Back along to Wootton Rivers

 Today started with torrential rain.  A couple of day boats passed us about 10.30am with people on the back covered up in full waterproofs and trying to look cheerful.  The rain lightened about 11.30am and by noon it had more or less stopped.  So having had a very lazy morning, we set off.  

We hadn't been going long when we came back to the swing bridge that had had the sheep and the goats in the fields next to it when we came past before.  There were none to be seen at all today! I wonder where they went!   Quite a lot of this bit of canal is very overgrown with weeds both sides.  There's not a lot of room to pass a boat, and certainly not a wide-beam of which there are quite a few along here.

After a day of full-on locks, it's quite nice to have a day without too much to manipulate, and in fact at the next swing bridge there was a boat there before us so the lady from that boat did the bridge for us! 

We passed Honeystreet too, where we had found the mooring just outside the pub.  This time, the field behind the pub had lots of campervans and tents in it and some really big boats were taking up my mooring spot.  That was OK; we hadn't intended to stop!  On the way out of Honeystreet I did manage to get a better picture of the White Horse up on the hillside.  Unfortunately I couldn't wait until the sun shone on the horse, but you can see it better than in the picture on the way out.

One of the bridges we came to was the one that cost £500 and was a payoff to the landowner (Lady Anne apparently).  The guidebook describes it as a decorated bridge.  I think that is overstretching things a little, but I sort of see what they mean.  She insisted that the canal was wider outside her property too and you can see it's quite extensive through the bridge on the right.

One of the best things about the Kennet and Avon is that it is mostly East West, and so as you travel in the afternoon you get the sun along the canal in front of you and on the bridges too.  This is quite photogenic I think.  We passed through some trees like this a couple of days ago when it was gloomy, and the trees look much less attractive in the gloom than when there is dappled light.

A little bit further on we came to Pewsey Wharf.  When we came through last week it was a hive of activity - boats going out on hire and so on, but today it was much more tranquil.

Sometimes you pass boats that make you smile because of their name, but this one made me smile because of it's face at the front!!  Our CRT Volunteer yesterday had a handlebar moustache - not quite as big as this one!

We came to the first of four locks that takes us up to the highest level of the Kennet and Avon and after we'd gone through the lock, discovered from a board at the exit, that the lock should be closed after 3.30pm.  It was 5.15pm when we came into it.  So we've moored up next to the water point which we shouldn't do either, but on the assumption that no other boats will come through, we shouldn't be in anyone's way.  We'll try to set off fairly early tomorrow as we want to get down to Crofton where the pumping station is as it has a steam day tomorrow (and Monday), so we're hoping to get to have a look at that tomorrow afternoon, but will have 10 locks and a short tunnel to do first!! 

We've been told by the folks from a neighbouring boat that the Royal Oak in Wootton Rivers is a lovely building and well worth a visit (and it sells beer), so as we haven't walked much today, that seems like a plan to me!!