Day 63– Stonehenge to Bath

We were away from the hostel near Stonehenge at about 6.30 am…. It was cool and there was a light drizzle which continued for most of the meeting. It was rather cool at about 15 degrees so I had a couple of clothing layers on plus a rain jacket.

The first 12 kms were on cycle tracks and gravel roads…. At one stage we passed beside land that was used by the army for live tank warfare drills… the sign on the side of the road said “don’t pick up or handle any objects in the fields”. from what I could see there were no real fences to keep people out! Quite strange really.

After this we rode on sealed roads until we reached Pewsey for breakfast. As this was at the 23 km mark, I was starving. The cafe served a traditional English breakfast of eggs, sausage, hash brown, mushrooms and cooked tomatoes with some toast of course! All of this was topped off with a cappuccino.

At this time the drizzle continued and we continue on after breakfast to Devizes at the 45 km mark. It was here that we joined the Kennet and Avon canal which was our route almost all the rest of the way to Bath… approx 35 kms.

The canal we saw had a manual lock system that is vastly different to that we have seen in France and other places in Europe. The canals also seem narrower and as a consequence the boats are narrower that use the canal. The lock system is also very close together due to the topography of the area. We saw the lock numbers beginning at lock 50 and near Bath the number was about 20. In one part there were about 10 locks one after the other with minimal distances between them. Quite amazing.

The number of boats either traveling on the canal or tied up along the banks and in marinas was staggering. We saw one boat for sale and the sale price quoted was £120k…. Really!

A lot of the boats traveling on the canal seemed to be rental boats… I spoke to one of those at a lock and it seems that many are rented for 4-5 days and they are used to travel partway up the canal and back… I must admit the time spent sorting out locks at regular intervals would drive me nuts.

The weather at this stage was starting to clear up so it was very pleasant riding even though there was no sun and importantly NO WIND!

We made a stop at Bradford on Avon which was lovely as we had a “Devonshire Tea”. So it was a scone with jam and clotted cream and of course with a cup of English tea all served in a teapot!

It was a good break to enjoy the fare and the views of the canal with boats coming and going.

After afternoon tea it was on to Bath along the canal which took us almost into Bath central.

We are staying the night at the Bath St Christopher Hostel which is part of the chain of hostels which includes the Paris St Christopher where we stayed earlier.

The hostel is fine and we are 12 bed mixed dormitory and we have met a couple of young American girls travelling in England …. I think they are very impressed with the riding adventure we have undertaken….not sure whether they will like my snoring tonight.

Thankfully there is free washing and drying facilities which are being used to the max by us after a couple of days of riding and particularly the wet conditions today!

Today we did a little over 80 kms and climbed about 430 metres

The photos today are:

The route

An ominous sign!!!

Arrived at the canal

A boat travelling on the canal

A couple of boats in a lock

A series of locks with short distance between each

I didn’t know Jake came from here???

Devonshire Tea!!!

The canal brother goes over a river( the Avon) and a railway line

Our first view of Bath near the end of the ride