Pewsey to Devizes as Spring eventually comes - Saturday 20th April 2013

Waking to a beautiful sunny morning I decide to take Phoenix the 3/4 of a mile walk into Pewsey village to get the paper. It is a nice little village with a Spa shop and a lovely bakery plus a few other interesting shops. Unfortunately the bakery did not open on Saturdays until 8.00am so as i did not want to wait another half hour I decided to forego the delicious looking croissants in the window.

The river in the picture above is the Avon but not the Bristol Avon, it actually flows down through Ringwood to Christchurch near Bournemouth which seemed surprising as we are so close to Bristol. Just as I entered the village there is this drinking trough for horses hidden in the trees with a little poem above dedicated to being kind to animals.

Leaving Pewsey Wharf in glorious Sunshine

Spring Has Sprung

Even the trees are trying to come out.

Doug walks Phoenix for miles and she adores him, why I do not know!!

Pickled Hill

Lady’s Bridge reputed to have been built together with Wide Water to make the canal appear like a lake as it went through the grounds of the Lady’s House.

One of the many White Horses in the area.

As we cruised passed a moored boat i spotted this old fashioned lather for turning wood. The only power it requires is foot or hand power and I believe that they are very effective but have never used one.

We eventually caught up with a hire boat and later a wide beam which was cruising very slowly to the next winding hole where he called us through and turned to go back to his mooring spot.

Just after the canal was lined with reeds making it very narrow and I would not like to meet a wide beam coming the other way. Fortunately the canal is so quiet we have hardly seen a boat, in fact i would say that today was the busiest we have seen it and have seen may be 4 boats on the move.

As we entered Devizes there are some lovely houses overlooking the canal and as the weather was so good the residents were sat out on their decking or patios having lunch and waving to us as we cruised quietly by.


Devizes Wharf and our mooring spot for the night just passed it and before the first of the locks taking us down to the Caen hill flight.
Devizes is a lovely old Market Town with some house dating back to the 1500’s. There are several churches and interesting ginnels off the market place, (alleyways with shops in them).

Behind the main shopping area is Devises Castle which looks quite stunning but which is not open to the public.

Whist ambling around Devizes with Phoenix I spotted an old Austin Seven car being lovingly polished by its owner and went to have a chat. It was his first car and he has kept it for over 45 years and was just going to a meeting of owners with his wife.Again it is strange how it happens but he and his wife both used to live in Solihull. He then showed me his pride and joy a 1912 Fabrique National which has wooden wheels and was made in Belgium, it is one of only two in the country.

Close to the canal is the Wadworth Brewery which still uses Shire Horses to deliver to the local pubs in the town. As i passed they were just exercising the horses in the yard.