Walking the Kennet and Avon Canal         Day 6: Thursday 11th September 2008

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REAL TIME COMMENTS
time grid ref comments
1 1149 SU162604 It's 1018. I'm at Pewsey Railway Station. No signal. Decided to drive to Westbury as rail service from T suspended.
2 1154 SU129606 Owners of the 'Odin' who'd met in the pub weterday offered me coffee which was nice.
3 1247 SU107614 Ian, lots of cows chasing around me in a field! Got some photos for you.
4 1356 SU102616 Change of plans: at the 'Barge' at Honey Street. Halves of Hobgoblin, Black Sheep and Butcombe.
5 1410 SU102616 Views of a chalk white horse and Knap Hill where, Ian, there are no orchids.
6 1553 SU036641 Arrived in Bishops Cannings just in time for bus.

TRAVEL PLANS
Radley   0728,0804,     1027
Swindon  0759,    ,0826,1041
Didcot        0815
Didcot        0820
Reading  0817,0836,     1102
Reading  0847,0847,     1132
Bath               0855
Bath               0905
Westbury           0933
Westbury           0959
Pewsey   0938,0938,1015,1203

BCnings  1616,1726
         49,  49
Swindon  1655,1804
Swindon  1711,1829
Didcot   1728,1846
Didcot   1745,1854
Radley   1755,1905

0728AdvanceSing 11.00
0728OpenSing    34.50
0804OpenSing    34.50
S-PSaver/CheapS 26.00
S-POpenSing     23.70
S-RAdvanceSing   6.00
S-RCheapDaySing  8.30

Trowbridge 0723,0938
Westbury   0732,0946
Westbury   0751,0959
Pewsey     0809,1015

BCannings  1547,1652,1752
           49,  49,  49
Trowbridge 1627,1732,1832

T-POpenSing      6.90
T-PAnytimeSingle 6.90

R-TCar 74.5M 1h34 (AA)
DIARY OF TODAY'S WALK

Use this link to see the photos for today.

Click on the middle of the photo to get the title of the photo. The photos together with the titles give a sort-of-diary for today.

   
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PREVIEW OF TODAY'S WALK

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.
SU1260 : Ladies Bridge by David Stowell
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.
SU1360 : Swanborough Tump memorial by Rog Frost
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:
SU0861 : View across fields towards Alton Barnes white horse by Doug Lee
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:
SU0662 : The Allington Swing Bridge Across the K and A Canal by Rog Frost
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.

SU0364 : BISHOPS CANNINGS  Wiltshire by ChurchCrawler
BISHOPS CANNINGS Wiltshire
  © Copyright ChurchCrawler and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

   
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