Bathampton

A leisurely start to the day. Pat walked ahead to the first lock on the canal proper and telephoned to say that she had control of the lock. This is because the lock gates are very close to the river and as there can be a current running across the entrance to the canal it makes hovering around difficult sometimes. So I was just able to motor directly into the lock. After that Pat lifted the top paddles and left me to carry on, while she walked ahead to get the deep lock (19 feet rise) ready. By the time we had reached the top of that boats were starting to come down, so locks were all in our favour. At the top we just drifted along, past all the moored boats, to Bathampton where we moored past the bridge. Once settled I took advantage of the nice weather to do a bit of paint touching up and then took the bike out to recce the village. After lunch I cycled up to Claverton to have a look at the historic pumping station as it was one of the rare open days. The waterwheel, which is always shown in the pictures, is much more impressive close up, however the huge gear wheels and the beam pumps themselves are awe inspiring. I was amazed that the teeth of the large gear attached to the water wheel and that mesh with the smaller 3.2:1 gear driving the beams, are made of oak.
Pat wanted some last minute shopping, so I took the cycle back to Bath. A most enjoyable ride.