Honey Street to Ufton

We left the Barge Inn at Honey Street on Saturday morning travelling along the stretch known as the Long Pound.  Water levels were so low CRT had announced the Caen Hill Flight would be shut for 24 hours to allow a recovery of the depth.  We moored up at Pewsey, just in time to miss a torrential downpour and we stayed over on Sunday to avoid more rain.  

On Monday we awoke to bright sunshine and made a move.  After stopping for water we found ourselves in a queue at Wootton Rivers Locks which took us up to the summit level and the short Bruce Tunnel.  In the middle of the tunnel our lights picked up something glittering on the wall; tinsel was hanging at the halfway mark.   Shortly after the tunnel we descended Crofton Top Lock and moored up in the sunshine.  

Moored in the sun between the Crofton Locks 

The Crofton pumping station houses 2 steam engines which are no longer in use but are in working order and are regularly fired up for visitor days. 

Crofton Pumping Station

After another night at Crofton we set off and as we passed a boater called out to tell us heavy rain was forecast.  We didn't have to wait long for the drizzle and shortly afterwards we got a soaking.  We had a little way to go before we could moor up at Great Bedwyn and dry out.

On Friday we sailed into Hungerford and stopped at the top moorings.  On our way into town we spotted a better mooring so returned to Brent III to move her down.  Kev turned the key but the engine didn't start.  Kev tried the 'tap it with a hammer' technique which I'm told is more technical than it sounds but the engine still didn't start.  Time to call out River and Canal Rescue.  Their engineer also took his hammer to the starter motor but it still didn't work.  He then started checking the electrics and suddenly the engine burst into life.  She consistently started after that so the engineer left, concluding we'd had a dodgy contact but as nothing was actually repaired only time will tell.  

We stayed another day in Hungerford and picked up some more books and DVDs in the charity shops, our bookcase now has an overflow issue.  

On Sunday we continued east stopping opposite an impressive victorian vicarage at Kintbury. 

The victorian vicarage at Kintbury

The next day we continued towards Newbury and the canal section of the waterway gave way to the River Kennet with it's dark waters and strong currents.  On the way we saw a boat with a grass roof.

A grass roof on a green boat

We sailed through the West Mills area of Newbury with it's quirky little cottages. 

Quirky cottages at West Mills

We were pleased to see free moorings at Victoria Park in the centre of Newbury and stopped for a couple of days;  our pace has definitely slowed down.  

Whilst at Newbury our Wi-Fi stopped working but we didn't think too much of it as there are occasional interruptions to the signal.  But the next day at Thatcham it still wasn't working so obviously there was a problem but it would have to wait until we were near an O2 shop.  

We continued our journey through the many swing bridges, locks and the tricky Woolhampton Lock/swing bridge combination.  As boats come out of the lock they sail into a strong current which sweeps down to the nearby swing bridge and it's narrow channel.  The bridge has to be opened before the boat leaves the lock but, as it's round a bend, the helmsman cannot see the bridge from the lock.  Luckily we had a hand from another boater who stood below the lock to watch me open the bridge and then went back to open the lock gates to let Kev out.  

From there we had an easy run to Ufton where we moored up at the side of quiet meadows with a herd of cows and flock of greylag geese for company.  

On the meadow moorings at Ufton

We found out our paperwork for the Wi-Fi box the O2 and in the instruction booklet Kev found a reset procedure.  This cured the problem connecting us back to the internet.


Our journey from Honey Street to Ufton