Devonshire Teas.

10 Locks 5 Miles 2 Swing bridges. Now moored at Great Bedwyn
387 locks, 523½ miles, 16 Tunnels, 11 swing bridges and 9 lift bridges since Nov 2006

On Wednesday 13th Dot and I went into town for a look around to see what the market had to offer and see what the rest of town was like. There were the usual antique shops and an antique market where numerous dealers had cubicles with their wares on display. We saw plenty of things of interest but cannot justify spending the money on non essentials. One shop that caught our eye was a shop displaying ladies clothing and skin care preparations and emblazoned across the shop window was the proprietors name with “Gunsmith” written underneath. We had to go in and investigate this but sure enough in a room at the back of the shop was a gunsmith selling rifles, shotguns and ammunition. This was not the end of it though as through an archway there was another room full of Fly fishing gear and a selection of about 50 different flies to attract the Trout or Grayling. A really strange shop.
When we returned to the boat we found the Trusts trip boat being loaded with 40 elderly people for their monthly boat trip. They alternate their journeys by going East one month and West the next. Next task was to make morning tea, scones, raspberry jam and Cornish clotted cream, delicious.
An interesting sort of day was ahead of us on our journey even though we didn’t know it when we started. Warm and overcast conditions prevailed with a faint rumble of thunder in the distance not long after we set off. Luckily this amounted to nothing.
At the swing bridge I got off the boat to give the crew a hand to open the bridge as it was proving difficult to move. When I walked back to the boat I nearly stood on a water rat. It was sitting in the entrance to its hole and appeared to have blood on its face and was looking a bit sorry for itself. When I walked away it came out of its hole and lay on the grass in the sun. I got Dot to take a photo to have a better look at it.

As we approached lock 65 there were 2 boats ready to exit the lock which was very handy. However as they passed us they said that they had been stuck in the lock for an hour due to a jammed paddle. They told us which paddle NOT to use and they would contact BW to get it fixed. Needless to say it seemed to take an age for the lock to fill. Eventually we were on our way again and as we neared the 48 hour moorings I spotted a space big enough for us but nothing for Kalimera so I moored up and got them to breast up against us. Just as we moored up the heavens opened and we got the promised rain which only lasted about half an hour.
An hour or so later the boat in front of us left and as we thought the crew on Kalimera might be having an afternoon nap we decided to untie them and pull them forward into the vacated space. Unfortunately our plan to surprise them with a change of venue was foiled and they twigged that something was going on.
After our bit of skull duggery with Kalimera we took off into the village to see what surprises lay in store. Other than a couple of thatched cottages and a church dating back to 1066 there was nothing special or unusual to be seen.