During the Industrial Revolution in the 18th/19th century, UK built a comprehensive network of canals to help facilitate the movement of trade across the country. It even helped to propel Britain to build its British Empire. Those were the good old days which are no more. Nowadays the canal network in UK is used mainly for leisure and tourism purposes.
THE HISTORY TO CAEN HILL LOCKS
The other week I went to Caen Hill Locks in Wiltshire. It is part of the Kennet and Avon Canal which first opened in 1794. The entire Kennet and Avon Canal is 140km and consist of 105 locks today. Caen Hill Locks is famous for being on a upward hill, but this wasn't a problem for the great British engineering during the Victorian era.
Caen Hill (pronounced ‘cane’ by the way), is one of the longest continuous flight of locks in the country - a total of 29 locks with a rise of 237 feet over 2 miles with a 1 in 44 gradient for anyone who's counting!
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Stupid me forgot to take a photo of the most impressive view when I went. I had to borrow this photo from my sister when she did a canal holiday here last year. This will give you a good idea of the landscape when why these locks are so remarkable. You have to remember, it's boats and barges going up hill in waters!!
As I mentioned before, Caen Hill Locks is 2 miles long, that's about 3.2km with a 72m rise and consists of 29 locks. They are locks 22 to 50 out of the entire 105 locks along the Kennet and Avon Canal. When these locks opened in 1810, they greatly reduced the goods transporation costs on the canal. Previously goods had to be unloaded from the barge, loaded onto a horse drawn railway to go uphill, and then reloaded back on the barge again to continue its journey. Now the barge could tranverse straight through the canal.
ICE CREAM AT THE LOCKS
Caen Hill Lock is divided into three sections. The lower section towards the Roman spa town Bath is 1.2km long and has 7 locks. The upper section towards Devizes has 6 locks. Today we're going the middle section that has 16 locks.
This section starts at the cafe located in between locks 44 and 45. The cafe used to be the lock keepers' cottage up till the late 19th century. There is ample parking at Caen Hill and the fee is a modest £1 paid in the honesty box at the cafe. Due to covid, the cafe is open for a limited time with a restricted menu. Luckily, ice cream was still on the menu!
LOCKS OPERATION
After ice cream it was time to explore the locks. The 16 locks on this hilly section only spans about 1 km and makes a very pleasant walk. There are bridges along the canal, visitors can easily get from one side to the other to explore the locks and to access the car park. Due to the terrain, the pound, ie the distance between each lock is very close together. As a boat comes out of a lock, it pretty much has to go into the next one immediately.
There are side pools by each lock that holds around two Olympic swimming pools volume of water. The extra water helps to make sure the lock is filled with enough water so the boat can rise upwards to the next level.
As beautiful as the Caen Hill Locks may be, the most devasting thing when visiting is not to see the locks in operation. Afterall, this section is a scheduled ancient monument, a piece of great British engineering from two centuries ago. It would be a pity not to see it in action. When I arrived at the cafe, I saw a boat leaving the lock by the cafe, and I couldn't see any other boats behind it. Luckily a few moments later, one appeared when I was walking downstream. And I managed to capture the entire process on video!! I'll make sure to share after I've edited my video.
I spoke to the guy on the boat. He said all his jobs had been cancelled because of Covid so decided to take his boat out on the canal. He was on the return leg of a 6 week 400 mile journey. The same journey would take 2 hours by car!! Ignoring covid, I think this is a great lifestyle!
RIVER ECOLOGY
As the railway network expanded in the late 19th and early 20th century, canals became of lesser importance for trade. This section of the canal gradually fell into disuse and closed in 1948.
By the 1960's restoration work was carried out along the canal and to clean it up. I know nothing about nature, but I did see mixture of woodland, ponds, plants, and wildlife around. I coudn't name any of them though! The lastest addtion, the Diamond Jubilee Wood was one of the 60 woods planted around the country in 2012 to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee (60 years on the throne).
Today the canal is used primarity for pleasure purposes, just like the gentlemen I met. I'd love to do a canal holiday one day, I think it would be so relaxing just to go with the flow of the canal and let nature do the navigation for me. One day. Hopefully.
You can checkout all my travel post on the Pinmapple here or click on Mr Pinmapple below
