Cirencester and Devizes

[Abacist]

Just having a week away to explore Cirencester and then to Court Farm CL by the canal at Devizes to see the stack of 14 locks. At the Caravan & Motorhome club site for 3 nights. Warden outside meeting arrivals so I slide the window open and he asks me to turn the engine off! After instructions, of course, the van would not start, would not even turn over. Fuel OK, Battery OK, I’m puzzled. Eventually I open my Metatrak App and apply the command Unlock Engine Start Block as a last resort and lo and behold it starts! Don’t know how that happened!

 

[Abacist]

A few photos of Cirencester

 

[Abacist]

Bibury this afternoon

 

[Abacist]

The cottages in Arlington Row, pics 4 & 5, date back to 1380 and were recycled into weavers cottages when the Cotswolds wool trade was in its heyday. Witney blankets not far away either.

 

[The general]

Witney blankets

Yes a I got a Witney blanket 1960s with the Beatles design , nice piece of memorabilia

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[David and Sally]

We like Cirencester. We too stay at the CMC.

 

[Janine]

Lovely pictures!

Cirencester CAMH is one if my favourite sites especially when the horse chestnuts are flowering in the Great Park. Such a majestic walk into town.

 

[Abacist]

There is a huge trout farm raising rainbow and brown trout bred to repopulate trout rivers but you can also buy some to take home or go in the cafe. For the trout farm tour it’s £7.50 per adult. As a child I remember the river teeming with huge trout but it seems they manage to keep them imprisoned in the farm better nowadays!

 

[The general]

Devizes to see the stack of 14 locks.

Yes Caen hill locks , known as a flight of locks .

 

[The general]

Certainly a feat of construction !!! The power of water .

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[The general]

Try and check out Crofton beam engines , check opening times ?

 

[Riverbankannie]

Don’t miss the brewery tour in Devizes!

 

[kevenh]

Try and check out Crofton beam engines , check opening times ?

Simple visits are Saturdays & Sundays. https://www.croftonbeamengines.org/plan-your-visit/

Only known steaming days are 25th & 26th June

 

[gus-lopez]

Eventually I open my Metatrak App and apply the command Unlock Engine Start Block as a last resort and lo and behold it starts! Don’t know how that happened!

Electrical interference in that spot stops the system working?

 

[Abacist]

Electrical interference in that spot stops the system working?

Goodness knows - never ever experienced it before. perhaps eddievanbitz might have an opinion? I hasten to say that the last command given in Metatrak was to Unblock when we left home.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Abacist]

Bourton on the Water

 

[buntyb]

Thanks Abacist for the fab photos. We are staying CCC at Devizes very soon so your posts have given us ideas where to explore

 

[Abacist]

Now set up at Court Farm, Devizes!

Not the greatest start to a stopover! It’s a 3 acre triangular field with the canal running along the south side behind nice row of poplar trees, the concrete access road forming a boundary on the eastern side and a field boundary on the north side. There is hardstanding area in the South East corner where the concrete road gives access to a canal bridge. There is a public right of way down the road and across the bridge.

There is one other unit, a Merc Vito with an attached awning. We park up on the area of scalping as with front wheel drive and 5 ton of van I don’t want to get stuck. We are not level and facing the wrong way for the sun etc but decide to have lunch and get settled afterwards when I have checked the field.

After a while the couple return to the Vito and awning but not without mouthing off about couldn’t I have parked any closer to them in this 3 acre field. He is at least 20 meters away! I finish lunch and set out to walk the perimeter of the field and am met with further shouting about spoiling his view, parking in a prohibited area, being in an area where the locals don’t like Motorhomes blocking access to the bridge. He’s interpreted a sign incorrectly, I may be spoiling his view but he chose to park where he is.

I send some thoughts back about his unfriendly and objectionable nature and resolve to move as far from him as I can! What a miserable git!

The countryside is lovely and green and pretty with nice views of the surrounding hills back towards Avebury.

Devizes seems somewhat run down and in need of levelling up and even on Saturday it seems quiet compared to Marlborough that we passed through on the way here with a huge wide and long Main Street with a bustling market in the middle. So we decide to head for the canal marina which looks charming but the little shack of a cafe does not serve Decaf Tea!

We call in at Lidl to stock up and return to the van to make our own decaf tea!

I am looking forward to Reacher on Amazon Prime this evening and we got some nice dips and Pringles to snack on in Lidl! A few gins or malts will no doubt mellow my demeanour!

Let’s hope tomorrow brings a more fun day!

 

[125BEER]

Never met you chap but you do seem to have an open attitude to life.
It seems a great coincidence that the couple next to us in Argeles sur mer the other day had similar MH lovely couple from Belgium.
Enjoy your trip

 

[The general]

Devizes seems somewhat run down

Bizarre I was there today , checking out the second hand record shop a local punter in there saying a main bank is closing there and he’s got to go to Chippenham now for banking needs ! A lot don’t do internet banking . Devizes got a lot of history but as said needs a facelift , a lot of old buildings they should be proud of .

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Basildog]

Bizarre I was there today , checking out the second hand record shop a local punter in there saying a main bank is closing there and he’s got to go to Chippenham now for banking needs ! A lot don’t do internet banking . Devizes got a lot of history but as said needs a facelift , a lot of old buildings they should be proud of .

Most of North Wiltshire is pretty grotty

 

[SOS]

Most of North Wiltshire is pretty grotty

I wouldn’t describe Devizes as grotty! Swindon yes but not Devizes

 

[Riverbankannie]

Now set up at Court Farm, Devizes!

Not the greatest start to a stopover! It’s a 3 acre triangular field with the canal running along the south side behind nice row of poplar trees, the concrete access road forming a boundary on the eastern side and a field boundary on the north side. There is hardstanding area in the South East corner where the concrete road gives access to a canal bridge. There is a public right of way down the road and across the bridge.

There is one other unit, a Merc Vito with an attached awning. We park up on the area of scalping as with front wheel drive and 5 ton of van I don’t want to get stuck. We are not level and facing the wrong way for the sun etc but decide to have lunch and get settled afterwards when I have checked the field.

After a while the couple return to the Vito and awning but not without mouthing off about couldn’t I have parked any closer to them in this 3 acre field. He is at least 20 meters away! I finish lunch and set out to walk the perimeter of the field and am met with further shouting about spoiling his view, parking in a prohibited area, being in an area where the locals don’t like Motorhomes blocking access to the bridge. He’s interpreted a sign incorrectly, I may be spoiling his view but he chose to park where he is.

I send some thoughts back about his unfriendly and objectionable nature and resolve to move as far from him as I can! What a miserable git!

The countryside is lovely and green and pretty with nice views of the surrounding hills back towards Avebury.

Devizes seems somewhat run down and in need of levelling up and even on Saturday it seems quiet compared to Marlborough that we passed through on the way here with a huge wide and long Main Street with a bustling market in the middle. So we decide to head for the canal marina which looks charming but the little shack of a cafe does not serve Decaf Tea!

We call in at Lidl to stock up and return to the van to make our own decaf tea!

I am looking forward to Reacher on Amazon Prime this evening and we got some nice dips and Pringles to snack on in Lidl! A few gins or malts will no doubt mellow my demeanour!

Let’s hope tomorrow brings a more fun day!

We drove to the brewery and back as it was pouring with rain so didn’t see the rest of the town. I don’t think it is an ancient market town like Malborough, Cirencester or Chipping Sodbury.

 

[The general]

Most of North Wiltshire is pretty grotty

Especially Swindon

 

[Abacist]

In the town car park it’s pay & display as you would expect but it’s run by Wiltshire County Council not Ringo or any of the other car parking Apps. You have to send a text with your reg no and they call you back with an automated call. Enter parking location 6 digit no then press * enter how long you want to park for then press *, confirm reg no and enter *, enter credit card no, press*, expiry date, press *, last 3 digits on the back then press *. I enter 2 digits and the call is cut off!

I am losing the will to live now and I can see the Mrs getting cheesed off. I’ll pay by cash, I can just manage it, no credit card option on the machine. Oh what a surprise! Machine out of order - I take a photo and give up, free parking it is then!

Why do these councils think they can do better? Probably cost a fortune, doesn’t work and they lost out on 3 payments just while I was there! Can anyone confirm if Wiltshire has over 700,000 car parks? If not why do they need a location number with six digits starting with 7?

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Abacist]

A great day out Caen flight of locks today with a bacon bap and coffee in the cafe followed by a pint of 6X in the Black Horse then a double scoop of ice cream on the way back!

 

[Abacist]

16 locks on a hill take the boats down about 240 feet to the Avon Valley. First brought into use in 1810 and engineered by John Rennie complete with water storage ponds beside each lock and pumping system to get the water back up again! Amazing engineering and feat of manual Labour over 200 years ago!

 

[Tonks]

Most of North Wiltshire is pretty grotty

OK I’ll bite!
I agree that Swindon is largely best avoided (SBC seem determined to let the history of the place be lost, and the town centre become an uninspiring wasteland, while trying to convince themselves and others that it’s a great place).
But Swindon isn’t all of North Wiltshire and there are lots of lovely and interesting places: Cricklade (lovely Saxon town at the head of The Thames), Latton (with great walks), Royal Wootton Bassett (what need I say!), the Cotswold Water Park (straddles the border with Gloucestershire), Malmesbury (fabulous Abbey), Marlborough (beautiful with a fantastic high street which is the widest in the UK) and all manner of pretty small villages.
I live in Highworth, the highest town in Wiltshire, and 2 miles from the Oxfordshire border and about four miles from the Gloucestershire border. Ignoring Swindon, I’m surrounded by lovely countryside, bluebell woods in Spring, pretty villages, NT properties in easy reach, good walks. In my view most of North Wiltshire has much to offer. Just avoid Swindon!

 

[Basildog]

OK I’ll bite!
I agree that Swindon is largely best avoided (SBC seem determined to let the history of the place be lost, and the town centre become an uninspiring wasteland, while trying to convince themselves and others that it’s a great place).
But Swindon isn’t all of North Wiltshire and there are lots of lovely and interesting places: Cricklade (lovely Saxon town at the head of The Thames), Latton (with great walks), Royal Wootton Bassett (what need I say!), the Cotswold Water Park (straddles the border with Gloucestershire), Malmesbury (fabulous Abbey), Marlborough (beautiful with a fantastic high street which is the widest in the UK) and all manner of pretty small villages.
I live in Highworth, the highest town in Wiltshire, and 2 miles from the Oxfordshire border and about four miles from the Gloucestershire border. Ignoring Swindon, I’m surrounded by lovely countryside, bluebell woods in Spring, pretty villages, NT properties in easy reach, good walks. In my view most of North Wiltshire has much to offer. Just avoid Swindon!

Swindon , Trowbridge, Melksham , Calne , Wooton Bassett , Highworth , Criclade ,Devizes, Malmesbury all pretty grotty in my experience
Marlborough was unbelievably expensive for some unknown reason ?
I must confess I don’t like any towns or cities anywhere so North Wiltshire doesn’t have a chance

 

[Langtoftlad]

Eventually I open my Metatrak App and apply the command Unlock Engine Start Block as a last resort and lo and behold it starts! Don’t know how that happened!

Happened to me at Uttoxeter CAMC. Moved off pitch, went to wastewater dump and dead as a dodo.
Whilst waiting for breakdown services, had the bright idea of recycling the MetaTrak & bingo.

Eddie had no idea... suggested I contact Meta themselves - but I never did.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}