We sit out in spring while BW face £100,000 fine for breaches of safety

Moored Nr Lowes Swing Bridge (157), K&A Canal

Well we just happen to be close to the village where one of the two farmers came from who where killed back in December 2004 when their tractor fell into the K&A while trimming the hedges at Pewsey. Here is where we are moored this evening with Seend Cleeve in the background, the home village of Mark Wells who died in the tragedy along with his son Luke from Melksham.

 A hefty fine for British Waterways of £100,000 for breaches of safety.

Still the condition of those towpaths are dreadful.. in fact from the top of the Caen Hill flight of locks for most of the length to Reading they are really bad.  From this side of Caen Hill they are great, with the towpath being made up for very fast speeding bikes, runners, walkers and loads of disabled electric motorised whatevers.. it has been great to see those out, but maybe not so the speeding bikes some doing in excess of 10–15 mph.  This causes a problem with the dogs and trying to get them and me out of the way in time.

Most of the fast cyclists are not very patient, some even shouting to get out of the way as they speed along.. they don’t have any bells or give any warning that they are coming, and consequently when walking I am forever looking around for them.  Mind you I have trained Lucy to lie down flat off the towpath when she sees one coming, and more often than not she has warned me of one behind before I have noticed…

This morning a leisurely walk to Semington Bridge across the aqueduct.  The last time we were at the aqueduct at Semington it was still being built, and the road was only in the construction stage.  Today I was amazed at the ‘dual carriageway’ for the boats and a single carriageway for the cars underneath!!.. Pics of that tomorrow when we cruise to Bradford on Avon..

Back for lunch out on the towpath!

Yes plenty warm enough to get the chairs out of the cupboard, and get them far enough back out of the way of the cyclists and the like.. even then the majority didn’t slow down!!.. Bit nerve racking that, but hey we are towpath users too!

But an enjoyable day out in the warm sunshine.. tomorrow I do hope the weather is the same as we travel on ….