The picture above shows a typical “work in progress” boat along the canal. Probably 30% of the boats are in this sort of condition, some, like the one above, look like they can move but many seem to be abandoned. Canal boats in any condition are not cheap so you wonder why there are so many in a decrepit state.
We had a late start today as a fan belt broke on the boat and a man from the boatyard had to drive over to fix it. We are four days sailing from the boatyard, he got here in 45 minutes by car, no wonder canals did not catch on.
We are working our way back along the canal, as you can see in the picture the banks are a little overgrown, not great when you meet a wide boat coming the other way.
We tried a different overnight stop in a village called Bishop’s Cannings. The pub was having a Spanish night so we had a very nice paella washed down with a bottle of Rioja whilst listening to a very good flamenco guitarist, we could have been in Spain except it was cloudy and threatening rain.
Devizes tomorrow then a lot of locks on Saturday, lets hope it isn't raining.