We reckon that the meteorologists in the UK are pretty good at their job as they seem to get it right every time. Then again, they get a lot of practise living on an island in the Atlantic Ocean. As predicted, we awoke to mega precipitation. We had a small window from 11.30am to 12.30pm when we could make a dash up the cut without incurring too much rain.
We cruised for an hour trying to dodge the rain to no avail. Toque stayed dry!
We are at the bottom of lock 51 which is locked off due to water restrictions and will open in the morning at 10.00am. There were no moorings available just below the lock so we spoke to the two boaters already on their starting blocks for tomorrow and asked if we could go three abreast with them.
We do occlude the canal but seeing as nothing can go up or come down it didn’t matter. Can’t say we have ever done three abreast before and it probably isn’t legal but can’t see anyone coming out in this atrocious weather to do anything about it.
We are in this gorgeous little village called Wootton Rivers which must have a heritage listing of some kind as many of the homes have thatched roofs.
We wandered around for a short while in the rain and then decided enough was enough and headed to the pub for a well deserved warm up as it was pretty cool.
We had prior information to say not to miss out on this pub so we willingly obliged by not visiting it once but twice in less than twelve hours. We dropped in the first time for a drink and to check the menu out.
The second time we went back was for dinner. In-between visits we returned to the boat to warm up a little which we successfully achieved by getting the diesel fireplace going.
It warmed up and dried the dampness out of the boat very quickly. Have also put our wet shoes around the fire as they got soaked. Smelly, smelly.
We returned to the pub at 7.00pm for dinner and met a couple who were celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary. They had got married in the pub and had their reception there. She was interested in Toque as they wanted to get another dog as their previous one passed away a year ago. She had actually heard of Havanese which is the first person we have met who knows of the breed in England. It really was a lovely pub and very authentic. You couldn’t be more than six foot as you had to walk around with your head bent the roof is so low. We also got talking to another chap who was pretty eccentric. He was into crop circles, Stonehenge, Area 51 in the US and all things terrestrial. It took us a while to be able to extricate ourselves from his company. Just another eccentric Englishman.
So today you get a tour of the kitchen on Ange De L’Eau and see a demonstration of where the elsan bucket sits. You can tell we are running out of things to write and video at present but tomorrow is meant to be fine before the bad weather comes again so we will aim to get more fodder for you.
Rowkin Rovings Blog 