A Rural Idyll.

Tuesday 26th June, 2012.
A warm sunny morning. We walked into Newbury to buy bread and milk, and eventually set off at about 10:30. It's a very pretty stretch of waterway with some beautiful wildflower meadows on either side and lovely old brick arched bridges. Just to complete the rural idyll, we passed a traditional horse-drawn trip boat, a very rare sight on the canals these days.

We moored up in Kintbury just behind our old friends nb "Dragonfly." It was perfect timing, as just after we moored up it started to rain. We had a nice catch-up with Lizzie and Richard on "Dragonfly"; they are heading to Bristol like us; however, they may go out on to the Severn Estuary and up to Sharpness, but we won't do that this year. M's not at all sure that she will ever feel brave enough for that!
After tea, we walked into Kintbury village about 1/4 mile south of the canal. It is really more of a very quiet hamlet than a village - a general store, butcher's, a baker's (which only opens two days a week) and a scattering of pretty cottages with names like "The Old Post Office", "The Old Forge", "The Old Tannery" and "The Mill" - a sign of the times. Sadly, the village churchyard had a large war memorial with far too many names of the fallen from the First World War - with agriculture, the mill, the tannery and the canal, it must have been a large, bustling and thriving community in those days.
Today: 6 miles, 7 locks and 3.9 hours.
Trip: 125 miles, 77 locks and 81.6 hours (226.2 total).