Anyway we left latish yesterday as John went for a run (it had stopped raining by then but was far from pleasant) and found that the wind was pretty horrific. Although we only had a short distance to go, it entailed going almost completely around a village called Horton (don't know about the Hoo - Dr Seuss if you don't recognise the reference) and that took us a good few miles to do. There were also 2 swing bridges on this stretch - luckily there were some men working on the first and they did it for us, but we had to do the next one. We had the wind behind us, at our side, in our face - you name it and the wind did it.
Much joy to see the Devises Marina except that it was still a mile to the moorings on the wharf.
Anyway we arrived, went past Drentel and moored within sight of the top lock.
Yesterday afternoon I did a wander around the town until the wind and rain became too much so returned to the boat. Some nice little shops and a good butcher so we had pork steaks for tea, VERY nice indeed.
Today we had a shock, I spoke to Daphne and Roy was taken to hospital tomorrow with heart problems, we're waiting to hear if he will have a pacemaker fitted. If you're reading this Daphne we wish him the best and hope to see you on our return through this way.
Valerie has been an absolute star today and taken us to the large Morrison's where we have stocked up on all the heavy stuff. We are now ready to go tomorrow. They are feeding us tonight so we are greatly looking forward to that and then hoping to see friends Rachel and Paul at the bottom of the locks, when we get there!
Marlborough Downs as we were leaving Honeystreet, with the horse still visible.
You often see pillboxes (or the remains of them) along the canals, as it was believed that if the Germans invaded the would use them as lines of supply. This one is in particularly good repair. Funnily enough there is one here opposite the wharf, behind our mooring.
Almost there - this is bridge 136 and we are moored just after 140. We were very glad to know that we'd soon be out of the wind.
I forgot to say at the start of this that we went into the Barge Inn yesterday. What a funny place that was? It was like going back in time to the 70's. The decor was clean and obviously fairly newly done but would have graced a place in 'Life on Mars'! There was a picture of Jimi Hendrix on one wall and Queen Victoria on another, and the place is a mecca for Croppies. There are photos of crop circles and newspaper articles on the walls and a challenge from the pub to any aliens who could re-create one of the more dramatic circles to do so with a prize of 100,000 pints of beer for the winner. They had to subject themselves to a DNA test and register themselves at the pub! Fantastic.
On a slightly more sensible note they also had forms for boaters to register Local Interest so that they could get the vote - I was very impressed by this, knowing the problems we're having in Derby.
Tomorrow the 29 locks - please let it be dry!
No comments:
Post a Comment