Wednesday 1 May 2013

A Hot day to Devizes.

It wasn’t long before we reached the bottom of the Caen Hill Flight of locks into Devizes today.  Ian and Karen on ‘Tacet’, who had moored about 1/2 mile behind us last night, passed us at about 9:30 and we tagged on behind them.

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‘Tacet’ and ‘Chance’ in the 7th lock of the 29 locks which make up the complete flight and now looking towards the “famous 16”.

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Ian and James decided to pair up and go in and out of the locks together.

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We were treated to a very hot day today –  perfect for enjoying the pleasures of this unique feature of the canal system.

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Still very much at the bottom end of things after 3 locks.

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Awesome views which got better and better as we ascended.

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At last, at the top!  With the help of the very kind volunteer lock keepers we got through the sixteen locks in 2hours exactly.  The views from the top are wonderful and the lock keepers, with their yellow tabards,  can be seen in the garden of the cafe having a well deserved cup of coffee.

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Six more locks after the famous 16 and that was it!  ‘Tacet’ and ‘Chance’ arm in arm as they near the finish line.

We moored up near the wharf in Devizes at about 2:30.  We’ve had a great day and still there was time to get some boat cleaning done and pop into town for a look around and some shopping.

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James is often amused by street names – no prizes for hazarding a guess as to why this name stuck.

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There are many buildings in Devizes which get all the photos but behind the scenes, and around the back streets there are some wonderful atmospheric areas.

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We’ve always thought that, if we were to live anywhere other than by the sea, it could well be Devizes.

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Here we are at our moorings – in glorious sunshine and surrounded by mountains of beer kegs belonging to Wadworths Brewery.  Karen is busy polishing the stern of ‘Tacet’ although she’s blending in very well with the colour scheme!

We’ve all decided to have a meal together this evening at The Black Horse pub as we may not keep up with each other from now on.

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