Second Breakfast, a Rare Bus and No Trains.

Tuesday 28th August 2018 in Kintbury.
Although M had made porridge first thing, we decided that second breakfast in the Tutti Pole Tea Room was mandatory! This time, M had the "Hash Brown Stack" (with bacon and fried eggs - gorgeous!) and R had a smaller and daintier toasted tea cake (the usual arrangement!).

There are no normal trains on this line between Theale and Bedwyn all this week as Network Rail is renewing some of the track; there are just lots of work trains carrying ballast, sleepers and rail - along with several road-railers running up and down. So a good deal of activity - but no trains!

Will, the son of our good friends Annie and Paddy, has a cottage in nearby Froxfield, which we were keen to see. There is a very infrequent bus service from Hungerford to Froxfield and we managed to catch the morning bus after walking all round Hungerford trying to find the bus stop (which was hidden away in a side street). The cottage was lovely, on the village green next to the church. Froxfield is a tiny hamlet, very quiet despite the old A4 running past it.

Not wanting to wait more than a couple of hours for a return bus, we decided to walk back the 2.5 miles along the towpath; a real treat for R as he rarely gets a chance to walk the towpath.
On the way, we again passed the poor cottage at Cobblers Lock.

After a brief stop at Tesco in the town, we set off for Kintbury. M was amused to see that the stile at Dun Mill Lock had been replaced by a swing gate, obviously to cater for old codger narrowboaters and dog walkers (it was on the left of this picture).

M said that the towpath walking was a delight. At this point, three paths were running in parallel, a small path beside the River Dunn on the left, a grassy track in the middle and the towpath alongside the canal on the right. All three were connected by stiles. Lovely!

The moorings above Kintbury Lock were our goal for this evening and very attractive they are too. They are just beyond this very large and handsome building that used to be the Vicarage. It must have been a very pleasant living in its day!

Today: 3 miles, 4 locks and 2.7 hours.
Trip: 230 miles, 144 locks and 163.0 hours.