Out into the country.

We were going to move off this morning after a bit of shopping but as there was room on the 1100 Wadsworth Brewery tour we decided to hang on a little. We went and did the shopping and were back on time for the tour. The brewery was bought by Henry Wadsworth in 1875 when he had an advance on his inheritance of about £6000 to buy the premises. The original brewery was much smaller and about 100 mt away. The present brewery were built in 1885 to meet the new demand for his beers. and is a tower brewery as the process uses gravity mainly in the process.

 Wadsworth's Northgate Brewery opened in 1885.

Henry was very young when he bought the place, 22, and was still a bit of a lad. He cycled from London to Bath on an old bone shaker and enjoyed hot air ballooning too. He used to ride his penny farthing round Devizes visiting the 35 pobs they had at that time and sampling a half at each. Needless to say they weren't all checked on the same day! He died at age 77 when he fell off his horse when out hunting. He had no heirs so luckily he had brought his school boy friend, John Smith Bartholomew, into the business and he married Henry's sister. The company is still run by the Bartholomew family.

Wadsworth's still deliver to their pubs in a two and half mile radius using the shire horses and dray. They also show them around the country fairs where they regularly win rosettes. They were beautiful and huge, over 18 hands. 

Their other claim to fame is that they are one of the few places that hand paint all their signs for their pubs. I must say that this is a bit of a thing of mine as I do like to say a proper sign outside a pub. They also paint all the signs by hand such as 'toilets', 'carpark' etc. The artists can take about two weeks to paint a sign and longer with the planning etc. He has been there 24 years and is on his fourth round of going round the 250 pub signs as they last about 5 to 7 years.

It was a very good tour and with the tasting afterwards lasted over two hours. It seems that '6X' is the favourite of their beers, but very closely followed by 'Swordfish' that has rum added right at the end. The local favourite is the 'Henry's IPA'. Henry Wadsworth liked this so called it after himself. It seems that when he first started to brew he called his beers 'A', 'B', 'C' etc.

After a bite to eat we were ready to go. By then all the moorings were full and boats were still coming up the flight, and being very tired after the trip up the 29 locks, were disappointed to see there was no room. We made somebodies day and moved off to the water point. The museum and shop seem to have been closed all the time we have been here. The place reminds me of a low budget motel in the US of A. but maybe it is supposed to be like a stables.

There were tempting glimpses of the downs through the very high banks and many trees along the cut. Disappointingly there were few places to moor as there were loads of reeds and shallows along the bank.

We were approaching Bishop Canning swing bridge when we passed a boat with his engines running and obviously ready to leave. He didn't return our greeting but pulled off and followed us to the bridge. Helen swung the bridge and let him through but I don't know why he was so miserable as we would always let single handers through. Mind you I notice that swing bridge landings are on the same side as you work the bridge unlike many canals that makes it very awkward to work through them on your own.

We were going to moor round here much earlier and go for a walk but being later than anticipated we carried on a little way.

 An inviting path to explore.

We started the washing before we left and filled up so we have found a good place to get it dry. We will get on tomorrow and have a walk up to the ridge line and hopefully a bit of a breeze. It is supposed to be even hotter on Wednesday.