Wednesday 15th August 2018 by Honeystreet.
The early morning sky looked threatening but the rain held off.
We set off after a short visit to the town to get a "few bits". First on the agenda with MM was a stop at the water point to top up. Meanwhile the local trip boat set off with its happy "cargo" of waving passengers.
It turned in the nearby winding hole, so we passed it going the other way as we left to continue our travels east. More cheerful waving!
It was fascinating to see the marked change in the surroundings east of Devizes. Gone was the wide waterway, busy with endless hire boats. Now we had the quiet solitude of more open countryside and the canal is narrower, encroached upon by sedges and reeds on both sides. We didn't even see any cyclists or walkers on the towpath.
This footpath sign seemed to be calling to M to wander across the open fields towards the chalk downs.
As we were cruising along, we spotted a mink in the water but it quickly disappeared into the undergrowth covering the canal bank.
At Bishop's Canning, miles from anywhere, M hopped off to open the swing bridge and a very large and curious herd of cows came over to watch.
Meanwhile, R noticed a heron poised on the opposite bank on full alert. The heron darted for a fish just as R pressed the camera shutter.
The heron was rewarded by a tasty morsel.
More than satisfied by his morning's work, the heron strutted off down the towpath looking exceedingly pleased with itself!
M was preparing to hop off at the next swing bridge when two boats appeared on the other side of the bridge coming the other way. They were carrying a troupe of Girl Guides, who jumped off the boats with cheerful cries of "We'll do it". First though, there was the matter of a group photo on the bridge accompanied by much laughter.
Our plan was to moor at the "Barge Inn" just outside Honeystreet, as we knew that there are good 24 hour moorings there. Unfortunately, all the moorings were taken, so we had to settle for a rough bank just around the corner. The canal edge is so shallow that we couldn't get the stern close enough to the bank to use the gangplank. Luckily we managed to get the bow close enough to jump on and off and so we moored up on pins.
We were saddened to see the iconic pub "The Barge Inn" has closed down and has, apparently, been for sale for a couple of years. When we were here six years ago, we moored outside and it was busy with boaters, locals and visitors from overseas, curious to see the renowned "crop circles" for which the area is famous. Then it was being run as a community project; we wondered what went wrong?
We went for a walk before supper. The marina, where we will leave MM tomorrow, is just a few yards away beyond the next bridge. R spotted a new canalside café; maybe we will try that in the morning while waiting for the bus to take us to Pewsey Railway Station.
Home for the weekend for celebrations to mark M's "little" sister's big birthday. Back to MM Sunday or Monday to continue our travels.
Today: 7 miles, 0 locks and 8.3 hours (3 days).
Trip: 208 miles, 117 locks and 141.1 hours.
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