Day 30: Semington to East Kennet

Sometime yesterday we quietly slipped into our 4th County; Wiltshire and if the two words for yesterday were Rain and mud our two for today would have to be Spring and sunshine! It was a glorious day. We commenced as we finished yesterday, with a walk along the Kennet-Avon Canal and spring had brought out the birds

Swans and ducks amongst them

The walking was flat and easy.. On the feet and on the eye...

But then, surprise, surprise, a hill, namely, Caen Hill. Who would have thought! So what does an engineer do when faced with a hill when building a canal? Of course, they build locks and in this case a total of 16 locks to get to the top of the hill and then a further 12 through the Devizes area.

Amazing but also I would expect, mind mumblingly boring if you are on one of the narrow boats plying the canal.

But talking of the feats of engineering, it was also mind blowing to be walking alongside the canal only to look over the wall and see that we are passing over a major highway below. Those Victorians (the era not the State) did not let things get in their way. Similarly the swans did not let the passing traffic interfere with their nest building and family rearing activities... Just check out that nest

For the second half of the day we left the canal and as we walked up the bridge there was a lovely little pub with a delightful beer garden and so we just had to stop :). As we sat I couldn't help but notice the crows/ravens (I can't tell the difference) nesting in the nearby trees. The nests entirely visible as the trees are still bare... A novelty for one from an environment with principly evergreen trees.

We continued on through picture book villages.

And rural countryside.

Until we reached Allington and then began to climb, and climb and climb up to the limestone ridges. The view was spectacular as we looked back to the rich, rural valley below.

This cutting alongside the path shows the white, chalky limestone that lurks beneath the surface of the ridge.

Once we reached the top we had a gradual descent down Arlington Downs and along a track to East Kennet and our digs for the night.