Not yet back

This is not strictly a Take Five blog as we are not yet back at the boat - we are staying a couple of nights with Andrew in Devizes. we drove up yesterday and cooked Christmas dinner - trying guinea fowl for the first time.

Soon after we arrived we went for a walk to the Caen Locks - not as easy as it might have been as there was still a lot of ice underfoot. We decided not to walk the towpath from the nearest point (it was too slippery down the access path) and walked through town.

We came down onto the canal after passing the brewery and still had to take it very cautiously - walking poles made it a bit safer.

The weather was fantastic and the late winter afternoon sun was especially beautiful. The view back up the flight is quite stunning, although not easy to capture on camera from ground level.

Today - after a late start - we went out onto Salisbury Plain to visit Imber Village, taken over by the army in 1943 to train American forces before the D-Day landings and never returned to civilian use. Now it is open a few days over Christmas and New Year, Easter and August. Sadly the church was not open - still restricted to just two days. It can hardly be for fear of vandalism - few churches can have better security cover!

In any event, we then had a good walk along byways and paths just outside the perimeter - again great sunshine, although a few drops of rain fell for about three minutes. The views from the ridge across the plain below, looking northwards towards Devizes and the Cotswolds was amazing, although by the time we reached that point visibility was not at its best.