Bank Holiday weekend

Friday 23 May

We moved the boat from Devizes to All Cannings in the rain, in the 5 times we have passed All Cannings and its always been empty, today because we wanted to stop as that is where we had agreed to meet our friends it was full. I tied on to the last ring and put a pin in for the bows. once I was back onboard we adjusted the ropes to be parallel to the bank and we couldn’t reach the shore. About half an hour later a stem launch left the moorings so we were able to move back into their space.

Since we have been here there have been several light showers and quite a bit of sun.

Friday evening and our friends arrived, it was to late to start cruising so we went down to the pub in All Cannings for a couple of pints and dinner. The pub was absolutely packed, so some pubs are getting it right.

 

Saturday 24 May

Change of plan, we needed to buy some power steering fluid for our friends, so instead of  travelling east as planed, I reversed the half mile to the winding hole and we headed to Devizes for the day. It rained all the way there but cleared up just as we moored before the locks. Taking a walk down the locks we passed the nice little steam launch who’s mooring we took when they moved on from All Cannings yesterday.

Departing late afternoon to moor at The Bridge Inn,Horton for the night, another Wadsworth pub with friendly staff and a nice menu. They even sold me some sausages so that weather permitting we can have a BBQ.

Sunday 25 May

The weather is looked a lot better this morning and got better as the day went on, we set of about 9 am heading east towards Crofton Pumping station.

We just had a couple of swing bridges to do and 4 locks, other than that it was just plain sailing.
Pewsey Wharf is offering a bit of competition Charity Wharf with a pair of Manikins set up in a cruiser.

       We arrived at the top of the Crofton flight about 5 pm having watched 13 gliders climbing in the thermals near Bruce tunnel. After winding we moored as close to the bank as possible and took a walk down to the pumping station and back.

As we are nowhere near anywhere, we set the BBQ up to enjoy the sausages I bought in the pub last night. Sitting on the bank enjoying a glass of wine we had a Red Kite coming across the canal and circling right over our heads. We recognised it as one we saw earlier as we came along due to its missing wing feather.

Monday 26 May we walked down to Crofton Pump museum and spent the morning there. As it was Bank Holiday they were in steam pumping water up to the summit of the canal. The weather was not so kind to us today and it rained all day and most of the night. We returned to the boat for lunch and then set off west to spend the night at Honeystreet having a meal in The Barge Inn. They still have one room decorated showing Stonehenge and the crop circles all the way round the walls.

Tuesday 27 May

Set off from Honeystreet still going west to take our friends back to their car at All Cannings and we were relived to find it safe and sound. After a coffee, transferring all their stuff from the boat to the car we carried on for another half mile to wind just beyond the swing bridge. From here we retraced our steps yet again east and we hope to continue heading east now until we reach the Thames.

Passing Pewsey we could see where CaRT have been using the large stone to backfill behind the soft piling.  It did manage to stay dry,just but has turned chilly so we moored on the visitor moorings at Wootton Rivers, this is a handy mooring as there is also a water point, so we could top up while we were here.

Today has been the busiest so far on the canal and we have seen 20 boats on the move.

We started travelling west then turned round and spent the rest of the day going east.