The Courts NT (Saturday 22nd October 2016)

I found myself on the other side of Calne before lunch so I had the idea of walking the footpath from Mile Elm, but when I stopped there it looked drab and unpromising so I drove on.

I parked up at the top of the Caen Hill flight of locks to check on the swan family. The canal was still quite busy with boats going through the locks, including one with a young boy at the tiller, and there were lots of cyclists, walkers and dogs on the towpath, with a couple of undisciplined barking dogs being quite bothersome, at least to me. I found the adult pair of swans in one of the wide stretches of canal above the moorings but not with the cygnet, although I had heard it was still there a few days earlier.

I had a picnic lunch on a bench overlooking a side pond with a view to the plains below looking quite autumnal compared to recently, and while I was there the cygnet glided into view, looking almost full grown.

After some Waitrose shopping in Melksham I decided to visits The Courts, an NT property in Holt on the road to Bradford on Avon. It was also quite busy, some families having brought their children to do a treasure trail, so again I was not in my comfort zone, but there was plenty on offer to photograph. I was looking for autumn colour, but found it was a little early, with late summer blooms still holding sway - some sensational colour. Some of the trees and items such as wheelbarrows aso sported multi-coloured knitwear. It quietened down later on and I was able to sit and catch up on some reading in some late sunshine.

L.
29.10.2016 (1942 hr)

Blip #1954 (#2204 including 250 archived blips)
Consecutive Blip #000
Day #2403 (448 gaps from 26 March 2010)
LOTD #1189 (#1315 including 126 on archived blips)

A Visit To Caen Hill, 22 October 2016 (Flickr album)
The Courts NT, 22 October 2016 (Flickr album)

Taken with Pentax K-1 and Pentax HD P-D FA 28-105mm f/3.5-5.6ED DC WR lens

Lozarhythm of the Day:
The Byrds - Pretty Boy Floyd (recorded 12 March 1968, Columbia Studios, Nashville TN)
Byrds: Roger McGuinn (ld vcl, 12-str gtr), Gram Parsons (gtr, vcl), Chris Hillman (mandolin, vcl), Kevin Kelley (dr) with Clarence White (gtr), Lloyd Green (stl gtr), John Hartford (bjo), Roy M Huskey (bass)
Bank robber Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd was Public Enemy No. 1 when he was shot to death by federal agents at a farm in East Liverpool OH on this day, 22 October 1934.
This Woody Guthrie song was recorded by the Byrds for their ground-breaking album Sweetheart Of The Rodeo and was also on the B-side of I Am A Pilgrim.