It was great to be back running again today to banish the memories of a poor Birmingham performance, deservedly beaten by two great goals from a very well organised Peterborough team. After the League 1 title was secured on Saturday, in the words of the club anthem it was a weekend of Joys and Sorrows, but that’s what you get with Birmingham. 

Today would be the longest of the K&A days @29 miles, but with accommodation booked and no travel, it would be quite leisurely. However, I was now carrying full kit for the first time in a new lightweight backpack. I left the Dundas Arms @8:50am after a hearty breakfast. The pub was named after John Dundas who opened the K&A canal in 1810.

First stop of the day was Hungerford after 3 miles where I had arranged to meet an old friend, Mark, with whom I did my first coast to coast (St Bees Head to Robin Hood’s Bay), an Ironman and a 5 mile sea swim (amongst many other things) in the early 1990s. Both being quite competitive, we pushed each other to more challenging events (for the time), so worryingly he would be cycling with me for 14 miles to Pewsey today.

At about 14 degrees with sunny intervals, the conditions were perfect and the miles flew past. While built first, the K&A canal is closely aligned with the Great Western Railway and probably no closer than where the bridges have been combined.

Our first stop was at Crofton after 10 miles. Being near the summit of the canal which is essentially a 15 mile pound (stretch of water between two locks) @ 140mAoD, it needs a water supply which is from Wilton Water reservoir. Powered by steam, Crofton pumping station is the world’s oldest working steam powered beam engines which pumps water 12m up from the reservoir into a channel which drains under gravity to the summit pound 1.6km away. Unfortunately  the pumping station was closed.

Then as the land on either side of the canal started to rise up, Bruce Tunnel came into view a few miles later. Opened in 1810, the 458m long tunnel must have been considered preferable to building more locks over the hill that it passed through.

With no pedestrian access we followed the path over the top and then continued on to Pewsey Wharf at 17 miles (in 3.25 hours = 5.25 mph – thanks Mark !). This was our planned lunch stop at the Waterfront, except that it was closed on Mondays. Therefore we made a 1.5 mile round trip into Pewsey village for a sandwich from the bakery that we could eat in the Royal Oak opposite with a pint. You wouldn’t get that friendly cooperation everywhere.

Rejoining the canal at Pewsey 1.5 hours later (where does the time go ?) Mark headed back to Hungerford and I continued into a slight headwind to Devizes. It was a section interspersed with many houseboats of different shapes and sizes, a few glimpses of Wiltshire’s famous white horses, noisy crows, interested cows and a very tame heron.

I finally arrived in Devizes @4:20pm after 29 miles in 7.5 hours, with @60,000 steps recorded. Another great day.