Canal Walk

Monday this last week dawned bright so it was time to get those walking boots on again!


I wanted to go to Hungerford to purchase a basket to hold the wool for my crochet projects (see post below) so we decided to walk another part of the Kennet and Avon Canal (fairly level walking is good at the moment as DH's back is still giving him a few problems although it is a lot better than it was) and then motor onto Hungerford and enjoy a picnic lunch beside the canal before visiting the basket shop.


We parked up in the same little car park that we used a few weeks back when we walked the canal up as far as Little Bedwyn. This time we set out to walk in the opposite direction.

Couldn't resist taking a photo of these cute ducklings

I love the reflection of these trees in the water

Crofton Pumping Station

We sat for awhile when we reached the lock opposite Crofton Pumping Station and enjoyed watching the house martins swooping over the canal catching insects, they are such agile flyers and were busy collecting food for their young to take back to their nests which they had built under the eaves of the pumping station.


I love to see the narrow boats on the canal - no two are the same, some very smart and others not so!!! Some are very high tech with solar panels and sky dishes, some have miniature greenhouses on the top, and they all seem to have a wheelbarrow (either on the roof or placed on the towpath beside the boat). I am not quite sure what they use these for but I am sure there is a simple explanation.

We were pretty hungry and thirsty by the time we arrived back at the carpark so we motored on into Hungerford where we enjoyed our picnic lunch whilst watching a couple of the boat people working hard carrying out maintenance on their boats while we sat and relaxed in the sunshine.

After lunch I visited the basket shop to purchase my wool basket (oh my, what a choice - baskets in every shape and size) and this has already been put to good use. 


A very pleasant way to spend a day and I am sure the walk helped with my weight loss this week - an amazing 3 lbs which gave me my Club 10 award (10% of my body weight lost), only 2.5 lbs to go to my 2 stone award now!

A Day Out In Hungerford

On a lovely sunny Saturday morning we drove to Hungerford. Primarily this was so DH and No. 1 son could view and photograph a special steam train that was passing through. However I love visiting Hungerford and mooching around all the little individual shops there so I left the men folk to go to the station whilst I made for the town.

Town Hall and view down High Street

Antiques Arcade very often featured on TV in shows like Bargain Hunt

Some interesting bits and pieces outside of the Antiques Arcade

View looking up the High Street to the bridge and the town hall

When I had had enough of looking at the shops I wandered down to the canal to sit on a seat in the sunshine and idled my time away watching families feeding the ducks.

After the steam train had gone through we met up for lunch at a little coffee shop called The Tutti Pole. I did attempt to get a photo of it but there was some sort of cycle meet up event going on and I couldn't get a clear photo for all the bikes and lycra clad cyclists that were congregated outside. There were more cyclists inside but we did manage to get a table and enjoyed a lovely lunch.



You can find out why the coffee shop has such an unusual name here, the ancient festival of Hocktide with Tutti Men carrying Tutti Poles is still carried out each year in Hungerford.  


We then decided to get away from the hustle and bustle of the busy high street so walked along the canal towpath towards Newbury direction. What a difference, we had only walked about 100 yards and we were in the peace and quiet of the countryside with just the narrowboats and ducks for company.

Can you spot the dog on the towpath? He belonged to the people on this boat - one way of taking your dog for a walk I suppose!

DH and No. 1 son looking for possible future vantage points for photographing trains

There are very often steam train excursions passing through Hungerford so I am sure we will be visiting again very soon.