The cumulonimbus clouds building over Devizes might have been a false alarm, the ones seen when we’d moored up for the night in Semington certainly weren’t. Quite the longest, loudest and most torrential thunderstorm we’ve ever experienced: we were quite glad to be in a steel box floating on water. Knocked the internet connection for six, that’s for certain!

The grills in the boat’s ceiling below the obligatory mushroom vents were leaking water into the boat like no tomorrow. Discovered subsequently the mushrooms had two positions: screwed up (max ventilation) and screwed down (more or less watertight). Ours had all been left up: another lesson learned. And one ceiling grille didn’t leak at all: on investigation there’s no mushroom vent above it– it’s just screwed to the ceiling for no immediately obvious reason. Another question for Piper Boats!

Arriving in Bradford on Avon (hyphens optional) you can see why it’s a proper-job Cotswolds tourist trap, even if they do bill it as a mini-Bath. Plenty of pictures on the web, but a few places that caught our eye…

A truly wonderful Tithe Barn.

Some lovely back streets.

The delightful Church of St. Laurence – an ancient Saxon church probably built in the 12th century.

A super little railway station straight out of Miss Marple.

Sunday afternoon bedlam at Bradford Wharf: a deep lock with decent moorings above and below, a winding hole, a busy hire base, a big wide-beam trip boat, pub moorings, water, sewage and rubbish service point and the Friday and Saturday hirers from Hilperton, Caen Hill and Bath all passing through make for occasional chaos and boats everywhere. A good spot for gongoozling as well as mooring for a couple of days!  And a small, friendly and splendid Indian Restaurant within 50 yards. Who could ask for more?