Kennett and Avon

The advantage of having friends who live on boats, is that you get to go boating on different waterways without having to take your own boat there!
On Saturday I headed up to Devizes to meet up with Maffi, Kim and Jim for a couple of days boating - here is Maffi approaching while we watch from the bridge:


On Saturday night we stopped at Honey Street and I dealt with the heron Maffi had saved for me. On Sunday we headed off quite early. Jim and Kim hadn't really slept as it was so early so we were away by 9. Kim does fabulous bacon and cheese sandwiches!

On our journey we passed the Sustrans boat and gave them a wave. I think I saw them in Thrupp earlier in the year?


We stopped at Wootton Rivers to meet some of Jim and Kims friends, I had to leave early for an afternoon snooze! I had intended to pop into the church to play the piano, but sadly it was locked. In the afternoon we passed this suspension bridge and made for Bruce tunnel:




passing some gorgeous scenery along the way:



and waited so long for some of the locks to fill that Kim and Jim took a nap themselves:



I have never been through a tunnel and I was delighted as it loomed. As soon as I came out of the tunnel I thought of some fun stuff we could have done, but instead I managed to take a picture looking back:



We stopped at the top of crofton locks and it was with great relief that wide beam passed us by -we had followed them and passed them during the day, but the father was shouty and really spoilt things for us. The children were adorable despite their grouchy father.
My car was still not fixed which means I needed to look up trains to get to Moleys for supper on Monday evening. Moley is from the canalworld forumand is doing a splendid job on his boat, this guy has serious talent! Luckily Maffi has a new T-Mobile connection so I was able to use that, but unfortunately it looked like it was going to cost me 70pounds!!! I think I may have got that wrong; since then I have looked up a few prices and the website has changed since I looked at it a few months ago and I may have been mistaken. I didn't know that then, and I said to the Moles that I couldn't make it. I was disappointed, but Maffi Kim and Jim said I could stay on Milly M for a bit longer, so that was good.
On Monday morning we set off down the crofton flight and had planned to go to the crofton pumping station, but the steam engines were suffering so we decided to give Wilton Windmill as miss too and head on to Great Bedwyn where we had a lovely luncheon. In the afternoon we strolled down to the stone mason museum and on to the church - which was open and had the most delicious baby grand in it. I tinkled the ivories for a bit and then went back to the boat for an afternoon snooze. I really miss the piano. In the evening we went for a stroll and found some sloe berries, and were given some russet apples and damsons by a kind inhabitant of the village.

Just before this lock (I forget the name) there were some plum trees, sadly they weren't that great.



I love this picture - the last lock before Hungerford, Marsh lock. It has a swing bridge across the middle of it, and if you look carefully you look carefully you can see bits of the swing bridge that look like chimneys on Maffis boat making it look like a steamer:



we met some fishermen on the way, and they were really good fun and there was good banter as we passed along the row. The first guy wanted us to speed up past the last two, then one of them said don't talk to the next one, he just wants money - when we passed the next guy he said 'lend us a fiver'. It was great - here they are:



Hungerford is a pretty town. On Wednesday morning I took the train back to Oxford on the off-chance the car was ready and in order to take a trip to the Dorset steam fayre. I had planned to spend a bit of time down there and knew the train times, but sadly it wasn't to be. My car wasn't ready, and although I knew the train times, and was able to stay on site, I decided to do other things. I have a few things I need to give some time to, so I did that instead.