Ups and downs

Wednesday: 7 miles and 1 lock
Thursday: 2 miles and no locks

On Wednesday morning we were both awake at 5am. It was too hot to go back to sleep, so we started our day and were on the water by 7am. Apart from one lock at the start, it was plain sailing all the way, with lovely views of the chalk downs to the north.

We passed a WP boat and were wished 'happy solstice' by the crew - a first for either of us. We arrived at Honey Street about 9.30am, and unsurprisingly at that early hour, we were able to get a prime mooring spot by the pub.

We had a lovely breakfast at the Honey Street café (canalside, dog friendly with lovely garden) before exploring the village (there's not much of it).

It was getting pretty hot already so we soon retreated back to the boat and lurked under our parasol for the rest of the day. There were lots of WPs and alternative folk about, all apparently celebrating the solstice. We could also hear the booms of the army on Salisbury Plain very clearly today, the air was so still. In the evening a bit of a breeze got up and we felt confident enough to leave Scooby in the boat while we went next door to the pub for dinner. Unfortunately, there was a very odd menu and we ended up ordering paninis and chips. Even then, when they actually arrived, they were in fact slightly warm sub rolls with not very nice salad and some very manky chips. The worst pub food we have ever had - and we've had a lot of bad stuff over the years! It could be a lovely pub and has huge potential, but needs some investment by people who know what they are doing.

On Thursday it was mercifully cool and we got up at a more usual time. After going about two miles we reached the visitor mooring at All Cannings, where there is a little village shop. Robin went off to get supplies - not that there was much (although some very nice shortbread biscuits were a good find).

Investigation of the OS map revealed a nice walk up Clifford's Hill to the north so we decided to stop for the day and go explore. On the way up we went past this modern replica of a 5,000 year old long barrow - where you can have your ashes kept on a shelf!

We couldn't go in but could see down the middle - apparently there are lots of chambers inside. It felt really cold and a bit creepy!

We had a really lovely walk, although it was blowing a gale on the top of the hill and we had to take evasive action around some cattle. There were lots of wild flowers and butterflies and the views were amazing.

Looking along the escarpment back towards the white horse.

Robin and Scooby on the top.

Looking back at the way we came up

Robin and Scooby on their way down.

The evening was a bit grey and cool but no complaints from us. We head to Devizes tomorrow but there's limited mooring so we may make an early morning dash for it again.