I hate the M1. I really, really hate it. In fact - in future I might instruct Jenny to avoid it at all costs, at least when we are heading south after work. There is very little in the world that is quite as frustrating as sitting on a completely stationary motorway, with stationary traffic sitting in queues as far as the eye can see!

We were heading down to Ogbourne St George, near Marlborough. When we head to Salibsury via Marlborough we see signs pointing to the Inn with the Well, about 3 miles outside Marlborough. Intriguing. Bt we’ve never turned of the road to investigate. I was looking for somewhere for us to stay last evening and found the Inn and the well on Active hotels. I booked us in. We’re staying at the Swan in Stoford tonight but they didn’t have a room for last night. Excellent. We’ll inspect the well.

We left at about quarter past five. We should have been inspecting the well shortly after 8. Off we trundled. Oops. There were signs on the M1 warning of long delays further down. We decided to come off. So did lots of other people. The signs were also waring of congestion on the slip road. As we reached the exit, there were signs indicating that the congestion was ended. The motorway seemed quite clear. The Builder decided to stay on.

JUST around the corner, only just out of sight and only just when it was too late to change his mind, the traffic was at an absolute standstill as far as the eye could see. I put the traffic alert on the radio. It seems that at half past ten that morning a container truck had caught fire, causing chaos. Then, much later, when a rescue lory had come to collect it, before it reached the next exit, the burnt out lorry had come slightly adrift of the rescue lorry. More chaos. THEN, when that had all been sorted out, the rescue lorry had come off the southbound lane, turned on to the northbound - and overturned. Excellent! Chaos on both lanes of the M1!

We lost an hour in all that and arrived at the Inn at quarter past 9, too late for dinner :-( So we checked in and trundled into Marlborough where we found a Caffe Uno. I had rather a nice pizza. And a tiramisu. Don’t normally have dessert. It was chcking it down in Marlborough!

We have had a very quick inspection of the well, which is in the dining room area of the pub, sunk quite deep and covered with fortified glass so you can walk over it. I shall have a closer inspection when we go for breakfast.

The well is lovely. It's about 50 foot deep and has water bubbling in the bottom (the landlord says it's not supposed to be bubbling). It's a stone well with ferns growing up towards the top. It was interesting to watch the other guests all walking around it. I figured if it were a hazard there would be barricades around it. Anyway, the landlords walk directly over it. I went and stood on the glass and looked down!

Think dry weather thoughts for Bristol. We are considering taking Gwen there today to visit the zoo. The forecast looks promising.

It’s Evie’s first birthday today. We are going to visit her tomorrow bearing a Frannie-style stripey cardigan and a charm for her bracelet