Caen Hill and the Flight of Time

The best night and day of the year are six months apart: Flannelette Sheet Night vs The Morning You Realise For The First Time That There's Going To Be A Summer After All. This year the latter fell yesterday, and it felt especially sweet to be spending it in Wiltshire with Lovely Artists. 

With NBs Netty and Eve heading inexorably eastwards, I'd wanted to catch up with Chris, Jinny and Dru before they disappear over the horizon, especially since I had a couple of vintage plane identification books from my father's collection that I thought Dru would enjoy.

Just a quick stop with Chris and Jinny as Ted, I fear, would not have treated Secretary Cat, who owns Chris and Jinny and is the most senior partner in Skyravenwolf,  with the deference she deserves. 




Incidentally, Chris is holding a beautiful leatherwork in progress which I'm not going to describe because it's secret. But someone's going to be really lucky. 

Then we wandered up the nearby Caen Hill Flight of 29 locks - although we only saw 23 of them because rather than going all the way into Devizes, we stopped when we got to the Caen Hill Cafe at the top of the hill. 

NBs Netty and Eve will be ascending them presently on the next stage of their journey to the Thames. 

It's breeding time. We saw a couple of swan's nests, right on the side of the canal ... 

... and a couple of Dru's information boards too. 

Good to see former works in progress in situ.

As usual, eagle-eyed Dru spotted far more than I did (too busy talking!) but only the heron was in reasonable range for a snap.

Can you see it?

Time for a Wiltshire cream tea and a quick pop into the local Spar before we walked the three miles back to Sells Green.



Driving home I was amazed at how late it was. Once home, I was astounded and astonished too because I haven't got around to putting the car clock forward an hour yet and it was even later than I'd thought. Time in Flight. 

Poems, Pints and a Harvest Moon

The  full Super Harvest moon in Pisces looked stunning over Bath last night.  This is Dru's photo of it.  I'd left my camera at home as I'd been  focused on getting to my poetry reading at Poetry & A Pint in St James's Wine Vaults without forgetting the folder of poems that I was reading from.  (I have actually done that before now and had to wing it, which I don't recommend unless you're a poet of a rather more performery persuasion who doesn't need written prompts anyway.)

No such basic errors last night, which was as well as I was reading alongside Rachael Clyne, who has acted professionally and Knows. Her. Stuff.  She a pretty good poet too, so I was very pleased to be on the same bill.  

Our poems do seem to converse quite well, so we hope to do some more readings together over the coming months.  

Here's another of Dru's photos of our latest collections together on NB Eve, now moored above Caen Hill Locks.  

And if you're based in the Bath area and fancy reading your poetry to an appreciative audience - or simply like listening to the stuff - get thee along to next month's Poetry & A Pint, presided over by former Bard of Bath, Richard Carder.  It's been running since 1986 and is an excellent evening out.  

A-Kennet & Avoning

Time to to visit Dru, who was poised to move NB Eve from the marina at Foxhangers to Sells Green, a couple of miles to the west. (I'm not sure whether you have upstream or downstream on canals, there being little of that sort of thing going on.)  Except that we decided to take the scenic route and go via the Barge Inn at Seend, which would mean retracing our chugs (Eve's engine is very chuggy in a throaty, dieselly sort of way) a short distance after the imbitition of cider. 

I took a couple of young men along with me.

I am not getting on!

I am not getting on!

I am not getting on until she does because she's the only one who knows what she's doing!

OK, I'll get on now

There seemed to have been a big spill of petrol or oil or something at the marina which was a shame. A beautiful, hideous shame.  

But we were soon clear of it and on our way, past lush banks of early blooming comfrey ...

... and NB Lenin ... 

... and through a couple of locks ...

... but though it brightened from time to time, it still kept bloody raining. 

Get back on board this minute -

and mind that willow tree!

A quick return to Foxhangers in the Moggie to retrieve my decidedly less picturesque car and we left Dru with a view of the famous flight of locks at Caen Hill in the background.  (Probably too small to see in this size photo.) 

Good to see her back on the water and settling into her new life.