We have now left the tourist trail and we are out in the country. No more buskers like the one in the picture who was quite impressive although he did not seem to get any donations. The water was continuosly flowing from the bottle to the glass so presumably he had an electric pump hidden about his person as well as the metal frame which allows him to sit in such a stiking way.
The pub we moored outside last night turned out to be a Chef and Brewer, it is a long time since I have eaten in such a place and somehow I thought the renaissance in eating out had spread to these establishments but I was severely mistaken. It was poor, my mixed grill had tough steak, dry chicken and caterers sausage, why on earth I ordered it I don’t know, a mistake I will not repeat. It us not as if it was particularly cheap, Gill has threatened cooking at home if we get another meal like that.
Hopefully tonights pub, which does not seem to be part of a chain, will restore our faith in pub food.
The Kennet and Avon canal is very picturesque but there are a lot of moored boats which restricts our speed. You can only go past moored boats at the slowest speed (idling) so despite motoring for six hours (with a couple of stops) we only covered 10 miles today.
The boatyard have juggled their bookings around so we can have an extra week, the only snag is that the pumps which supply the canal broke last week and the locks are running out of water. If it is fixed tomorrow as expected we will attack the flight of 29 locks either tomorrow or Saturday and spend next week at the top of the hills until returning down the 29 locks the following weekend. If the pumps are not fixed then we return the boat on Monday as planned.
Watch this space for exciting news of Gill and Johns adventure.