We reach the top and its still too hot.

4 miles
8 locks (5 going up and 3 going down again)
1 tunnel

After a hot night we went for a lovely walk in the morning; up a hill so we got a rare view of this rolling countryside. We also saw some enormous pigs, one of whom knew exactly how to deal with the heat.

After Laura from Large Marge had kindly bought us some milk at Great Bedwyn along with her own shopping, we set off. If the timing works we may be able to go down the Caen Hill flight with them on Sunday and take advantage of their two extra crew (and their general niceness). It was already hot and getting hotter. The pounds were also low, revealing the many crayfish holes in the bank.

We went up the remaining 5 locks on this side of the summit and then through the Bruce tunnel, which marks the highest point of the canal. From here it's all down hill to Bristol.

On the way in..

On the way out....

The summit is only short and it wasn't long before we got to the next lock and began our descent. We met up with a hire boat with an elderly couple and went through the first two with them. They were fine, apart from a rather dangerous manoeuvre when she went down the lock ladder and onto the side of their boat while he drove it along. They stopped before Heathy Close lock but we went on to nab the last spot in the 48 hour moorings at Wooton Rivers. By this time (about 3.30pm) the humans, dog and boat were all very hot indeed. The parasol was again much appreciated. He was too fast to take a picture of, but a large dragonfly (a proper evanrude) was zealously patrolling up and down about 100 metres of canal where we were moored.
The weather is proving a bit of a nightmare. None of the moorings have afternoon shade (the towpath is all on the south side) so the boat just continues to heat up all through the long afternoon and evening and there's no breeze to cool it down. Same again tomorrow apparently....