Devizes–our “spiritual” canal home.

We left Pewsey this morning at 9’sh and made our way along 12 of the 15 miles of  lockless pound which ends in Devizes and then the canal suddenly changes to 29 locks in two miles! – but that’s a story for tomorrow.

The weather was fantastic today.  Bright, hot sunshine meant that Doug had to don the sun tan cream when he walked a lot of the way from Pewsey to Devizes (mostly with Phoenix).  Here they are with Pickled Hill in the background.

We have to say that this morning, in the sunshine and warmth, with the wonderful open views of the Wiltshire countryside, this stretch of the canal was just heavenly.

‘Autumn Myst’ follows up behind – reeds lining the canal on one side and the hedgerows and trees just starting to burst into life.

The good weather meant we met so many happy people walking and cycling along the canal today and, with no locks to hinder our leisurely pace, we arrived in Devizes early afternoon.  Doug, June and Bob scooted off to the  shops while James was left to get ‘Chance’ back to some presentable form after it seemed to get terribly messed up in Pewsey yesterday. (He enjoys it anyway!)

Devizes, is where we bought our first boat which was called ‘Spirit’ and we lived on the mooring at the top of the Caen Hill Flight for three months before we embarked on our first canal travels in October 2007 - hence we think of it as our “spiritual” home.

Bob and June decided to do a second round of shopping and left Phoenix with us as she was very tired from all the walking and running she’d done today.

While we were sitting on the back deck enjoying the sunshine and a glass of squash (!?) an old school friend of Doug’s arrived with her family to meet up with us.

After they had a look around ‘Chance’ we all went for a walk along the towpath to the top of the Caen Hill Flight of locks which descend out of Devizes towards Bath and which we will be tackling tomorrow .  There are 16 locks in the flight which are all part of the full 29 locks.

Here are Jeremy, Lucy, Doug, Susan (school friend), Sam and Bob with Phoenix at the top of the Caen Hill Flight.

This evening we went aboard ‘Autumn Myst’ for dinner with Bob and June and a recap of the wonderful spring day we’ve just all enjoyed.