Walking the Caen Hill Flight

 

The seagulls rest on a boom set across one of the pounds to the side of the locks at Caen Hill.  The booms are in place to prevent the big fish going into the pounds and gobbling up the little fish.  Janet and I enjoyed a long walk down the muddy towpath beside the locks, and when we reached the bottom, we found a seat on which to sit and admire the view of this wonderful flight of the locks, the second longest in the UK and the "Third Wonder" of the waterways system.

 

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The flight of 16 consecutive locks at Caen Hill.

 

The photo above shows our view of the 16 locks, which during the last century, were lit by gas lamps at night, to enable  barges and fly-boats to carry cargoes 24 hours a day.  It was a slow journey taking wares by barge from Bristol and Bath and to the smaller towns that lay beside the Kennet & Avon canal.  The canal joins the River Thames at Reading, from which point you can travel to Oxford and the midlands or to London and the southeast of England.   

 

When Isambard Kingdom Brunel began  the construction of  the "Great Western Railway" from London to Bristol in 1833, he used canal barges to transport the materials for the building of the railway line.   The first trains used the tracks in 1838, and this enabled goods to be carried  between towns and cities at speed.    Rail transport meant that the canal lost most of its trade almost overnight, and during the following years, the canal started to fall into disrepair.  

 

At one stage many canals were abandoned and almost filled in, but in 1946 a number of UK canal enthusiasts formed the "Inland Waterways Association," and the gradual restoration of many canals in the UK began, which now forms the present network of waterways.  This great leisure resource provides enjoyment  not only for boaters, but for walkers, long distant ramblers, cyclists and fishermen. 

A Town Walk in Frome.

We ventured out on two buses today, firstly on a doubledecker, the No. 49 from Devizes to Trowbridge, where we changed to the No. 234 for the 20 minute journey  to Frome in the county of Somerset.   On arrival, our first visit was to the information centre situated in the museum, where we purchased for £3 a "Town Trail Guide" complete with a map of the town.    Easy we thought, so we started the walk at plaque No 1, which gave us some information about a building we could not see!   We soon discovered that the plaque numbers on the map  did not   correspond with  their positions in the actual streets!   The map was not much help, although Joyce our valiant leader,  persisted for two hours in her attempt to make some sense of it.  At the end of the walk we visited the library,  where we complained about the illogical map.    "Yes we know," they said, "the guide has just been reprinted and many visitors complain about the unhelpful map."   Apparently a new map will soon be printed, and placed as an insert into the "Town Trail Guide." 

 

 

 

 Frome Church.

Our visit today was a recce, a chance to plan a "Town Trail" for a later visit, and to find a nice pub for lunch.   Frome contains a large number of listed buildings, and much of the town centre is a conservation area, and was well worth the visit, even with a dodgy map!   Maybe we will come again in December, and do some Christmas shopping in the many interesting little shops in this lovely town.

 

 

 

The cosy bar of "The Old Bath Arms."

After wandering about the town looking somewhat lost, we popped into the first  pub we could find and asked about lunch.  They only did bacon butties and cheese rolls, but one very helpful drinker sitting at the bar, recommended the pub above, which we eventually found without the help of the useless map.   We five drank beer, two glasses of cider, wine and apple juice, together with a tasty baguette, two burgers and two homemade meat pies.  We all enjoyed a  lovely day in a town much in need of a well designed town map! 

A Very Tasty Fruitcake.

The finished cake!  J holds a plate of four slices of the tasty fruitcake she made for M's birthday last Tuesday.  She made two cakes, and we have nearly eaten one of them already, as the cake is very fruity and  "moreish."  I'm no cook, so it was nice to have someone make a cake for us all, many thanks J.  Friday October 31st is "Halloween" and once again the front of the  "Black Swan" (my favourite Devizes  pub) is dressed in its creepy garb of two enormous spiders, one climbing up towards the roof, and the other sitting in its web.  The landlord and staff decorate the building every year,  although I'm not too sure that it encourages arachnophobics like me,  to pass through the pub's front portal.

 

 

The spiders are made of a furry fabric, which adds to their creepyness!  I'm no lover of spiders, but will force myself to use the side, courtyard door, so as not to have to walk under the "Tarantula" over the main entrance.

The Baking of Cakes.

        



Today is M's birthday, and J has made two nice cakes to celebrate the day. On the left you can see the ingredients  for making a family fruitcake, made from a recipe J has bought with her from Braunschweig.   I have a very small kitchen, so J had to juggle things about, trying to find space on which to put everything. I'm no cook, so we borrowed the scales and some equipment from a neighbour, and J managed to get the mixture just about right to go into the two cake tins seen below. The cakes were successfully baked, and the two are now on a cake stand in the kitchen waiting for us to tuck into some pieces later this evening.    I like fruitcake, although I'm no good at baking it!    More news to follow tomorrow!

 

 

The two fruit cakes waiting to be cooked.

 

A Boat-trip on the Kennet & Avon Canal.

 

J & G enjoyed a trip this afternoon on "Kenavon Venture," the Devizes "Kennet & Avon Canal" trip boat.  They can be seen peering out of the front window of the widebeam boat in the photo above.  It was a beautiful autumn day, with soft sunshine, and so still, that no ripples disturbed the water, and only the ducks made a splash.

 

"Kenavon Venture" passes under London Road Bridge.  Simon, one of the crew stands on the bow, just to make sure the boat safely turns the sharp bend to the right in the photo.

"The Red Lion" was SHUT!

The sun showed its face for few moments in Avebury, and it rained,  and to top the lot, our prefered place for lunch "The Red Lion" was shut!   The landlord had the audacity to close my favourite drinking hole because he was  getting married!   We were not the only ones to be disappointed, walkers arrived, visitors came in cars and families with small children  were all turned away by two security personnel, who stood guard at the entrance.  We had to eat, with every other disappointed visitor, in the overcrowded, noisy "National Trust" cafe,  a place much too small for the purpose. 

 

"Avebury Stone Circle" is a World Heritage site, with marginally better facilities than at "Stonehenge," which is a national disgrace!   Millions visit these places from all corners of the world every year,  and we cannot provide adequate facilities for them to enjoy a trouble free visit.  After a noisy lunch in a small cafe with too many wet people and crying babies, we eventually walked the circle, pondered its meaning, and attempted to talk to the lazy sheep, who seemed unfazed by the hoards of visitors.

 

 

"Avebury" is a much visited site, and the above gate and fence have been erected to close a footpath, that was becoming too worn by the millions of feet that trample the site every year.  Part of the surrounding ditch and sheep, can be seen grazing in the background of the photo. The sheep cut the grass,  but that means you must check your every step, otherwise you get "you know what" on your shoes!

 

Janet walks back for tea and cake at the cafe, with part of the stone circle and ditch in the background.   It was a cold, damp day,  with a chilly wind blowing,

Devizes to Bromham Through Mud, Glorious Mud!

We set off on our five mile walk from the "Black Swan" in Devizes Market Place in bright sunshine and on pavement, but further down Conscience Lane we ran out of good track and encountered mud.  Not just ordinary mud, but the deep, slimy version that collects around gateways and  makes climbing over  stiles a life threatening experience.  Two sensible ladies wore Wellington boots, the rest of us struggled on in walking boots, with mud and water up to our ankles.  We crossed wet fields and eventually reached the rich farmland owned by "Bromham Growers" where cabbages, sprouts, turnips and other assorted vegetables grow vigorously in the rich soil.  

Our aim was "The Greyhound" a very nice hostelry next to the village church in the village of Bromham, the pointed spire of which, can be seen above the pink anorak in the above photo.   In front of a welcoming fire, we enjoyed lunch, drank beer and coffee, and chatted the while.

 

 

What on earth is that?   I'm not sure what these walkers have discovered but maybe  it's a rare flower, an edible fungi or just a large cowpat!

 

Good morning  Mr/Mrs/Miss Goat!  These curious goats came up to see us, hoping for a snippet to eat, but none was available.  We wondered why goats' eyes have slit irises and not round ones.   Does a slit iris give them panoramic vision, and help them escape predators?   Can they detect thistles at five miles?  We had no answers.