A Friendly Cat and Piles and Piles of Books.

Wednesday 29th and Thursday 30th August in Newbury.
Another nice morning so, after breakfast, we walked into Kintbury Village. Very worthwhile; it is a delight. The allotments were not fenced off from the footpath, giving a very friendly feel and here
Robin did indeed make a new friend - she was so playful and friendly that M wanted to take her home.

Kintbury only has a few shops, but one of them is an incredible second hand book shop, piled high with quality books on every subject imaginable. We could easily have spent a lot of time and a fortune there!

In additional to a general store, there was an excellent artisan butcher's shop.

M couldn't resist buying one of her favourites - a home made Cornish pasty.

What a beautiful new gate into the church yard!

We also bought some local eggs that R carried back to MM.

Kintbury is one of the very few places on the canals that still provides trips on a horse drawn boat. The boat is the "Kennet Valley" with its beautiful traditional wooden tiller.

As we passed, the horse was receiving its final polish and grooming before being kitted up to tow the boat.

The journey to Newbury was a short one and we arrived to find another trip boat, nb "Jubilee", leaving with a "cargo" of happy pirates - but this boat had an engine.

We found very pleasant moorings just above Town Lock, quiet yet just yards from the town centre. M always says that the church minarettes remind her of Disney!

On Thursday morning, when M got up around 6am, the moon was still high in the sky.

And to the east, the vapour trails made a pretty sight in the early morning light.

Today, we are going home for the weekend to share R's birthday with friends and family. We had booked MM into Newbury Marina, where we also moored her six years ago. We were delighted to be welcomed again by Emma and also to find that we were moored next to David's boat, "Silent Waters".

Emma very kindly drove us from the Marina to the railway station, where we had to catch a bus to Theale as no trains are running on the Newbury line this week due to major engineering work.
We expect to return to MM and continue our travels next Wednesday.
Today: 7 miles, 9 locks and 4.9 hours.
Trip: 237 miles,153 locks and 167.9 hours.