The Kennet and Avon Canal

This guidebook to walking along the Kennet & Avon Canal covers the 94 mile (152km) route from Reading to Bristol. The canal walk is split into 7 stages of fairly easy, level walking, of between 9¾ and 18½ miles, with advice on splitting on shortening the stages if needed. The book also includes 20 easy circular walks, ranging from 4¼ to 9 miles, taking in the best sections of the canal and visiting sites nearby, making this two guidebooks in one.

Alongside OS map extracts and detailed route descriptions, there are plenty of details on the history, heritage and wildlife encountered along the way. An itinerary planner is included for walkers who want to create longer or shorter stages, and there is useful practical information including details on accessing the walks by public transport and a list of accommodation available along the route. The result is a highly useful and fascinating companion to exploring the canal and its surroundings.

In the early 1800s the Kennet and Avon Canal provided an important direct trade route between London and Bristol. Today the waterway weaves its way through the rolling chalk contours of the North Wessex Downs to the southern edge of the Cotswolds, passing vibrant towns and cities as well as picture-postcard villages with thatched cottages, ancient churches and cosy pubs. Fascinating features - such as Crofton Pumping Station and Beam Engines, the impressive Caen Hill flight of locks at Devizes, the aqueducts at Avoncliff and Dundas,  the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Georgian Bath and Bristol's vibrant Floating Harbour - are explored as the canal makes its journey across southern England.

October 2016

The owner of this B&B has now retired and so accommodation is no longer available here;

Bridge House, Canal Bridge, Semington, Trowbridge, Wiltshire.

Steve Davison has become a well-known and popular author of guides for the specialist walking and exploration publisher, Cicerone. In his own latest exploration – Walking the Kennet and Avon Canal – he offers two ways of enjoying both the route of the canal and the places of interest within a short distance of its banks.

The first section of the book covers the whole length, which he has divided into seven sections, starting from Reading, where the River Kennet joins the River Thames. In its second section the book has a series of 20 circular walks starting from points along the canal and taking in places of interest in the immediate surroundings. Each is in the region of six miles, and they take in stops such as to see the famous Crofton pumping station and beam engines near Great Bedwyn, and sights such as that of the chalk figure of a white horse on a hillside at Alton Barnes, the Caen Hill series of locks, and at Dundas the aqueduct and the junction with the restored remaining 500m of the Somerset Coal Canal.

This is a book full of information, from the introduction that includes the geology of the surrounding area along the route, the ecology – plants and wildlife to look out for – then throughout its pages maps, travel information and restaurant and other facilities, including accommodation. There is also a third suggestion for making the most of the pleasures of following the canal, a cycling route, divided into three stages.

Towpath Talk magazine