Ena waiting to enter a lock by the Barge Inn

We cruised up to Sells Green today. We were aiming to get to a little further to the bottom of the Caen Hill flight of locks and then turn around and begin to make our way back to Bradford.

Last night's mooring was at the foot of the 5 lock Seend flight so our first task was to negotiate that obstacle. Up til then we'd only done one lock so this was a bit of a test. We came through fine helped, a little, by boaters coming the other way. Today's shot is of Ena posing by the Barge Inn waiting to enter the third lock in the flight. You might have expected a shot of the Caen Hill flight but as we didn't do the flight this was more appropriate for the day.

In the event we found ourselves at Sells Green, on a good mooring at lunch time, near a pub so stopped for an excellent coffee. We had lunch back on the boat then decided to walk to and up the Flightl rather than motor up and not find a mooring.

What a magnificent structure Caen Hill Flight is; a staircase of 16 locks with 7 conventional locks below and 6 above leading into Devizes. We walked to the top, had tea and scones, thought about becoming a Friend of the Canal and River Trust, then walked down past the lock pounds back to the boat.

We had to motor up to the bottom of the Flight anyway to turn around. A trick operation, made more challenging by a stiff wind, which was successfully completed incurring only minor bumps.

It really was time then to turn the bow back to Bradford going through as many of the Seend Flight (those we had only just come up this morning) as we could before mooring for the night. In the event we came through 4 of the locks in tandem with another boat which made the passage much easier and quicker, mooring for the night above the bottom lock.

That will leave a pleasant cruise back to Bradford tomorrow. A successful if energetic day. Who says bring on a canal is restful and relaxin? You need to be moored up for that!