We didn't feel the need to set off very early today as Hungerford was only about 6 hours away. The first few locks were down an area of canal that was very weed full! Sufficiently so for us to have to stop in a lock to clear the weeds from the weed hatch! The canal water was pretty clear though, and you could see many many little fish about 3 inches long swimming against the direction I was travelling in. The reeds on the left in this picture definitely looked as though they should be cut back.
We had got to a community called Great Bedwyn by lunchtime and wanted to stop to get some milk, so moored at the water point whilst I went to the village to get the milk. There were some nice houses in the village, but the Londis store was pretty depressing with not a lot of anything. We stopped and had lunch whilst still moored at the water point - no one came by so we weren't really in the way.
It was a pretty bridge where we were, and the two Muscovy ducks seemed to see this particular point as theirs. They didn't move when we went past.
A little bit further on we passed this horse in a field. WHAT had it done to deserve such a coat!>
I swapped to lock winding after a bit, and was joined by a lovely family who wanted to know if they could help. Dad and Freya and Clara helped with the next three locks and clearly enjoyed the process. Mum was recovering from a broken leg and so she was concentrating on walking and collecting blackberries. They had mostly understood what would happen next by the time we got to the third lock. They had been out for lunch and had 'huge fish and chips' and one of them had had profiteroles and the other sticky toffee pudding and they were already hungry! We provided a couple of kit-kats to thank them for their efforts and to keep them going. They were really sweet and I think enjoyed the interaction!
It's interesting going back along the route we travelled a couple of weeks ago. We met a boat who's owner said that she remembered meeting us in Newbury - which we did! But things definitely look different the other way around. You also see things differently if you do the locks or do the driving. I drove this bit today, but had done the locks two weeks ago. As you can see, there are parts of the lock winding process that are not as active as others!
We next came to the lock just to the west of Hungerford where there is a really odd lock, with a swing bridge over the top of the lock. This proved rather challenging when we came out of Hungerford, and proved just as difficult for Chris today. Fortunately a lovely family came along at that time and helped. The chap was actually prepared to wait until we had finished doing the lock, but, fortunately for us, a wide-beam boat came along wanting to use the lock and they had lots of people on the boat so were confident they would be able to close the swing bridge. That was very helpful!
This was the lock with the swing bridge in place.
And this is Chris' valiant attempt to get it moved out of the way! As you approach Hungerford, the church is to the right, very close to the canal. It starts off well hidden in the trees.
And then as you come along to it, you get just a few seconds to have a proper view.
We were looking for a mooring in Hungerford and the place we had been before was through the next lock but required us to moor on pins. We discovered that above the lock there were mooring rings so we stopped there and that is our present spot. It's good and quiet too - a little bit further from the high street than we were before. Having moored we went to explore the High Street - Chris hadn't done that when we came before. Having walked up and down we stopped at the Swan for a drink and found ourselves sitting next to a Danish couple. They had not really travelled in the UK before and we had a really good conversation with them and then came back to the boat after a couple of beers to cook dinner. A very satisfactory end to the day!
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