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This is an extraordinary piece of Georgian engineering that deserves to be far better known. The Kennet and Avon Canal, running from Bradford-on-Avon to Newbury, is an 140km (87 mile) stretch of waterway. The challenge facing engineer John Rennie was how to enable the canal to travel up the side of a hill on the outskirts of Devizes. So many steps were needed in the steep-sided hill that he could not provide the normal flight-of-locks system, which would have involved building a lock followed by a basin followed by a lock, each directly above the other. Because Rennie’s locks – completed in 1810 – had to be so close together, he had the brilliant idea of building the basins at the sides of the locks to hold enough water to allow them to work – and these side basins can still be seen today, though the series is no longer complete.

This part of the Kennet and Avon Canal was in use until just before World War II. The remarkable flight of locks was in danger of being lost forever as dereliction set in, and it was only after a massive and lengthy work of restoration that the locks were returned to full working order and reopened in 1990. A total of 29 locks climb the hill, but central to this great work of engineering is the spectacular Caen Hill flight of 16, which run in a straight line up the hillside.

SECRETS

While you’re there

Visit the market town of DEVIZES, where the flight of locks end. The small town has some lovely old buildings including 16th-century shops, a castle and pubs.

Secret place to stay

THE BLACK SWAN HOTEL, Devizes (blackswandevizes.co.uk). Unpretentious, pretty and reasonably priced.

The Caen Hill flight is a daunting sight for pleasure boaters.