The Hodma'dod: As it is in the beginning so shall it be at the end

We started our trip down the K & A on May 5th and ended it exactly 4 weeks later.

We started our trip down the K & A in a storm with winds gusting to 40mph and ended it exactly 4 weeks later in a storm with winds gusting to 40mph

We left Bath in a torrential rain storm (remind me - this is late spring/early summer isn’t it?) with NB Pema to share the locking with and we had a very pleasant (apart from the drenching) journey down onto the River Avon. What none the the guide books tell you is the severe paucity of mooring spaces. Once clear of Bath there are only 10 boat spaces spread over 3 locations before the Floating harbour at Bristol. We were lucky at Bitton as there was one space available so we breasted up with Pema and had a very tranquil mooring for the night, a really idilic spot. The following day we set off thinking that we may moor at Keynsham Thats spelt K E Y N S H A M (Anyone who knows what Radio Luxembourg was will understand what I’m talking about, anyone who doesn’t know what Radio Luxembourg was - lucky you for being so young)

There was one spot there and we pulled in but having investigated it decided it wasn’t ideal and lacked anywhere for the dogs so we carried on to Hanham lock where we found NB Pema already moored and joy of joys it had space and joy of joys it was 48 hours and joy of joys it was very near 2 pubs. So we stopped, had a great meal at the Chequers at Saturday lunch time and a good walk with the dogs both days. Checking the weather forecast for Monday showed that very strong winds were due around midday so we set off around 8.00am to try to get moored up before they arrived and that we did manage. We are tucked nicely into an inlet at Oporto Quay almost opposite the SS Great Britain. We are glad we are tucked away given the winds last night and today. In fact we saw NB Terino mid afternoon appearing to be leaving the harbour although we thought they were staying longer but an exchange of texts confirmed that they were purely moving to try to find more sheltered mooring as they were taking a battering where they had been.

This morning we finally succumbed to the cough that has been plaguing us both for the last 3 weeks and took ourselves to the local NHS walk in clinic and got ourselves some antibiotics which hopefully will stop us sounding like 40 a day smokers.

This afternoon we went round Brunel's masterpiece the SS Great Britain. A great experience and well worth it.

Tomorrow we remain here and will try to get up to see the Clifton Suspension bridge as we need to give the girls a day off from being buffeted around in the boat.