kennet and Avon near Melksham through Swindon.

Could be a long while before boats can get there, but then many of our canals have been restored and re -routed by dedicated groups, working hard to achieve the system we have now. And we are grateful.