It was a bit overcast and cool when we set off this morning at a more reasonable  08:40.  We had a very short trip, with no locks, to Hill Farm Marina.  Peter skilfully managed the rather narrow entrance and then had plenty of pontoons to choose from.  We decided on the canal side of the marina to avoid reversing into the quite strong wind.  David Cooke was on hand to meet us and make us welcome.  He complimented Peter on how neatly he had managed the mooring.  By now the sky had cleared completely and it was getting a lot warmer.

Sarah and Toby arrived about half an hour later and after a quick cuppa we drove into Stratford-on-Avon to visit the River Festival.  On our way there Sarah pointed out one of the most difficult locks on the canal.  

Our first stop was to meet Richard and Jane moored in the Basin on “Casual Water”.  The temperature was still rising rapidly and we were very grateful for the iced drinks they supplied.

After a picnic lunch we started our tour of the festival.  It was incredibly crowded and blistering hot in the sun. 

We bought an Avon Licence for Monday, had a chat with a few of the exhibitors and Sarah introduced us to the first of the Avon River locks.  A useful insight into what we will face next week.

By now we were all feeling hot, tired and in need of something cooling.  We decided to head back to Oliver but not until we had first visited Hooray’s British Gelato Kitchen.  Large ice creams with lots of choices of flavour.  Between us we had coffee, salted caramel, chocolate, ferrero rocher and toffee.

After dropping us off Toby and Sarah drove back to Oxford and we had our first go at cooking on the Cobb.  M&S Best Ever Burgers, potatoes, carrots and beans all done to a turn.  Shame there wasn’t any more ice cream!

I’ve managed to escape most of the World Cup, but with the England match looming on Sunday, I had to agree to plans, so we would be moored up for tomorrow’s 1pm match.  That meant a longer day today, and an early start – well 7.30 cast off, that’s early for Toby!

We turned on to the recently restored Droitwich Barge Canal, no lock keeper here, it was back to DIY.  A bird was sat on the first lock gate and wouldn’t move, I didn’t like it and sent Toby to open the gates. Picture below of the defendant – any ideas what it is? (he was a LOT bigger in real life!)

We slowly worked our way through the various twists and turns, this canal felt quite different with the very high reed beds between the canal and the towpath.  Toby did a great job steering with oncoming boats, although had a near miss with a bend and bridge.

Not that I knew it at the time, as it felt like the same canal, but we soon entered the Junction Canal

I’d been having sleepless nights about the next tunnel which runs under the M5 and is low. We were advised to fill up with water so our bow sat low (water tank filled to the brim), and Toby removed the chimney. Luckily for us and all this dry weather, the water levels were low, and we passed through with inches to spare.

A staircase lock, and then three final locks which were manned by volunteer lock-keepers…yey!  The lock paddles are different here, with side channels in the lock connected to side pounds.

After 16 locks, we turned on to the Worcester and Birmingham canal. We soon moored up and celebrated making such good progress with an ice pole.

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We set off from the Lower Lode visitor moorings at about 8:45 – it was a beautiful sunny and calm morning, though with a bit of a chill in the air at that time. The Severn is very samey and a little dull, but it wasn’t too long before we were back to where the Avon meets the Severn at Tewkesbury. Another narrowboat pulled out from the junction just ahead of us, but they soon disappeared into the distance, clearly in more of a hurry than we were.

The tree-lined banks of the Severn are covered in Willow, with a dash of beech, chestnut and others. The odd other boat, bird or lock makes a welcome distraction!

Another couple of narrowboats overtook us later on – are we going really slowly or are they all fast?!

Later in the day we met this rather large barge coming from the opposite direction; he tooted his horn and I counted the blasts to try to work out what he was up to. 4 short blasts, a gap, then one more. Well. 1 is going left. 2 is going right. 3 is going backwards. 5 or more signals danger.  I’m not sure what he was trying to tell me, but he then proceeded to turn across the river in front of us so we kept well clear!

The sun really came out later in the day and drove off any remaining chill. By the time we reached Worcester it was T-shirt and shorts weather.

We’d hoped to moor just after Diglis lock on the pontoon, but it was full even at 1430. We rejected the next spot as it was inundated with swans and seagulls, and we didn’t want to have to clear yet more muck off the roof, so we ended up just past the rowing club, next to the racecourse.

I enjoyed a long glass of pimms, and we both had some strawberries as we tried to keep cool and relax at the end of today’s journey. Tomorrow we leave the river and head on to the Droitwich Barge and Junction Canals for our first time.

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A strange sound to wake up to on the narrowboat, with seagulls squawking in the docks ( and pooping on the roof). We’d planned to have at least the morning in Gloucester, so it was teas and coffees in bed which made for a pleasant change to the usual rush.

We walked to Gloucester Cathedral, and what a mighty cathedral it is, with so many panes of stained glass, and still so bright in colour. We lit candles for loved ones past and present.

We also visited the Mariners Chapel by the docks, what a contrast it is to the Cathedral.

We had lunch at the cafe on the docks called ‘On Toast’ we went for two savoury toasties, and what whoppers they were.  I do regret playing it safe, I should have gone for the Mars Bar toastie (next time!). We walked back to Oliver via the lock keeper, and asked him to set the lock as we were about to leave and it was still quite windy. Toby did a great job reversing off the pontoon, and then we were in the lock, a much faster descent, and then we were back out on the open waters.

We decided to moor up on the visitor moorings at Lower Lode, we passed it on our way through on Tuesday and it was empty, well it was full on our return journey!  The lovely gentleman on the nb already moored on the pontoon said we could moor up next to him – phew!

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There was a little shower of rain, but nobody stepped in any puddles (or marina basins) on this particular visit.

We set off from Sharpness to return to Gloucester, but this time we’re going to stop off in Gloucester to see the sights before moving back on to the Severn.

Just outside Sharpness are the remains of an incredible bridge. Completed in 1879 it used to have 21 spans, and crossed both the Severn and the canal. The span across the canal was a steam-powered swing-bridge, 200 feet long.  Sadly it was destroyed in an accident involving two oil tankers in 1960 most of the remains dismantled later – you can read more about it here.

From one wreck to another – next stop was at the ‘Purton Hulks‘. These were new to Sarah and I, but my Dad being a keen photographer had heard a lot about them, so we thought we should at least have a look and see what we could make of it. I think Dad would love it here – we expect him to visit before too long!

Sarah did a quick top-up of our water supplies whilst I took a few very amateur photographs, and then it was back on towards Gloucester, through the various swing bridges. We played around a bit with the new camera, and tried to get a timed selfie going through a swing bridge – the timing failed, but the photo wasn’t too bad. Sarah’s looking up to keep an eye on the bridge – hence the facial expressions!

We stopped off for a pump-out, which seemed to take forever, and then it was another couple of hours before we started to enter the outskirts of Gloucester. If anyone fancies their very own light-ship, this one is up for sale!

We took our more modest boat up to the modern looking pontoons opposite some new restaurants and bars. The docks area around Gloucester is the scene of a lot of redevelopment at the moment and they’re doing a good job of keeping the feel of the old warehouses alive whilst still modernising everything.

They also have their own waterways museum, so we had a little meander around there, and took the obligatory selfie shot…

Tomorrow we head back on to the Severn towards Worcester.