Wandering to Wootton.

I got taking to the guy off the Wessex Rose hotel wide beam as he was carrying luggage for the changing passengers. He said that it was their second year and they had been just about full since May. The go up and down the Kennet and Avon and the Thames. Having looked at their website I can't really understand how they do it all for £875 per person. Not only that I have no idea how they fit it all in as there are only 24 hours in the day and as far as I can see there is only the two of them to do the cooking cleaning, driving looking and it would be difficult to find somewhere to moor every night. I bet thyey both sleep well. We set off from our mooring at Pewsey on the long pound before the summit and continued in the lovely countryside of the Pewsey Valley. At regular intervals there are pill boxes and other defences. Right by the Waterfront pub at Pewsey Wharf there were some tank obstacles on the towpath but forgot to take a photo.

After the recovery of troops from the beaches Dunkirk in 1940 the British Army had very little equipment so it was decided to build a static defensive line. The coastal defences were hoped to be able to prevent the German forces landing but the the final protection for London and the strategic ports of Bristol, Avonmouth and Sharpness would be a series of defences call the General Headquarters Line. The Kennet and Avon was part of this line and designated GHQ Line Blue. This pill box had a lovely spot to while away the wait for the invasion.

The canal meanders through lovely tree lined banks and on such a great day was a pleasure to be moving.

The wheat fields look very full and the hills haven't quite left the canal yet.

We arrived at Wootton Rivers after going up one lock and after topping up with water we moved on to the very end of proper moorings with nobody else around. We were soon joined though by Ian and Irene Jameison on Free Spirit and their travelling companions who were looking for a moorings too. I was so ashamed of the state of our boat compared to the other two that I started blacking the hull to make it look something like. I had really only been waiting for a proper mooring so that I could paint the st'bd side as I had already done the port side. I have had the blacking  over two years and I would have had to put it on with a trowel if I hadn't used it soon. Once that was done we went for a walk into the village with the lovely name of Wootton Rivers. A large part of the villages properties are thatched that give it a real character. We got talking to a Master Thatcher who was from the village and was working on half a roof of a house next to the pub. It is all wheat straw used round here and the straw is sourced locally from heritage breeds that have the long stalks. Modern stuff has very short stems so not good. He was hoping that the torrential rain forecast for the night wouldn't wreck the crop that was just about ready for harvest near by. He had done almost half the house in the village and had started going round doing them again. A house may take 6 to 8 weeks and last between 12 and 15 years

The Royal Oak had just been thatched the month before. We were told that the dark areas on the thatch would be where the wheat stems had been stored on end in a damp area. It certainly adds character to a place.

The simple church of St. Andrew's is built on the site of the old Saxon Manor house. The wooden steeple has a clock with three facdes, one of which has letters instead of numbers. As you can see it spells out 'Glory be to God'. 

There are six bells in the tower and the plaque was unusual to me as not only did it have a list of those that had been killed in alphabetical order and a list of those that had signed up, but it indicated those that had been wounded. The roof was very lovely, like the tithe barn at Bradford on Avon.

The clock is special in it's self as projects were put forward to celebrate the coronation of George V in 1911. Of the projects put forward they chose having a clock for the church. When they obtained quotes they were wildly too expensive. The local handyman Jack Spratt said that he would build a clock but he would need metal and stuff to make it from. The villages brought what they could, pots and pans, agricultural equipment etc. The fine cogs and gears he couldn't really make so they managed to convince Whatley and Co from Pewsey (where the Heritage Museum is now) to make them. Jack made wooden moulds to make the castings from though. It all worked well too. It fell out of repair at a later date but was again reinstated, and I think as a Millennium project it was once more overhauled. This time it was electrified. The church was automatically locked and opened by time clock. If you got accidentally locked in you could just press a button to get out. I have never seen this in a church before.

By the time we came out of the church the pub was open so we went back for a pint in this lovely pub. Mind you a pint was £3-50. We had a good natter with some of them in the bar before heading back to the boat for tea.