Crofton – Great Bedwyn - Hungerford

On Friday we moved to Great Bedwyn.   We found decent moorings and decided to stay for the allowed 48hrs.  We had a wander around the village and picked up a few things we were running out of, and then had a pint or two in the pub before returning to the boats.  We had a decent day yesterday, weather wise, so we had an early bbq in time to watch the England match on the telly.  A disappointing result, but not a total disaster.  Some little scroat nicked our England flag from the tiller some time during Friday night – at 2 for a quid, it wasn’t expensive, and he could have had our spare one if was so poor that he couldn’t afford to buy a couple!  This time we’ve all but nailed it down!!

We have moved to Hungerford today, and are moored beside the church.  At the moment we are being treated to the church bells summoning the faithful to Evensong.  The town seems subdued – the awful events in Cumbria a couple of weeks back have turned all the resident’s thoughts to their own experiences of when the same thing happened here some years ago.

We plan to stay here a couple of days and move on probably on Tuesday.

Windy day today….

We had a lovely meal in the Royal Oak last night, well worth the higher prices.  Today we moved on to Crofton, and are moored opposite the Pump House.  It was extremely windy today which made life a little difficult when queuing for locks.  We had planned to stay here a couple of days, but not sure now as the telly signal is not good and we’ve had to put up the satellite dish.  Internet is also iffy, and phone signal is almost non-existent.  We may move on to Hungerford tomorrow, but heavy rain is forecast so then again we may stay here.

Wooton Rivers

After our night at Pewsey on unsatisfactory moorings, we decided to move on today to Wooton Rivers, another nice spot that we saw on our outward journey.  This time we were lucky, the moorings were empty and we hastily tied up.  We had a wander into the village to look at the church and it’s curious clock, having ‘Glory be to God’ on it’s face, instead of numbers.

Wooton Rivers is the quintessential English village, with most of the buildings bearing thatched roofs

 Manor Farm House

 The Royal Oak, where we plan to eat tonight

O00 arrrrh, we be in Devizes again…

We came up the Devizes flight on Saturday, it took us much longer than the downward trip. We were behind another two boats all the way up so had to empty every lock before we could go in.

 Entering the bottom lock of the flight

We moored opposite Devizes Wharf again, and visited Morrison’s yesterday, then on Monday Karen and I had a walk into the town to look around and buy a few bits and pieces, and I had my hair cut.  In the afternoon we paid a visit to the Wadworth Brewery.  Unfortunately we missed the tour around as there are only 2 a day, but we had a mooch around the visitor centre, a tasting session, and both Rog and Ian bought some to bring back to the boats.

 The Wadworth Brewery (of  6X and Bishops Tipple fame)

Every day local deliveries of beer are still carried out by a pair of shire horses pulling a dray

 Monty

 The  drays

 Full-time job, polishing all the leather and brasses

We had planned to move on to All Cannings on Tuesday where, on the way down, we spotted some nice moorings out in the countryside.  Unfortunately, when we got there they were all full!!  So we had to continue on to Pewsey, getting soaked several times by the very heavy showers.  We found moorings of a sort, but we had our stern end sticking out into the canal as they are badly in need of dredging.

Surprise visitors….

We were moored at Semington on Tuesday evening, amongst the water irises, and just finishing our dinner, when Rog looked up and said that there was a mad woman waving in at us through the side hatch!  I looked up and it took me a moment to recognise my old friend Christine, who I worked with in Cyprus, and haven’t seen for 3 years, along with her husband Charlie and their two sons.  Charlie is in the Army and stationed in Germany, but they were over for half term staying with family in Warminster.  Always an avid reader of the blog, Charlie had decided that we were so close that they had to come and see us.  We had a good old chat, and then they went on their way, promising to come again in July if they could.  It was wonderful to see you all.  If you aren’t doing anything much on Saturday, we will be coming up the locks at Devizes in the morning, and we can always do with a few more crew – you can even have a drive Charlie, if you like!!

 Christine, Charlie and the boys

 Moored amongst the water irises at Semington

We are now at Seend Cleeve, awaiting the arrival of Serenity’s visitors tomorrow, and will moor either at Sells Green or Foxhangers tomorrow in preparation for our climb up ‘the flight on Saturday.

Bank Holiday weekend…

We moved to Bradford-on-Avon on Friday, to spend a couple of days over the weekend (and wished we had stayed at Dundas!)  The moorings were rotten, with a nasty concrete shelf that we kept banging against every time a boat went by.  Of course, it being the Bank Holiday weekend there were hundreds of hire boats out.  We managed to move about 10 feet on Sunday and got rid of the shelf so it was a bit better after that.

We tried to go to Sainsbury’s on Saturday afternoon, but when we got there it was shut due to a serious power-cut, and didn’t open again until about 6 o’clock. By then we couldn’t be bothered, so we tried again on Sunday, and stocked up with supplies.

There was a Fun Day on in the park by the Tithe Barn, with a huge Boot Sale, on Monday so we had a wander around in the early afternoon. We set off for Hilperton at about 4 o’clock, where we were booked in for an engine service at ‘The Boatyard’.  It is a small concern run by a young couple, Victoria and Spencer.  They are a lovely friendly couple, and Spencer certainly knows his stuff – he did an excellent service and easily managed to find and, fingers crossed, fix, our long-standing diesel leak.  We can’t recommend them highly enough, so if you are ever in the area and need anything mechanical doing, please give them a try.  Their prices are extremely reasonable, with diesel at 62p a litre.

Spencer did the services yesterday evening instead of this morning, but they let us stay the night and also a lot of this morning until the rain eased off a bit.

We left the The Boatyard about 10.30 and are now moored at Semington, where we will probably stay until Thursday, then move up to Seend Cleeve in time for Serenity’s guests to arrive on Friday morning.  We plan to do the Devizes flight on Saturday, with crew again, but I’ll bet we can’t beat our record from a few weeks ago.

I probably won’t blog again until after Devizes.

Whoops - we’ve gone and moored outside another pub – how did that happen..

We travelled a only a short distance again on Wednesday to Bathampton, where we sampled the delights of the George Inn, twice!  Not much more to say about Bathampton really, a pretty place, but not much of it.

On Thursday we departed for Dundas Aqueduct.  Another glorious morning, we took in the scenery along the way

Just outside Bathampton is a swing bridge, beside which is a small service block – or so we thought!  This must be the most expensive ever encountered on the system – it is private, and doesn’t belong to BW.

 Unfortunately the prices are not visible on the photo (I should have got off the boat and taken a closer-up one)  but are as follows:     Pump out - £90.00,   Elsan emptying - £30.00,  Water - £30!!!!  We decided that the reason for the extortionate price is because there are a huge amount of permanent moorers in the area, and the owners don’t want it used!  Well, they got their wish, we didn’t use it to empty our loo cassette either.  I suppose it means that they don’t have to clean it every day.  I wonder if anyone has ever used it at those prices – I doubt it!!

Just before we reached Dundas we came across a BW bod and some contractors raising a sunken boat – they looked like they were on to a loser, but we know they suceeded as they came by later after we had moored up with the poor boat breasted up to them.

 Trying to raise a sunken boat