This ride from Bridgwater docks to Maunsel Lock is a ride through industrial history, war and the planets!

There is a story of rise, decline and rise again of the canal itself. Firstly, as the means of transporting goods in bulk from the docks to inland towns and factories, then a steady decline as the railways proved to be a faster and cheaper mode of transport. Finally, the canal lives again as a leisure facility for walkers, cyclists, water sports enthusiasts and canal boat holiday makers as well as permanent residents.

This canal as also played its part in the countries defence during WWII. It formed a large section of the Taunton Stop line which runs for 50 miles from the mouth of River Brue in Somerset to the mouth of the River Axe in Devon.

Along the ride, we’ll travel through a scale model of the solar system, which is part of the Somerset Space Walk which was opened on 9 August 1997 by British astronomer Heather Couper. Just outside Bridgewater, we’ll encounter Neptune and slowly arrive at each planet in turn until we reach the Sun at Maunsel Lock. The planets and distances between are scaled at 1:530,000,000, therefore, each millimetre of our journey represents 530km through space.

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