FALLING in the canal as he finished his final round was the last thing postman Kieran Moore needed at the end of an already eventful year.

Mr Moore's colleagues at Devizes sorting office have dubbed him as the Royal Mail's waterborne service after his involuntary ducking in the murky waters of the Kennet and Avon Canal at Brickham Bridge last Tuesday.

Mr Moore said he had been asked to do a second delivery to Bishops Cannings and thought it would take less time and be more pleasant to cycle along the towpath.

He said: "I had been down the towpath the week before and it was very nice, but we had had some horrendous rain in between and there had been some landslips across the path."

As he approached Brickham Bridge, he swerved to avoid a pile of mud, slipped on some wet stone and found himself in the canal.

He said: "I didn't have a lot of time to think about it. I just crawled to the bank and hauled myself out.

"I lost the bike, of course, and my bag went too. Fortunately, it was empty as I had already finished the round."

The bag was eventually retrieved by a boater in Horton but the cast iron pushbike is still in the canal.

Mr Moore said: "I was sopping wet. I had a good cup of coffee and got dried out.

"But the next day people I work with found out about it and the jokes started."

Mr Moore had already been the butt of good-natured remarks since September, when his wife Zoe gave birth to the couple's second child at the side of the road in Potterne, on the way to Devizes maternity unit.

Mr Moore said: "My wife went into labour and we got into the car at our home in Worton and headed for town. But when we got to Potterne her waters burst and by the time I got out of the car and went round to her side to see how she was, the baby was there."

Weighing six pounds 13 ounces, Penelope Newing-Moore is a sister forDylan, five.

Mr Moore said: "Dylan absolutely adores her and he is being incredibly helpful."

Delivering one's own children seems to be a family trait as Mr Moore's father, Keith, delivered his sister, Sarah, in similar circumstances.

Mr Moore is currently exploring a career change and is applying for teaching posts, having been helping out at Holy Trinity School in Great Cheverell, where Dylan is a pupil. He is also considering taking a teacher training course at Bath University.