Day 17 - Horton Bridge to Sells Green Off on our travels by 08:30 and time for a pause at the Devizes Wharf facilities from 09:30 to 09:50 and then on the VMs near Lock 50 from 09:55 to 10:30 - just enough time to get the brass polished up and the stamina reinforced. No other west-bound boats appeared so a solo passage was decreed. Lynne had gone shopping with Sue so John & I set about the top 6 which, being that time of the day, were all against us and took us until 11:50 to complete. We were then rejoined by the happy shoppers and coffee was brewing when a competently crewed hire boat popped out of lock 44. It thus seemed like a good idea to set off [12:05] to take advantage of the full locks for the descent. The towpath and bridges were well supplied with tourists and we set them to work opening and closing gates so that, whilst only Lynne and I were off the boat, we effectively had dozens of lockwheelers. We met upcoming boats in only 2 locks and were out of Lock 29 in just 107 minutes. Struggled a bit to moor for lunch in the pound below Lock 29 and when we came to leave at 16:30 we were stuck fast. A passing lockie got off his quad bike and flushed some water down, explaining that levels had not normalised since the previous day's stoppage below the 16. We eventually got into Lock 28 at 16:45 and emerged triumphantly from Lock 22 at 17:45. Net time for the whole 29 = 4hrs, 2mins - comfortably our best yet. Pootled on to Sells Green which was very parked up and eventually spotted a space a plank's length from the bank just short of Sells Green Swing Bridge at 18:15. A pint of Henry's was followed by dinner at The Bear in Devizes, where John & Sue were staying, served in a delightfully old-fashioned way. Well deserved after the day's labours.
6mi, 1fl; 29 locks; 6.40 engine hours Baz
