Last day in Wiltshire

On my last day in Wiltshire I had promised myself a visit to Caen Hill Locks on the Kennet & Avon Canal.  The satnav had another meltdown whereby the map on the dashboard screen showed the arrow (my car) to be driving through farmers' fields and not on the A road that I was on.  Despite this I managed to get to Devizes and eventually saw a sign for the Locks.

This was my first view as I walked from the car park.  At this point I made the (in hindsight) mad decision to walk the whole flight of locks.  Locks 22 to 50.  This point was lock 42.

And without checking the distance!

I walked downhill all the way to lock 22 spotting a heron on the way.

It was quite a cold day when I started out but then the sun came out and I got quite hot due to all the layers I was wearing.  But it was worth it to see all the locks.  I've been wanting to visit for at least 10 years.

It took me 2 hours to walk the 4.4 miles.  I was quite tired - to put it mildly.

I started my journey towards the Midlands with a slight detour to Adlestrop to take a photo of the station sign.  There's no longer a station there but the sign has been preserved.

This was because I have loved the poem Adlestrop by Edward Thomas since I was a child.

Then on to my final visit - Chastleton House.

Sadly I didn't take a photo of the front of the house.  This is the back.

Back to the car and the final miles back home.

Now for some stats:
4 days, 3 nights,
317 miles of driving
276 photographs
3 lunches with 3 different friends
one 4.4 mile walk
3 National Trust properties
2 hotels
and one very tired me when I got back.

However it was well worth it.

Now back to the textiles!

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice