Hungerford to Foxhangers (Devizes)

Thurs 6th May – Mon 10th May

After our enforced stay in Hungerford, we got away on Thursday morning, heading for Great Bedwyn,

Hungerford Marsh Lock, with a swing bridge over the top of the chamber

The stoppage culprit, a large oak tree which had fallen and was resting on the bottom

There were no moorings available at Great Bedwyn, so we continued on to Crofton, which was much nicer anyway.

The Crofton Pump House – to pump water onto the summit.

On Friday we continued on our way to Pewsey, passing through Bruce Tunnel

where Serenity were to pick up guests Pauline and Dave on Saturday.  We had a couple of nice meals in the French Horn,  Saturday’s was exceptionally good as it was Ian’s birthday.  We would recommend it to anyone passing this way.   On Sunday morning we set off for Devizes, and the high point of our trip – the Caen Hill flight!  Although the weather was very cold and dull, we had a good mornings’ cruising through the lovely Wiltshire countryside.

Picked Hill

The Alton Barnes White Horse

Devizes Wharf

The moorings were superb in Devizes – a long stretch of almost empty Visitors moorings.  We visited the Kennett and Avon Trust Museum and shop at the Wharf, and then walked along to the top of Caen Hill to have a look, although Rog and I have visited the fight by car on a couple of occasions over the years, Serenity’s crew had never seen it.  It’s an impressive sight.  Dave and Ian wanted to walk to the bottom, while Karen, Pauline and myself decided that once was enough, and we retreated to the cafe for a cuppa to wait for them to return.

This morning dawned bright and sunny, and we were on our way at 8.30, first to do the 7 locks at the ‘town end’ of the flight, then to tackle the 16 on ‘the Hill’, and lastly, the 6 locks at Foxhangers – 29 in all.  The boats entered the first lock at exactly 9.00am

The Caen Hill flight

Intricate manoeuvre to cross in the middle

 Phew - exiting the last lock of the flight

We continued through the next 6 locks to Foxhangers, where we moored and treated ourselves to a few beers, ciders, wine and a barbecue.  With 4 crew lock-wheeling, we did the 29 locks in 3 hours and 38 minutes!  Pearson’s states that 5-6 hours is considered a good performance, so we beat that easily!  However, I’m fairly sure our return journey won’t be as rapid, unless we can press-gang some crew again!