Devizes

 

We pulled pins at 08.30 from Honey street and soon came across this boat. It says there is room for over 50 people inside . I bet that would be a tight squeeze.

    

 

 

 

Just loved these signs that we passed .First you see the one on the left and then you get around the corner and then you see the other one.

After a few hours cruising we pulled into the wharf at Devizes and were surprised to find so many empty moorings. Although not long after mooring it soon filled up.

We are moored next to Devizes cemetery and Carolyn continues her search for my final resting place.

The Kennet and Avon canal has loads of pill boxes along its length as it was to be a defensive line had the Germans invaded during the War. This one is protected and is a Grade 2 listed building.

Snuff street . I wonder how it got that name.

The Silk Mercer is another Wetherspoons pub . Did we go in ?? Of course we did….Just the ticket.

After another good lunch at Spoons it was off for a walk around Devizes. Its a shame but the castle can not be viewed as it has now been converted into flats with some of them fetching £2 million each .

One of the oldest houses in Devizes is Sextons cottage and set in the grounds of the church, It is a former Almshouse and built in 1615.

With the Devizes food festival on at the moment and plenty to see and do, tomorrow will be another full and fun packed day.

                                                                                           Happy Days

Funny looking Horse’s

With Crofton Pumping station still closed we pulled pins and continued on our journey West. Maybe on our way back this way it will be open.

There are some funny looking Horses in these parts.

At the locks Hamish likes to chill out in the shade.

We are now approaching the Summit of The Kennet and Avon Canal and this is what can happen when you moor in a short pound between locks. We met a Canal and River Trust worker on the Summit and he said that they are having problems with their pumps and are struggling to keep levels up.

Following Nb Oakfield through The Bruce tunnel on the Summit of the K&A Canal.

At the other side of the Bruce tunnel you pass Burbage Wharf and the crane which was fully restored in 2010.

There were loads of men with Anoraks littering the towpath with cameras. It turned out that there was a famous steam train travelling on the main line. It was a black one !

Oh look !!! A water pumping station with loads of pump parts scattered all over the site..Reminds me of a life long ago !!!!!!

There's chilling while cruising and then there's chilling while cruising..Now that's got me thinking!

We are now moored at Honey Street in The Vale of Pewsey under a funny looking horse. With The Barge Public House next to our mooring i suspect that we will be making a visit very shortly…

                                                                                 Happy Days

Crofton

 

After an enjoyable day at Hungerford we pulled pins at 08.15 and headed towards Crofton.

Its not long before we get to Hungerford Marsh lock. This lock is the same as the one at Fenny Stratford on the Grand Union Canal with a swing bridge in the middle of the lock. this one was a lot harder to operate and Carolyn struggled a bit…. If only i could have got off to help her !!!!

Now that's Green. As we head into Wiltshire the countryside seems to come alive.

There you go …Sometimes i do get off and give Carolyn a hand.

That's a bit close. With the train going at 100 mph and us at 2 mph i know what mode of transport i prefer.

That's a different way of controlling water flows .

Keith just cant bring himself to look around as Carolyn steers Inca into a lock. PS She did ok !!!

What a pair of Plonkers !!!!!    And they haven't even been drinking.

What a lucky shot. This duck was flying past us as we were about to leave a lock and i just happened to have the camera in my hand at the time.

A great looking roof garden on this widebeam boat.

We finally arrived at Crofton and picked up a couple of lovely moorings below the pump station. But just our luck it was shut. So only one thing to do, get out the chairs and wine then have a lovely afternoon with Keith and Ann (nb Oakfield) chilling out on the Towpath.

                                                                                                                      Happy Days

Hungerford

 

We were lucky enough to pick up a couple of moorings just above the lock at Kintbury and decided to give The Dundas Arms a try. What a great disappointment that was. A pub that seems to think its something else. The prices were a lot higher than normal canal side pubs and they were certainly a very bit mean with their portions, But the one thing that really annoyed us was the 10% service charge that was added on to the bill (even on the drinks, which we walked up to the bar and got ourselves).We wanted to pay for our drinks when we arrived but they insisted that we put it all on the bill with the food, we now know why the were so insistent on doing that. No doubt the 10% service charge was in the small print somewhere but all 4 of us failed to see it.The Dundas Arms is one place that we will never return too.

What a silly name for a boat. What was even more silly was that it moored on the water point and was still there the next day when we left. Moorings are in short supply on this canal, but rules are rules and if we didn't have rules where would we be ???.

We pulled pins at 08.15 and set sail off towards Hungerford passing some lovely houses on route.

After 3 hours of cruising we were lucky enough to pick up these moorings in Hungerford. Just as we rounded the corner 2 boats pulled out in front of us allowing us to pull in.

The railway runs straight through the middle of the town and is even painted in Great Western colours .

One thing that Hungerford has is loads of Antique shops. In fact there are 14 scattered through the town.

And the owner of this one is TV antiques expert Stewart L Hofgartner who was on site when we visited.. He has been on several programmes and is currently an expert on Dickinson's real deals.

Hungerford is well worth a visit and we had a few good hours looking around, but thankfully not buying any antiques. Tomorrow will be another early start and hopefully after several hours of cruising we can moor at Crofton and then visit the steam engines which are very very old.

                                                                                             Happy Days

Out of Newbury

 

On our last night in Newbury, and with a KFC just across the canal it would have been rude not to have had some finger lickin chicken. Being on the canals its not that often we get the chance to have a takeaway. With me and Hamish waiting outside Carolyn orders. Apparently there is a fragranced candle you can now buy that when lit smells of a KFC takeaway. I don't think we will bother with one of those thank you.

We pulled pins at 08.00 and headed for Newbury lock which Carolyn and Ann had all ready set for us. There are some strong flows coming in from both sides of the canal, so we wanted to be able to motor straight into the open lock.

As Carolyn is the Captain it is she who will be fined.

Here we go again and not a good start to the day, another electric swing bridge that the girls had trouble with it. First there was a problem opening the bridge leaving myself and Keith hovvering about mid channel and then there was a problem getting the barriers down. Eventually they got it working and we are on our way.

After a good couple of days we finally leave Newbury.

OOPS!! and another one bites the dust canal bottom.

Now that we have left Newbury and heading further West the countryside is really starting to change and its more like how i imagined The Kennet and Avon canal would be. There are now not many river sections and we don't have to keep fighting against the flow.

With some good canal towpaths Carolyn, Ann and Hamish walk between the locks. No doubt organising their next bouts of retail therapy.

We are now heading towards are next mooring which we hope will be near Kintbury. With moorings few and far between on this stretch of the canal we will just have to hope we get in ok.

                                                                                                                  Happy Days