Cat Heaven!!

Thursday 16th August, 2012 at All Cannings.
Last evening, we went out with Angela from nb "Red Geranium" as planned, to celebrate our successful ascent together of the Cean Hill Flight of locks. Our combined previous experience of Devizes eating establishments was not encouraging, but we enjoyed wandering around the town in the hopes of finding something suitable.
Peter Vaughan, the celebrity TV chef, has a well known restaurant here called "The Bistro" and as we strolled past we were lured inside by his chef, who accosted us on the street with the menus! Our scepticism of celebrity chefs proved to be unfounded. It was a very small informal place and we were warmly welcomed (and served) by Peter himself. He was a delightful chap, very natural and obviously passionate about his work, especially encouraging healthy eating in schools and running a local cooking school. His kitchen was open plan and right next to us, so that we could watch as he and his chef cooked the meal, which was delicious and very reasonably priced.
If you are ever near Devizes do try it!
As we walked back to our boats, we agreed with Angela to meet up next morning before we went on towards Honeystreet.
This morning, as arranged, we walked along to see Angela and she invited us on board for a coffee. Her boat is a little gem, fitted out in traditional style and beautifully cosy and welcoming.

We sat happily chatting, while her two cats and her dog slept at our feet.

We were so relaxed and enjoying Angela's company so much that she suggested a second coffee, while the two cats decided that they needed some attention and came and sat on our laps. We were in cat heaven!!

Eventually we decided that we really did need to leave and go shopping, so we walked into town for the mandatory "few bits." Only three carrier bags this time!!

As we pulled away, Angela took our mooring space as she wanted to stay in Devizes for a couple more days.

So we waved goodbye to her, but hope to see her again somewhere between Pewsey and Bedwyn next week.
The further east we travelled, the less we saw of other boats and rarely any on the move. This was a good thing as the canal is quite twisty, and in places it is so narrow that it's hard to believe this is one of the most frequented of our waterways! Good job we didn't meet any boats coming the other way!

At one of the swing bridges, as R drove through, the engine nearly stopped because the propellor had picked up something. R tied MM to the bank and opened the weed hatch to reveal a somewhat dented Australian bush hat.

The weather stayed bright all day, but as we neared our destination it started to spit with rain. We had seen some nice moorings at All Cannings just west of Honeystreet as we had sailed west - so we moored up there just as the heavens opened. Good timing!
Today: 6 miles, 0 locks and 2.3 hours.
Trip: 209 miles, 197 locks and 173.9 hours (323.9 total).