Hidden Histories: Walking the Kennet and Avon Canal with Andy Marks

First published on the Queer River blog in September 2022

Queer River

A couple of weeks ago walked with Andy Marks, for the first time in real life after our digital Queer River walk. Andy was visiting Wiltshire from his base in Edinburgh, and this time we decided to move away from my local river (The Salisbury Avon), and walk along the Kennet and Avon Canal instead, at Devizes.

I’ve never felt the urge before to walk along a canal as part of Queer River, I’ve prioritised rivers and other wetlands, less obviously connected to industry and human transportation. But our previous walk had sparked an interest in the hidden or less known histories of waterways (including whaling and the Water of Leith), and once I started researching our local canal, my interest was piqued.

Canal at the bottom of Caen Hill Locks

Lock gate near Devizes

The Kennet and Avon Canal

‘TheKennet and Avon Canal is a

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