First baby duckling we spotted this year. We also spotted our first water vole today, he in the next Photo I assure you.
A brighter morning as we set off from Newbury, we encounter a lift bridge straight away then we leave the pretty houses of Newbury before we are in open countryside and extensive water meadows, we then reach Guyers lock, this and the following Higgs lock are named after commanders of one of the bloodiest battles in the civil war, here was the setting for the 1st battle of Newbury 20th Sept 1643, where the Royalist was defeated by the Roundheads.
At these locks and another seven, we share them with another boat, with a nice couple as there crew, and as chatting to them we discover that the man is a chauffeur to the Chairman of Cardifff City Football club Mehmet Dalman.
The canal and is setting is truly an English countryside with rolling meadows and clumps of woodland dotted here and there, and it's not long before we reach the pretty village of Kintsbury and we were lucky to manage to get a mooring space as its a bank holiday and there are lots of boater about.
Kintsbury contains a few pubs a few shops and a 13th-C church, it's also home to the author Robert Harris who wrote Fatherland, Enigma and a few other books.
Also at Kintbury there is a horse drawn bage which operates for the tourist, unfortunately it was operating today but here there boat.http://kennet-horse-boat.co.uk/
We give the inside of the boat a quick clean, it's suprising how much mud gets in, whilst doing the locks. And then prepare our Sunday roast and chill out for the rest of the day.
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