Caen Hill Flight in Record Time

I picked up my 3 months supply of drugs today from Boots ... we ended up ringing the surgery in Macclesfield yesterday arvo and persuaded them to fax the script straight through to Boots in Devizes.  It worked!  This morning it was all ready to pick up but the pharmacy chap still had a bit of a problem getting his head around it all and couldn't work out how we managed to get 3 months worth!  Next time I need drugs we will be back in the Macc area, so it wil be easier!  We have booked a berth back in Aston Marina starting on 1st November, we are doing  a month by month basis in case the boat gets sold!

We then had a bit of a walk around Devizes (and went for a yummy, late breakfast!)  It is a really great town, lots of nice shops - just no train station, which to me is a must as it's such a easy way to get around the country.

The Shambles market was on, but it was all but over by the time we got there!

Shambles Market

We then decided that as we were so close to the famous Caen Hill Flight that we should really give it a go.

So, off we went.  Can you spot the camouflaged boat ... it really does blend into the bank ...

Here we go then....

...and here we are at the bottom.

It wasn't too bad going down hill.

 

Elaine took this one, she is a bit crook and has lost her sense of balance ...
(ha ha - El)

Here she is. resting at the bottom before we head back up!

We went down, turned around and went back up the flight in what I reckon was a record time of 1.50 hours.  Not bad eh?!

Did I forget to mention that we left the boat behind and we walked it!

(We heard one of the hire boaters saying to someone that it had taken them 4 hours to get down!)


The weather has been a bit rainy plus a lot cooler today, so it was nice to get back to the cosy boat.  I left Elaine on the boat for a couple of hours and went down to the pub to watch Man Utd beat Swansea.  Another season starts ... love it!

Thank you all for the best wishes re Elaine.  Tomorrow we will head off towards Great Bedwyn so I can send her and her trusty sidekick, Bombo, off on the train up north to get sorted xxx

End of The Line :-(

We were awake at 7.00am this morning but it was raining so hard we went back to bed with a cup of tea and a good book....two and a half hours later we got up!

The rain had stopped so we got moving ... it was like going through the Amazon jungle in places, at least the leaves were wet so it cleaned the sides of the boat as we went through. A green boatwash!




It is quite a spectacular canal and well worth the effort of all the locks (I think)!

Only two swing bridges today, the first one was held open for us by a boat coming the other way, so El had quite an easy day.  Note the motorhome next to the swing bridge, when we get one we can camp next to the canal helping knackered boaters.

As you can see the weather had changed dramatically, it got sunny and very warm.

Elaine gave the boys a good walk along the towpath, but it was too hot for them - they just wanted to get back on board.

So we made it to Devizes, we are moored at the top of the photo ...

We went to a local dog friendly pub, where we had a couple of very nice pints.  We are not really into the real ale stuff as in Oz it doesn't really exist, so we are not really used to it. We often try the local drops and most of them are OK but tonight's was superb, it was Wadsworths Henrys original IPA, bloody lovely!

,

So to the title - 'End of the Line'.  Elaine is one of those that never wants to make a fuss or ruin my canal dream, but she has been feeling crook for the last month!  Today we went to Boots and  sorted out my drugs for the next 3 months, or we should have it sorted tomorrow.  Elaine finally agreed to go and see a doctor ... not easy when travelling about on a narrowboat!  Long story short, we ended up in a community hospital in Chippenham where we we were seen by a very nice doctor who basically said to Elaine, "You have to get sorted, Madam, with various tests etc, but which can't be done here".  So ... we have decided we are going to chuck a u-ey and start heading back north.  We will go to Great Bedwyn so Elaine can take a train up to Macclesfield and get the ball rolling, so to speak ... we just didn't see the point of getting further and further away.

So tomorow we will stay here and go for a bike ride to the Caen hill Flight - we will take our windlasses so we can help some boats down and up.