The Queen's 90th Birthday and MM's 2,500th.

Friday 24th August 2018 at Crofton Pumping Station.
Sunrise highlighted the mist rising on the canal in the early morning.

Reflection in the still waters of the canal reminded us of David's narrowboat "Still Waters", which went ahead of us last night and we hope to catch up with him again this morning.

Nb "Simply Messing" went past us at 8:00am, heading for the next lock, just as we were preparing breakfast. A hasty decision was taken to follow them and "buddy up" to go through the locks together as it is so much easier with two. There are two locks close together to get up on to the summit pound (the highest stretch of the canal), which is about three miles long. The gap in locks across the summit gave R a chance to eat his porridge on the go.

There is a tunnel on the summit pound, which took M by surprise; so she came through the tunnel instead of walking over it. She was disappointed, as it is the only tunnel on this canal and she does enjoy walking over them. She contented herself with trying to take a photograph inside the tunnel. Those are R's legs - he was perched up on the "Barry Seats"!

Having done 54 locks going up since Bristol, we now approached the first of 53 locks going down towards Reading. The GWR trains run very close to the canal along here!

MM and "Simply Messing" approached the penultimate lock before Crofton.

Since M had been walking ahead to set each next lock, she walked on to check the moorings opposite the pumping station and was delighted to find that David on "Silent Waters" had arrived and moored up just a few minutes before us. She was also happy to see that there was space for us to moor up in front of him. R brought MM into the mooring, while "Simply Messing" teamed up with another boat that was just leaving and carried on through the next locks.

The main line runs between the canal and the pumping station and we were delighted to see this GWR engine celebrating the Queen's 90th birthday.

David's lovely collie dog "Sky" decided that R was a soft touch to throw sticks for her. She really is a gorgeous dog, 11 years old, but she looks and acts like a youngster - very well behaved too.

The four of us (including Sky) decided to walk up to the pumping station for a cuppa in the café. We met an enthusiastic volunteer tending, what he called, a "small fire" in the boiler, which is started on Thursday morning and is designed to "warm everything up". Tomorrow morning at about 7:00am they will light a "proper" fire to start making steam.

On the outside of the building is a plaque celebrating that the older of the two engines was installed in 1812 and is the oldest steam engine in the world, still in its original location and still fully capable of performing the task for which it was installed.

Access to the pumping station from the canal is via a tunnel under the railway line. A friendly sign!

After coffee and cake in the café, we came back to find both boats firmly aground with a distinct list. We had to push them well away from the edge to get them afloat again.

Today, MM passed the milestone of 2,500 hours of cruising and she has hardly missed a beat. Thank you MM for carrying us all this way safely and comfortably.
Today: 4 miles, 8 locks and 2.9 hours.
Trip: 220 miles, 127 locks and 150.1 hours.

Pea Soup, Hops and Muck Spreading.

Thursday 23rd August 2018 by Wootton Rivers.
Ten locks lie between Pewsey and Crofton Pumping Station - our objective for the weekend as they will be "in steam" and working for the Bank Holiday. David, on nb. "Silent Waters", had asked if we could share the locks as Kay had to go home and he was "single handing". We were happy to agree and we set off after a lunch of home made pea soup.

Just wheat fields and chalk downs for company on the way. Very rural and relaxing.

This rural idyll was slightly marred by the olfactory assault from a farmer "muck spreading" the field next to the canal! Pooh!!

Four modes of transport in parallel - narrowboating, walking, cycling and the GWR ("all of them wonderful", said M).

R and David chatted together as they shared the locks. We hoped to find moorings at Wootton Rivers (after just two locks) and to do the other eight locks tomorrow.

While M was walking ahead to "set" the next lock, she saw hops growing in abundance in the hedgerows.

Naturally, she couldn't resist picking a sprig and bringing it back on board!

There were some moorings available at Wootton Rivers but the canal edge was so shallow that R could only moor MM a few feet from the edge.

"Silent Waters" has an even deeper draught than MM, so David couldn't even get close, therefore he decided to go on through the next couple of locks on to the summit pound in the hope of finding a better mooring. We agreed to catch up again in the morning.
Today: 3 miles, 2 locks and 2.9 hours.
Trip: 216 miles, 119 locks and 147.2 hours.

A World War One Observer and a Surprise Visit from Jane.

Wednesday 22nd August 2018 in Pewsey.
A cloudy morning which gave way to a lovely afternoon.
The "no-plan plan" for today was to cruise the short distance to Wootton Rivers but, as with many "no-plans", fate intervened in the form of a broken pump at Wootton Rivers that pumps water into the summit pound of the canal. As a result, the summit was closed to all canal traffic while the C&RT fixed it. Anticipating that all the (scarce) moorings at Wootton Rivers would already be taken by boats waiting to go over the summit, we decided to stop at Pewsey and spend the day there.
On the way, we passed under this odd looking suspension footbridge, which is reputed to be the only one on the canals that still survives.

R filled up with water at Pewsey Wharf while M walked ahead to see if there were any free moorings.

Luckily, there was one mooring space, which turned out to be next to David and Kay on his beautiful boat "Silent Waters". M immediately recognised the boat as it was "Boat of the Month" in Canal Boat magazine about a year ago and the builders, Bourne, used it as their exhibition boat at the Crick Boat Show.

We remembered Pewsey from our previous visits as being a place that can't make up its mind whether it's a small town or simply a large village. A confusion probably not helped by the fact that in Saxon times it was known as "Pefisigge"!

It has some fascinating buildings, such as the Old Engine House, which was formerly the Fire Station but is now the headquarters of the annual carnival - the oldest in Wiltshire - since 1898.

Rush hour here was slightly more agricultural than at Wilcot yesterday! That is a seriously chunky disc harrow.

Not quite sure what a "Scarecrow Trail" is, but it certainly looks like fun.

It is hard to imagine that this small stream will soon become the impressive River Avon that we cruised on from the Severn Estuary to Bath. The water was crystal clear.

After some searching, we eventually found the local Heritage Centre. For such a small town it was excellent. It is housed in the old workshop of a local pump manufacturer and still has much of the old machinery in place. They were setting up an exhibition ready for the anniversary of Armistice Day in November, including this balloon Observer, keeping a beady weather eye on R below.

The statue of King Alfred in the centre of town has, bizarrely, nothing to do with him but was erected to celebrate the recovery from madness of King George III. (We're not sure that he actually ever did recover). As you can see, it's still the rush hour!

Wadworth Brewery appears to have more than one Royal Oak pub on its books. As with all its pubs, it had beautiful hanging baskets outside.

A lovely surprise - cousin Jane turned up on her way home from Malvern! And just in time for raspberries and cream.

Today: 2 miles, 0 locks and 1.9 miles.
Trip: 213 miles, 117 locks and 144.3 hours.

Crop Circles and a Golden Swan in Wadworthshire

Tuesday 21st August 2018 in Wilcot.
We stayed overnight in the mooring and this morning had coffee in the excellent local café in what was previously the sawmill.

There is a permanent Crop Circle Exhibition here in one of the timber yard buildings.

This aerial photo is a good example of the complexities of some of the designs. Jolly clever, those aliens!

As we set off, we waved goodbye to Nicki, the owner of the wharf and "Moonraker" wide-beam hire boats. As in 2012, she looked after us brilliantly.

We decided to cruise the short distance to the hamlet of Wilcot. The wheat fields and the downs made a lovely backdrop and the canal is very quiet hereabouts.

"Ladies Bridge" is a very ornamental bridge, built to placate a local lady landowner and to persuade her to allow the canal to be built across her land. She was also given the princely sum of £500 to help her decide.

While there are few boats moving on this part of the canal, there are a lot of moored boats and very few proper moorings, so mooring up at Wilcot was a challenge due to very shallow water, stinging nettles and a large wasps' nest right next to the gangplank. At least this time we were close enough that the gangplank was just long enough to reach the shore (while carefully avoiding the wasps, who were clearly not pleased!)..

Wilcot is more of a hamlet than a village, having only its church, a pub and a few thatched houses (with lovely cottage gardens) around a village green. The pub, the "Golden Swan", is Wadworth's and so attractive that we decided to visit.

We loved the sign outside in the garden and we decided that it definitely deserved promotion to county status!

Inside, we had a couple of soft drinks and a huge bowl of excellent chips - so large that even M couldn't finish them!

The range of beers on offer were very familiar from our recent tour of the Wadworth Brewery in Devizes. We had tasted all of these!

As we wandered back to MM, we marvelled at the dense rush hour traffic in the centre of Wilcot.

Today: 3 miles, 0 locks and 1.3 hours
Trip: 211 miles, 117 locks and 142.4 hours

A weekend at home.

Thursday 16th to Monday 20th August in Honeystreet
This weekend was the family celebration for M's "little" sister's Big Birthday so we had arranged to go home. MM was booked into Honeystreet Wharf so we could catch the infrequent bus into Pewsey - so we had to leave even though it was raining hard.

Just as we drew alongside the mooring, we picked up a load of rope in the propellor, necessitating a trip down the weed hatch for R in the rain.

Thankfully, it had stopped raining by the time we set off and, after a brief visit to the local cafe, we said cheerio to MM from the bridge as we waited for the bus.

The lane looked north to the White Horse on the downs. It was decidedly less white than when we were here six years ago and is quite difficult to pick out on the hillside (It is there, honestly!).

The local bus only runs a few times each day and, even then, you have to book it in advance. However, it arrived more or less on time with a very cheery driver who delivered us to Pewsey Railway Station.

The weekend was lovely and we did the return journey on Monday. There was a fifty minute wait at Pewsey for the bus back to Honeystreet but, as the bus stop was outside the local Co-op, it proved very handy for M to nip in for some provisions.
We arrived back at Honeystreet, where Nicki, the owner, was busy doing a handover of two of their beautiful wide-beam hire boats. We decided to stay the night here and set off in the morning.

MM rested the weekend in a warm and dry polytunnel.