Kennet & Avon Canal
KENNET & AVON CANAL
What is now known as the Kennet & Avon combines the river Kennet, the Bristol Avon and a canal linking the two of them together to form an attractive route across southern England with numerous attractions. At Devizes the canal plunges down the Caen Hill Locks flight, probably the most impressive on the entire waterways network with sixteen of the 29 locks following one another in close sequence up the hillside. Dundas and Avoncliffe aqueducts cross the River Avon, while the canal’s entry to Bath features two tunnels, one of the country’s deepest locks, and an opportunity for a short detour along the Avon to moor up close to the famous Pulteney Bridge in the city centre. Other features including the journey through the former Bristol Docks, the remote rural length through the Vale of Pewsey and the two unusual surviving turf-sided locks of the Kennet combine to make a fascinating waterway.93 miles 106 locksMaximum dimensions: length 75ft (Bristol to Bath), 70ft (Bath to Reading) although a 71ft 6in narrowboat can pass the locks singly, beam 16ft (Bristol to Bath), 13ft 2in (Bath to Newbury), 14ft (Newbury to Reading)
