Up on the Downs!

Tuesday 21st August at the Barge Inn, Honeystreet.
After breakfast, we set off on our walk up to the white horse on the downs. Just a few yards up the lane, Honeystreet gave way to Alton Barnes, another tiny village with beautiful little church and a one-room local museum full of wonderful photographs.

Our walk on the downs was an absolute joy. It took us on to the Pewsey Down Nature Reserve with acres and acres of wild flowers, a veritable multi-coloured carpet. M is still trying to catalogue all the species that we saw and photographed!
As we neared the white horse, the most common species was the Greater Soaring Paraglider! Two of these, close to the white horse on the south facing slope, were struggling to find enough wind to soar, but they looked spectacular aginst the white horse.

Another group of ten or so on the west facing slope were having much more success.

The path went across the top of the horse and we sat by its ears enjoying the fine views across the plain. Apparently it is possible to see the spire of Salisbury Cathedral on a clear day but today it was too hazy.  We had discovered that the white horse was originally carved in 1812, so the local community held a huge birthday party for it on 30th June this year. We wish we had known, as we were only a few miles away on that day. We also discovered that some years earlier in the eighteenth century, there had been a plan to create the horse and a man was paid £20 to do the job, but he absconded with the money! He was later caught and hanged "for his many crimes," so he paid dearly for his wrongdoings.
We walked down along a path that skirted a huge wheat field which was in the process of being harvested by two massive combine harvesters.  How cheering it was to see evidence that England is still an agricultural country.

The path led us back past the Barge Inn on the opposite side of the canal. Little did we realise that our friends Carol and Philip were already at the Barge having a drink!  We couldn't have seen each other as we were behind a huge hedge.  However, we soon got together at the wharf and it was lovely to see them.
We decided to move to moor outside the Barge Inn, where we were planning to have dinner. As the Barge Inn was quarter of a mile behind us, this meant winding (turning round) just east of the wharf and then sailing two miles up the canal to wind again and then return to the Barge Inn, facing in the right direction for the morning. Unfortunately we got stuck behind a boat that was going so slowly that even at tick-over R was catching up with him - so it took us longer than expected and towards the end it started to rain quite heavily. M, Carol and Philip went below for tea and cake while R continued to steer under his big umbrella (with his share of the cake!). Finally we managed to moor right outside the pub door! Hooray!

The view from our window.

Dinner was excellent and we had a very enjoyable evening at the end of which Carol and Philip borrowed R's torch to walk back to "Well Cottage" as the lane is unlit and has no pavement.
Today: 4 miles, 0 locks and 2.9 hours.
Trip: 213 miles, 197 locks and 176.8 hours (327.0 total).