Short Trip and Sad News - Tuesday 16th May 2013

Kintbury has a charter horse boat which is operated at weekends and during the summer. It is moored in the mouth of the mill stream and there are notices warning boaters to ensure that their roof is clear in order to allow the tow rope to clear it safely. It also has a small arcade next to the shop although it is not well used. At last we have seen a reasonable sized clutch of mallard as we left our mooring.

June at the bow ready to jump off and set the lock with Doug and ahead is Nb Chance with James at the helm.

We were quite surprised at Hungerford, it is a lovely little town with an abundance of small shops but still has a Tesco supermarket. There were lots of flags out above the shops and houses and we discovered that it was to celebrate Hocktide on the 2nd Tuesday after Easter when two Tuttimen visit the houses of the commoners to collect a “Head Penny” from the men and kiss the women. The shop windows are dressed in yellow and blue colours for the celebration.

Approaching Hungerford we passed a large Trout Farm and I could then understand how the fishermen we had passed a little earlier had caught 4 trout, they must have escaped from the farm.
The canal after Newbury has become much more interesting with far more wildlife including Kingfishers, Red Kites, and Watervole as well as Coots and Moorhens.

We found a lovely mooring adjacent to the bridge in Hungerford with a grassy bank for Phoenix  and we only had to nip over the bridge to be right in the centre of the shops. This area was once the Hungerford Wharf and the plaque shows how it would have looked in the heyday of the canal.

Just in case you thought that I was joking about the drained pound I have pinched this picture from James so that you can see what it looked like.


Oh, and the sad news, our Puppy Walking Supervisor, Mark, phoned to say that he would be coming to collect Phoenix on the 20th May to go to University for he Guiding Training. I am not sure who was the more upset, us or Doug and James.