We
woke up to blue skies and sunshine and a lovely view across the canal at a
chocolate box cottage. There really are
times when I love waking up!
 |
| The view from our bedroom this morning |
Diane
and I walked up the high street – she to get a new BBQ and me to get meat to go
on ours. There is an excellent butcher
in Hungerford and I rather overdid what I bought but it all looked so
lovely. Strangely enough I read in a
blog last night (I’m afraid I don’t remember whose) that they had come across a
butcher in Lechlade who sharpened knives – this one does too!
 |
| Mary H and Daisy Chain at Hungerford |
As
we are cruising to Newbury with Daisy Chain I am able to do the locks with
Diane which is a really nice change from steering. At the second lock Steve got talking to a
couple of cyclists and the next thing I knew he had put the bikes on his roof
and they jumped on! I’m still not sure
what happened but they had a ride to the next lock.
 |
| A pretty photo! |
I
seem to be writing a lot about Muffin but today he did the BIG one and fell in
– first time this year! We were coming
into the lock waiting so I could jump off and Muffin always comes with me but
this time he was a bit too eager and jumped off too soon and splash! Richard cut the engine and jumped ashore and
managed to haul him out by his harness – that thing is a godsend! Muffin shook himself off and rushed off
looking round at me as if to say “come on what’s all the fuss about”!
 |
| The Old Vicarage at Kintbury |
As
we approached Kintbury I coveted the Old Vicarage with its sweeping lawns
coming down to the canal. Once again I
dug deep into Google and discovered that Jane Austen had once been a frequent
guest there and that the current lady of the house, Gill Hornby, wrote a
biography of Jane Austen aimed specifically at children. Gill’s husband is author Robert Harris, whose
debut novel Fatherland was such a runaway success that he went out and bought
the vicarage in 1992. Maybe I should
take up writing.
As
we approached the Kintbury lock Richard stopped quite a way back from it so I
jumped off and went to set it. Once done
I waited for the boats to come – I waited and waited until finally Steve came
up and said that we were staying the night there. I will not say any more about the situation
but needless to say I was far from happy.
We
had a quiet afternoon and then fired up the BBQs and sat out eating, drinking
and chatting until 9.30 pm when it started to get a bit too chilly!
Hungerford
to Kintbury
2.99
miles
3
locks
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