DEVIZES TO NEWBURY

Wednesday, July 28th
Today we entertained our new found friends to brunch.
Then we said goodbye and set sail for Pewsey, where we'd moored on the way down.
First though, we filled up with water at Devizes Wharf
and went in to the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust Shop,
where we bought a few canally things for the boat

Today's journey was a pleasure, through a lock free stretch.
We're at the summit of the Kennet & Avon again.
From now on, all the locks will be going down, to meet the Thames at Reading.
When we pulled in to Pewsey, there was just one space left.
So we grabbed it quick!
Then along came Sheridan and Ron on Ellisiana and,
in the absence of any other moorings, they moored alongside us.

Thursday, 29th July
As we were all going the same way--there really isn't much choice on a canal--
we travelled with Sheridan and Ron.
We worked the fifteen locks together, Trev cycling ahead
to set the locks ready for us to steer straight in to.
At least, that's the theory, but if there's a boat using the locks,
it's not always so slick!

Luckily, there was plenty of mooring at Great Bedwyn, our destination for the night,
so we pulled in and all flopped out, though Trev had a job to do first--
he fetched the post from the post office, to where our postmen had sent it Poste Restante.
In the evening we all went for a meal at the Three Tuns, a really good pub,
where we'd eaten on the way out.
Whilst we were there, the chef recommended
a good Italian restaurant in Hungerford, our next port of call.



OUR MOORING AT GREAT BEDWYN

Friday, 30th July
We continued to Hungerford with Sheridan and Ron.
They had an appointment in town at 3.00 p.m.
and it's been good to have got a move on with them over the last few days.
We pulled in to Hungerford after five miles and nine locks.
We were glad to stop, it's been incredibly hot today.
We found a mooring under some trees in the shade.

And, of course, you've guessed it, we all went to the Italian restaurant in the evening!
Trev and I were not very impressed with it, and I rather think that my meat was off,
I had a very upset stomach in the night.

Saturday, 31st July/Sunday, 1st August
We said farewell to Sheridan and Ron--again!--and set off for Kintbury,
where we stayed for two nights.
We didn't travel far, as it was so hot.
On the way we had the misfortune to follow the horse drawn wide beam boat again.
I mentioned it on our way out, as we were rather cross with them.
They're the ones who leave both lock gates open when they exit the locks
as they "don't have enough crew"!
Well, apparently they still don't have enough crew, or even a more reduced crew,
'cos now they were leaving the paddles up as well as not closing the gates!
It was a very hot day, and it was rather annoying,
--and I passed my time as I opened and shut gates and paddles
composing a letter to the owners of the boat,
giving my opinion as to their behaviour!



THE HORSE WAS OK! IT WAS THE CREW THAT WAS THE PROBLEM

Someone once said to me it's a very good idea to write a really strong letter,
listing all your grievances when you feel you've been dealt a poor hand in a certain situation,
and then to tear it up and throw it away. It makes you feel a whole lot better!

Another frustrating thing was a boat we shared the locks with.
It's steerer said he was single handed--that means he's on his own on the boat--
so I helped as much as I could, and then, when the boat came out of the lock
there was a perfectly fit young woman sitting in the bows enjoying the ride.
And she WAS fit, she could walk around and pass the windlass to her partner.
May be I should be more charitable, but it was such a hot day..........!

When we drew in to Kintbury there were Jen and Bill, on Sweet William,
and another boat we've seen quite a few times since Bath called Nor' Lye.
Don't ask--I did and was told what it meant but I promptly forgot!
I think it was the local name for a village near where they lived, or something!
Jen and Bill came to help us moor up, and we exchanged news.
We'd last seen them at Bath, when they turned round and set off back
and we'd gone on to Bristol.

We feel quite intrepid having been 'down to Bristol'.
Fellow boaters ask what it was like, was there a strong current,
is it true that "they cut your ropes when you're moored up in the Harbour"
and we are able tell them that there is absolutely nothing to it, it's just a doddle!
The majority of boats on the K&A are doing the same as us,
Reading to Bath or Bristol and back.
Consequently we see lots of boats several times,
and there is quite a pioneer spirit amongst us!



SHARING THE LOCKS

On the Sunday evening, the generator refused to start.
Trev tried all the things the handbook recommended, but to no avail.
By this time it was too hot to do much with, so we left it until the morning,
using the engine to charge the batteries.

Monday, 2nd August/Tuesday, 3rd August
I can hardly believe that we set out from Braunston four months ago.
Since then we've done 492 miles and 429 locks.
We've been to Northamptonshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, London,
Hertfordshire, Essex, Middlesex, Surrey, Wiltshire,
Bath and North East Somerset (known as BANES--ugh!),
The City of Bristol, to name but a few--or probably most of them, actually.
We've met some great people and seen wonderful sights.
We've had adventures and experiences we'd never had had if we'd bought that
McCarthy & Stone warden assisted, fully zimmer framed, pull cord alarmed retirement flat!
There's still plenty of time for that......

We made an early start today--9.00 a.m.
and set off with Jen and Bill through the locks to Newbury, where we shall stay for two nights.
I cycled on ahead to get the locks set.
A tree had fallen right across the towpath,
and a fellow cyclist kindly helped me lift my Raleigh Trafficmaster (!) over it.

Things were going well---until Trev came out of Lock 82, or didn't come out actually!
The engine spluttered and died.
It wouldn't start again.
So I pulled the boat out of the lock in to the side and tied her up.
I had an idea what it was going to be--no fuel.
Trev had been nursing it along,
hoping to get to Greenham Marina to fill up, as their fuel was cheap.

Now what were we to do?
Was I to bowhaul it as the women did in the days of yore?
No, if the worst came to the worst, Bill said he would tow us.
However, the ever resourceful Bill just happened to have a can
with one and a half gallons of diesel in it.
But even with that in the engine wouldn't start.
But Bill knew the answer.
The fuel pipe was clogged up with all the gunge from the bottom of the fuel tank.

This absence of fuel would also explain why the Whispergen wouldn't start the previous evening.
So Bill showed Trev how to bleed the engine
--or something like that--
and after a while things began to sound encouraging,
the engine spluttered into life and we made our way very slowly to Greenham Marina.
It was only two miles, three locks and one swing bridge.
We left Jen and Bill to moor up whilst we went to the marina.
We took on 247 litres of diesel,
and the back of the boat (where the fuel tank is situated)
certainly sat down in the water after that!
Then we turned round and went back up the canal,
turned again and moored near Jen and Bill.



OUR MOORING IN NEWBURY

Then Trev had to sort out the Whispergen, that took about two hours,
and again Bill was very helpful.
Apparently, in an earlier life, he'd been a coach driver, and had learnt a lot about engines.
I asked him if he would like to travel with us permanently as our resident engineer!
But all is well now, engine and generator are working well.

You will remember the erstwhile Cherry, who comes to stay with us from time to time?
Well, she has a brother and a sister-in-law, John and Jean,
whom we met at Cherry's house a couple of Christmases ago.
When we told them we were going to live on a boat,
they recklessly expressed interest in our project
and said that when we did the K&A we must get in touch with them as they live nearby.
So we did, and they came to see us on Tuesday evening.
We spent a very pleasant evening together.

In a couple of days we shall be at Reading and back on the Thames.
Jen and Bill will go north towards Oxford,
we shall go south and retrace our steps, perhaps as far as Kingston-on-Thames,
depending on how time allows.
We have a wedding to attend at the end of August, and will need to find somewhere safe to moor up for a few days.

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