Rain is forecast for the early part of today clearing later.

Today, I'm walking from Pewsey to Bishops Cannings. It's a unique day as today is a day without locks.

One of the fun parts of this trip is watching people go through locks. To some, it is easy; others find it a nightmare. And on this trip I'm helping/interfering a bit at the locks. I'll miss that today.

So what besides no locks is on offer today? Well, there's a chalk white horse and the possibility of seeing a corn circle! More about those later.

Trying to get a good price for travelling to Pewsey by train and returning by bus/train from Bishops Cannings looks difficult. My plan is to drive to Trowbridge, take the 0938 train to Pewsey, and at the end of the walk get the 1652 bus from Bishops Cannings to Trowbridge. I think there is a free multi-story at Trowbridge. We shall see. It'll talk about 90 minutes to get to Trowbridge.

Having got to Pewsey, there's a 0.5 mile walk along the road to get back to the canal (at Pewsey Wharf).

The first village to the west of Pewsey Wharf is Willcot, and just to its west there is Wide Water and Lady's Bridge. (They are about 2 miles west of Pewsey Wharf.) Lady Susannah Wroughton was unhappy with the canal going through her property. So the canal was widened to look like a lake and an ornate bridge was constructed.

Ladies Bridge
  © Copyright David Stowell and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Just south of the Bridge is Swanborough Tump. Wikipedia says that Swanborough Tump was the meeting-place (or moot) of the Swanborough Hundred. (A Hundred is a geographical division.) It also says that the Tump is mentioned in the will of King Alfred.

Swanborough Tump memorial
  © Copyright Rog Frost and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

About another two miles further on, there is Honey Street and, just to the north, Alton Barnes. From here, you can see a chalk white horse:

View across fields towards Alton Barnes white horse
  © Copyright Doug Lee and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Wikipedia mentions that it's

I'm not sure if my telephoto lens will cope. We shall see.

For lunch, I'm planning to go to a pub called the Kings Arms in a village called All Cannings. It is best reached from Woodway Bridge (which is about 2 miles west of Honey Street). The pub is about 0.25 mile south of Woodway Bridge. The Kings Arms's web page says: Set deep in the heart of the Pewsey Vale, Wiltshire, The Kings Arms offers you the very best that a traditional country pub could offer. Award winning real ales, Tasty home cooked food, Beautiful surroundings and a cheerful host are but a few of the attractions awaiting you in our lovely village pub.

The page also says that being located right in the heart of Wiltshire's legendary Cropcircle country, between Devizes and Pewsey, we have been welcoming cropcircle enthusiasts from many different countries around the world. They even have a web page dedicated to crop circles and it shows a crop circle constructed on 8th August 2008 just about a mile from the pub!

Another web page says that this week the Guest Beer is Bee’s Organic Ale with an a.b.v of 4.5%.

The next bridge after Woodway Bridge is the Allington Swing Bridge:

The Allington Swing Bridge Across the K and A Canal
  © Copyright Rog Frost and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

It is then just over 2 miles to Bishops Cannings Swing Bridge, and from there about a third of a mile to the bus stop outside a Wadworth pub called the Crown Inn.

BISHOPS CANNINGS Wiltshire
  © Copyright ChurchCrawler and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.