Introduction
On the day after New Year’s, my parents and I went for a walk along the Kennet & Avon Canal. On a previous occasion we had made it as far as the village of Woolhampton, so that’s where we started this time. We walked as far as Newbury.
Rural section
The first section of canal ran through a rural landscape, by which I mean that it was lined with gravel pits, with the railway running alongside, and an occasional field or wood.
Soon we encountered a familiar problem; a tree had fallen across the path. But it wasn’t blocking it; we could easily duck under.
The next fallen tree wasn’t so easily evaded; a large one this time and with all its branches, completely covering the towpath and extending out into the canal. I’ve never climbed a tree sideways before (in fact it’s many years since I climbed trees at all). We had to climb about a metre up, breaking off branches to get through, then down the other side. It took us some minutes to get through; inside the tree we couldn’t see out, so we had to take some care not to emerge into the canal.
After all that we realised that there might have been another way around by the river that runs alongside the canal at this point (though we didn’t go back to check it).
We met some other walkers later and warned them about the tree. In turn they told us there were a couple of points where we’d have to jump water running across the towpath, but it was reassuring to hear that they had in fact made it from Newbury.
Industry opposite
The next stretch of canal featured an industrial estate opposite.
Second rural section
We sat on a bench by Monkey Marsh Lock (great name) to have lunch. This is an original grass-sided lock - back when, they couldn’t be bothered to build the edges properly. Most of these have been rebuilt but two are preserved.
Beyond the lock we had to jump a small unscheduled stream that was running across the towpath (the first of three, none of which were particularly challenging). A little further on we saw a helicopter marked ‘electricity’ flying low beside the power line opposite, presumably trying to locate a break. (My guess would be that another tree had fallen on it somewhere.)
Approaching Newbury
The canal ran beside a nature reserve and into Newbury itself.
In Newbury itself, we had some cake in a canalside café. Mum ventured into the tourist information centre for a leaflet and we did their town walk - interesting, although it was already getting dark by that point. Then to the railway station and away.
(Dad also took pics of this walk, if you want another view.)