A sunny day at Caen Hill

After some early mist the sun came up and it was a glorious autumn day.  We decided to go for a walk, get the paper and some milk and go to the pub – it didn’t quite work out that way but we still had a good walk!
We started by walking to Seend via the footpaths from Martinsdale bridge.  The footpaths were not well signposted and half the stiles were broken or non-existent, and when we got to Seend we found a notice warning that the path was going to be extinguished, so it’s not surprising that the landowners have not maintained the stiles recently.  Seend has some beautiful houses, but the shop closes at 10.30 on a Sunday…..  We walked back to the canal down Rusty Lane to the swing bridge, which you can see in the centre of this photo.  The views were lovely.

As luck would have it, a boat was just turning at the winding hole so we had the chance for a chat and to discover the existence of the Spar at the top of the Caen Hill flight.  So off we strode!
It was nearly lunchtime by the time we got to the top of the locks, so after a visit to the Spar we relaxed in the sunshine with the papers, a cup of tea and bacon baps in the cafe.  We walked back via the grassy slope that runs down the far side of the side pounds and got a different perspective on the flight.  Near the top -

and near the bottom.

There were some late-flying butterflies – we saw this red admiral, a comma, some skippers and several dragonflies.

The rose-hips were magnificent. 

After more tea and some cake we set to work cleaning the outside of the boat.  Luckily there is no boat next to us so we could wash both sides of the boat by pulling across to the other pontoon.  The Spar shop had meat from a local supplier, so it was roast beef this evening (sadly no Yorkshire pud as I forgot we had run out of eggs).
Tomorrow Dave's off to Froud's Bridge marina to collect the car, then we're off home for a couple of weeks.