HEART BREAK HILL.

 

Although our plan was to go to Devizes the next day, the Captain took the decision to stop just short of the town mid afternoon. His thinking was we were more likely to get decent moorings if we got there about lunch time, and it worked. We ended up moored opposite the little theatre and only a short walk from the town centre.

We decided to spend a couple of days in the town and tackle the infamous Caen Hill locks on the Saturday.

Shopping was the first thing on the agenda and a short walk found us in Morrisons, there is also a Sainsburys. We got all the essentials, and after putting everything a way decided to take a better look at the town its self.

There are 2 12C churches, St Johns and St Marys, and the town grew up round the 11C castle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devizes

It has a good selection of shops and quite a few pubs. It also has its own brewery, Wadsworths which was founded in 1875. It has over 500 listed buildings, which is quite a lot for a town of this size.

It has a Wetherspoons, The Silk Mercer, so after walking round admiring the architecture we had to try it. There was Bishops Finger on which is a dark bitter, so the Captain gave that a try but it wasn’t really to his taste, so we moved on to The Pelican were he had the Wadsworth 6X, again a bitter but more palatable, they have a lovely seating area at the back so we made the most of the sun. On the way back to the boat we tried a little micro pub called the Snuffbox, and the Captain found a very nice stout called Juxt Affogato from Unity brewery.

http://www.thesnuffbox.co.uk/

https://unitybrewingco.com/products/juxt-affogato-stout-5-4

Then back to the boat for pizza.

After a late start next day we headed back into town for another look round, and a final few bits from the shops. We were also intending to eat out or get a takeaway to give me a break from cooking. A place we had wanted to try the day previous but had been closed was the Vaults, so that is were we headed first, the Captain was not disappointed, with another fine dark ale on for him to try. City of Cake, a choc fudge cake stout by Hammerton Brewery.

https://www.facebook.com/thevaultsdevizes/

https://www.hammertonbrewery.co.uk/site/house-of-hammerton/

Then off to Wetherspoons for tea.

On the way back to the boat the Captain spotted Muck and Dunder, a rum cocktail bar and dragged me inside. He is rather partial to a spiced rum, so as a treat we finished the night with a cocktail, I had a Tiki Time and he had a Dark and Stormy

https://www.facebook.com/MuckandDunder/

Next day and the time had come to tackle the Caen Hill locks, the whole of the 29 locks are actually called the Devizes flight with Caen Hill being the 16 in the middle. It was a little daunting but we set off in good spirit, and quite early for us.

At the first lock there were already 2 boats going down so I jumped off to help, then we were joined by Adrian and Val off NB Jack and Janner, we have been bridge jumping with them for most of our journey on the K&A. First 6 locks completed and we both stopped at the services to fill with water and get rid of rubbish. It was then we discovered that they had friends on NB Box Full of Frogs coming to join them, and they would be buddying up with them for the rest of the day. Bummer, but hey ho we could wait for the next boat to join up with. And it didn’t take long, we were joined by Honeysuckle, a boat from Honeystreet boat hire with a crew of 4 onboard, including 2 strapping and willing teenage lads.

https://www.honeystreetboats.co.uk/

The 16 locks of the Caen Hill flight only have a short pound between each lock, and with so many helpers it meant I was able to go ahead and set the next lock whilst they locked the 2 boats through. All the traffic seemed to be going our way and it was a while before we met a boat coming up the locks. The flight of 16 is only open between 10am and 4pm with the last entry to the flight at 1pm, this is to conserve water. We could have moored at the bottom of the flight, but decided to push on and do the last 7 locks to reach Sells Green, Honeysuckle joined us as they had a meal booked at the 3 Magpies. When we got to Sells Green there was just enough room for us at the end of the visitors moorings, but the nose of the boat over hung the solid bank side by about 4ft. Not a problem well not then anyway.

Honeysuckle needed to moor so the Captain invited them to brest up against us for the night, and it was whilst securing their boat to ours disaster struck.

I was at the stern of the boat trying to keep the 2 boats level whilst the Captain was on the bow tying the boats together, after doing this he took a step back forgetting that the nose of the boat was not level with the solid bankside, and splash in he fell. Luckily the water only came up to the top of his legs, but not so lucky he banged his thigh and hand as he fell. I made light of it but was really concerned tbh. He got out no problem and disappeared inside to take a shower. I made sure the hire boat was secured, and assured the worried holiday makers he would be fine before going below to check on him. He was lay on the bed, wet shorts on the floor in a state of shock. I checked his thigh and could see a few grazes and the same with his hand, but there didn’t appear to be anything more serious. After a shower and a generous amount of germoline we took a walk to the pub, The Three Magpies. A nice pub with a good menu but no darks on.

https://www.threemagpies.co.uk/index

Next day the poor Captain didn’t feel like moving so we stayed put and had an easy day.

The hot weather was with us again, and after 7 locks and 5 swing bridges we moored up at Semmington. The Captain still didn’t feel 100%, so I did my best to jolly him along and do as much as I could to help.

It was very hot so we took a slow walk to The Somerset Arms in the village. Nothing on for the Captain, so he made do with a cold lager. The heat put me off cooking, so we had burgers at the pub, and they were very good. They also have a Pantry Shop, which carries things like milk bread and eggs, handy to know.

https://www.somersetarms.co.uk/

On to Bath next.