Onto Devizes

Apologies for not blogging we have had very poor internet connection over the last few days, or we have a problem with our dongle!

We did as we suggested in our last post and headed for Newbury, where we spent a couple of nights on the side of the cut in Newbury Marina.  The laundrette was just around the corner so the washing fest was completed in no time but a lot of £1 coins!  We had a wander around Newbury a very pleasant town with lots of browsing shops.

We left Newbury heading for Hungerford.  After observing some local boaters negotiating Newbury lock the evening before, it was with a little apprehension, as the current was quite fierce both sides where the river joins the canal section and they had both struggled with the flow.  However as I walked to get the lock ready it did look a little calmer than the evening before and John said it wasn’t too bad.   The river still flows in and out of the canal as far as Hungerford but the flow was not as severe.  The locks were quite benign as we passed through some lovely flower meadows gentle climbing up towards the summit.  As we were working Dreweat’s Lock I spotted a horse boat coming towards the lock.

Sculpture at Newbury Lock that fills and empties when the lock does

Hungerford Church

We moored in Hungerford for the night just down from the church above the lock.  From Hungerford we had a short cruise to Great Bedwyn, with the intension of enjoying an afternoon in the sunshine, only it clouded over before we moored and the sun didn’t really come out until later in the evening.  We went for a walk around the village looking at the thatched houses.

 Our intended stop after Great Bedwyn was Wootton Rivers, as the village sounds like a place to see, however we were unable to moor, we think due to a Summer Solstice gathering, all the visitor moorings were full but so was the towpath between the locks.  We continued along to Pewsey where the moorings can only be described as a sorry state, the rings are in blocks of concrete that are falling into the canal, along with the towpath in many places, the ones that were stable were taken up.  We continued to Honey Street where we had numerous attempts to get Triskaideka within 6 feet of the bank without much joy, eventually Dave managed to get Lady Esther into the bank (well within a couple of feet) under some trees and we breasted up, not the best mooring but we were in.  The weather was not good, cloudy most of the day, and the hills had been disappearing underneath the cloud.  We did get a glimpse of the White Horse which was cut into the hill in 1812 a copy of the one at Cherhill.

Lady’s bridge, elaborately decorated as so to appease Lady Wroughton who objected to the canal cutting through her land in 1793, she was paid £500 and the building of the highly decorated bridge.

You do see some different boats along the cut! This was tiny but great

Today we had an early start  as we wanted to moor above the Caen Hill flight at Devizes.  We are moored ready for our descent however due to the weather forecast it might not be for a few days.  We have had a walk down some of the flight this afternoon and partook of coffee and cake in the cafe (as we won’t have time on the way down)!  John has been for a haircut and beard trim on Black Jack a floating hair salon www.thefloatingsalon.com moored opposite us.

Newbury to Hungerford 9 miles 12 locks 1 swing bridge
Hungerford to Great Bedwyn 5 miles 9 locks 1 swing bridge (which was opened for us)
Great Bedwyn to Honeystreet 13 miles, Bruce Tunnel 502 yards, 14 locks
Honeystreet to Devizes 7 miles  2 swing bridges