Retirement with No Problem

Widmead Lock to Thatcham, Kennet & Avon Canal, 1 mile 2 locks

After a hearty cooked breakfast and a wander with the girls, we left our lovely mooring and dropped down Widmead Lock.  Not far after that to the wood which would take us 2 and half hour to saw, chop and stow away…

This was just the start!  Enough probably now to last us through the winter.  We are hardly using any coal at the moment, just a small shovel full last thing.

On through Monkey Marsh Lock..

This one is due to be closed on Monday for maintenance, but I am wondering if it will with the Hungerford Marsh Lock over running due to BW finding a lot of damage under the water level that needs fixing.

Monkey Marsh Lock is very different to normal locks as you can see.  I was totally restored in 1989 and is one of the two turf sided locks on this canal.  Here is what it looked like back in the 70s before the restoration..

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Gosh just look at that lock landing!  You can see Thatcham bridge in the distance exactly the same as it is today.

And that is where we moored for the day.. Phew a long cruise.. Not!  But we had Mr Tesco to meet and he duly turned up late afternoon with all stuff heavies such as potatoes, dog food etc

I did a Maffi and filled two carrier bags full of rubbish from the visitor moorings.  I was getting funny looks from the dog walkers, maybe they thought I was some vagrant looking for a couple of crisps left over in a bag!  I don’t have one of those stick thingies and use gloves you see, so I suppose it looked a bit odd!

Tomorrow we will move on a bit further before settling for the weekend.  Next thing on the agenda is water and that we will do on Monday.  We still have about one third of a tank, so our thoughtful use of water has paid off over the last couple of weeks, but I am looking forward to a half hour shower instead of a one minute one!