West from Devizes

[forestforestforest1]

Our first ever narrowboat holiday. We're going West from Devizes (avoiding those scary Caen Hill locks!!!) We pick up Friday 4pm and return 10am Monday.

 

Has anyone got any tips:

 

Places to stop?

Pubs?

Where to turn around?

etc... etc..

 

Any advice very much appreciated

 

Thanks so much

[bottle]

pssst. to avoid the locks you better go east.

[classicstove]

List of pubs below

 

If you find any more, or the info needs updating, please let me know

 

http://www.canalandriversidepubs.co.uk/pubs/K-&-A.htm

[deletedaccount]

The cross guns at avoncliff aqueduct is nice and the cafe/restaurant opposite is good too. Then there's the george at bathampton which is reasonable. Both have decent outside places to sit where you can watch the river or canal.

[David Schweizer]

pssst. to avoid the locks you better go east.

Perhaps he means Foxhangers, who have a lot more hire boats than White Horse Boats at Devizes Wharf

[forestforestforest1]

apparently we're starting a couple of miles west of Devizes and head west, away, to avoid the Caen locks

 

Yes, Foxhangers

Edited April 11, 2011 by forestforestforest1

[bottle]

Now I have the full facts, go west young man.:rolleyes:

[canaldrifter]

If you moor at Seend, don't bother with the canalside restaurant, The Barge Inn. Walk for 10 minutes up the road in to the village and check out The Brewery public house.

 

Very friendly. Good real ales. Good home cooked food. And sample 'Wacky', the Thatchers Scrumpy, straight from the barrel.

 

Tone

[Doug Scullery]

Places to stop? Pretty much anywhere you like the look of, you may encounter some shallow edges (especially between Semington and Bradford) which can make mooring a little tricky, but that's all part of the fun.

 

Pubs? The Lock Inn below Bradford Lock is quirkily fun, and pretty cheap for big plates of food. The Hop Pole (a short walk from Limpley Stoke Bridge between Avoncliff and Dundas aquaducts) does really outstanding pub grub, well worth a stroll off the canal for, IMHO.

 

Where to turn around? Again there's plenty of winding holes to choose from, you won't need to plan where to turn too much. One thing that might be worth remembering is (assuming your boat is longer than 50ft or so, if not you can ignore this) that if you decide to turn in Bath without doing any of the Widcombe Locks, you will need to turn by Bath Narrowboats, otherwise you're faced with either reversing back to the winding hole or going down two locks just to come back up them again, not the end of the world but a bit pointless unless you're continuing down to the river or need to top up your water tank.

 

Enjoy