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.

We took 99 photos today, don’t worry, we’ve only chosen a few to share!  We had already decided to detour slightly off The Avon Ring and visit Gloucester, we then decided to carry on down the end of the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal and as far as we could go before hitting the sea.

Cast off at 8.45 and Toby came in to the lock beautifully, in front of quite an audience of other boaters.  Everyone was turning right on The Severn and to Worcester, we bucked the trend and turned left.

It wasn’t long before we hit the first lock, although the drop was only 4 feet, the lock was huge.  We did a good job at getting the ropes in behind the chains, and not looking like a pair of muppets.

We left the second lock at 9.30, and didn’t reach Gloucester until 1pm, it was strange just steering, and no slowing down for moored boats. Toby used the dremmel to remove a broken rivet on the front cratch and I listened to the radio (all about men having liposuction!). We called ahead as instructed at Gloucester Dock and with a rise of 16ft, it’s one of the deepest.  We slowly rose up the lock and saw the wonders of Gloucester Docks and the mills.

We then saw on the map lots of swing electrified swing bridges, I thought I was in for a busy afternoon hopping on and off – we were really surprised that they’re all manned with traffic lights.  Red – wait. Flashing Red – I’ve seen you and I’m opening the lock/bridge.  Green – go.  It’s the closest we’ll ever get to a formula 1 grand prix start as we’re idling up to the traffic lights, they turn green and you welly the throttle – all of 4-5mph!

We needed to fill up with water, but all the water points had moored boats.  We reached the last water point and a new fat boat was moored – it only arrived from the docks this morning.  No-one was aboard, so we gently came alongside and moored up.  It took nearly an hour to fill the tank, so we had a good nosey in through the windows and in the lockers.

After turning around, and some 30 miles travelled, we finally moored up at 6.30.  It’s not often on a canal, you have such a view – in this case the River Severn.

A quick dinner (salmon – never again on the boat, it honks) we walked along the estuary to the old lifeboat station.  You can still see the old locks and paddles from World War II.

A long day, but I’m glad we made the decision to visit Sharpness.

We agreed last night to set off at 8.15, as a number of the boats were heading to Tewkesbury, and we wanted to get on the moorings before the lock – rather than those after the lock which would have required a fair bit of reversing.

It was with some effort, that Toby was ready for 8.15!  Only three locks today, but some five hours cruising time.  The lower Avon views are far reaching, and yet more fishermen to wave to!

We’ve been really lucky with the wildlife on display, I’m not so sure about our photography skills, but we’ll keep trying!

Under the last bridge and there were free moorings before the lock, just enough for us and the boat we were travelling with.  A tricky place to moor though, as there is a step up and it was quite windy.  I’ve still not found my mojo since falling in, and struggle with any small jumps.  It did feel a bit like groundhog day, with the boat in front getting caught by the wind and the lady unable to hold the boat in – Toby ran over and came to their rescue.

Lunch on board (we’ll be dining on the leftovers from the weekend for days!) and then a walk into town and Tewkesbury Abbey, where we lit candles for loved ones past and present.

We returned to  Oliver and Toby set up the aerial ready for the England football match tonight – much to the annoyance of the boat in front who can’t get any reception!  So an earlier blog entry than usual – nothing can interrupt the footy!

We awoke to a lovely morning, if a little chilly, and Sarah took this fine shot of Oliver still on our pub mooring courtesy of the Fish & Anchor. It was a great place to stop overnight and the food and beer was good too!

We had some breakfast on board and then set off through the Offenham lock, where we met our companions from the day before on ‘About Time’ just heading in as we arrived. It later transpired they’d been waiting ready at the lock for someone else to come along to help.

From Offenham the next lock is at Evesham. We’d been told very clearly by the lady at the Avon Trust boat in Stratford to moor up on the landing stage to the left by the weir, and open both gates as there’s a strong current. We did as instructed and all went well, but apparently quite a few people insist on doing their own thing and make a mess of it.

Everyone had a go at steering, Joel and Simon even had a go through some of the locks too. We had a few little bumps but that comes with the territory!

The scenery on the Avon is really something else, full of picturesque scenes. We tooted the horn as we approached Hampton Rope Ferry, and after both boats had passed got to see the old rope-ferry in action; the boat is winched across by the ferryman on the shore via a rope that normally sits under the water. Sadly they were too far off to make a good photo.

A few more locks and we arrived at Pershore, just in time to see ‘About Time’ attempting to turn around, but actually managing to T-bone the bank of the Avon at quarter-speed. We heard the thump from 200 meters back. We then got ourselves moored up, only to hear a cry of ‘Help me!’ – I looked up to see the lady on ‘About Time’ desperately trying to pull the boat in against the wind and clearly losing the battle as the centre rope slowly slipped through her hands. Luckily I was able to get there in time and lend a hand (with the help of a  couple of turns around a mooring post) and soon all parties were safely secure.

We then had more entertainment, this time from the local swans. One of the cygnets had hitched a ride with mummy, something I’ve  not seen before. It looked very comfy!

It wasn’t long before Esmee texted to let us know she was on the way, so we lit the Cobb (a kind of BBQ) and got some burgers going. All too soon dinner was done and it was time to say farewell to our friends; we’ll miss their camaraderie, not to mention their help steering and opening locks! The boat feels a bit empty now without them.

Perhaps the next time we’re on the water together it might be in a dragon boat!?

Today’s post is courtesy of our new helmsman for the weekend, Joel…

Today tells the story of how fishing lines were cut by props, the scoffing of an entire pringles can (that was me) and a perfect demonstration of separation anxiety.

As soon as we exited the lock out of the Stratord-upon-Avon basin we stumbled upon a regatta that was taking place all day, we were originally told that it would be completely fine to waltz straight through… upon second though the shouty man on the safety boat for the regatta decided we would need to faff about a little more before we could leave.

Pictured above is my dad and I helming, I liked it rather a lot and ended up doing I most of the rest of the day (except for locks).

One other exception to my helmsman-ship was a tricky bridge that had been damaged by a lorry and repaired, nevertheless there were still bricks and debris in the water meaning that there was only one safe arch through the bridge.

Here are some welcome sweeping s-bends through the reeds as the river meanders it course through the British countryside.

As we edged closer to our final destination at a blistering 4 mph, we entered yet another lock with our unscheduled boat-buddy for the day the lock ended up being so large that their was space for a yoghurt pot to squeeze in.

Moored up for the night, all that needs to happen now is for the duck outside to stop yelling!

Today was supposed to be an easy pootle in to Stratford basin, it just didn’t quite work out that way. We left before 9am, wanting to make an early-ish start so we arrived at Stratford Basin late morning in the hope that those that were leaving had left, and those that were arriving were still to arrive.

Through the first lock, and I was steering.  I wasn’t concentrating and went too close to a hawthorn bush which resulted in two scratch lines all the way along the starboard side (knock to confidence part 1).  We stopped below the next lock and Toby went to Halfords to purchase some polish and oil for the oil change later on the holiday.

We made it in to the basin and Toby was doing a fine job in reversing on to the pontoon.  I was at the bow swapping the centre line to the other side, I don’t know what happened, but I slipped.  I tried to hold on – at this point hanging down the side of the boat with my legs in the water.  Toby came to help, but I just couldn’t get up, so there was only one thing for it, and in I went!  I held on to the fender rope while Toby reversed the boat in to the pontoon, a lovely couple on the boat next door (Taktimu) came out to help, the lady keeping the boat away from the pontoon and me, and the gentleman helping Toby to man haul me out of the water and on to the pontoon – all in front of quite a number of  Chinese tourists, and a few other folk takings pics (knock to confidence part 2). Toby was awesome, coping with mooring the boat, and me falling in – I married a good’un!

We walked in to Stratford and had icecream for lunch, ferrero rocher sundae for me, and a chocoholic waffle for Toby – yum.

We came back and spent some time trying to polish out the scratches with some success.  Fish and Chips for tea – what else do you do on a Friday night?!

We heard noise on the roof in the morning, and assumed it was branches from the trees overhead falling in the aftermath of Storm Hector.  We opened up the back hatch to find the back of the boat covered in duck shit – blimey does that stuff stick when it dries!  We removed what we could, and cast off about 9.30

It was a chilly morning, as seems to be the case most days so far.  It soon warms up with Toby starting off in jeans, then lightweight trousers and then shorts…all in one day!

A quick stop at Anglo Welsh and a pump out, I’m always slightly embarrassed at having someone else dealing with our waste, but it never seems to bother the marina staff.  Then over the two aqueducts, the first one is fairly short, the second one is called Edstone Aqueduct and is 475ft long and 28ft high.  It was surprisingly windy as it’s quite exposed,

It wasn’t long before we were approaching the 11 locks of the Wilmcote flight.  It was almost lunchtime and we had to make the decision either to stop and risk the boat behind catching us up and having to set the locks, or to crack on.  We decided to crack on and had a piece of mum’s chocolate cake to keep us going.

It worked in our favour, with most of the locks set for us, we passed through the last lock and moored up just after 2pm.

Toby pipes up that he wants to wash the boat.  I reluctantly agree to clean the inside, and Toby washes the outside – he managed the roof and the towpath side, to many compliments by the numerous passers by. Toby’s reward – a big glass of pimms, chicken curry followed by bananas and custard.

A later than usual cast off as we wanted to ask in the canal shop if we could moor outside on handover day, as we can park the van really close.  It didn’t open until 10.15, so I had a slow mosey up the towpath,  and purchased two homemade cake slices (apple sponge and bakewell tart) to show good will before asking.  The owner was lovely, and happy to help.

We cast off just before 11am , to more glorious sunshine.

We took on the usual roles of Toby steering, and I was on lock duty, I felt like a bouncing tigger with these single locks, blimey they were hard work and took some force to open some of the paddles.

After 4 locks (we did 17 in total today), we swapped, this gave me plenty of practice at dropping Toby off (front or back – pot luck!), and picking him up.  I just got the hang of it and then the towpath changed sides – well that confused me!

The Stratford locks are narrow and we had to lift the fenders, we did get stuck in one lock as we couldn’t get the gate fully open.  After a bit of prodding and poking with the hook, and Toby opening and closing the gate, we made it through, although I did feel like a champagne cork out of a bottle.

We decided to moor up after the last lock, Toby didn’t like the look of the first mooring, so we motored on and Toby tried five times to come alongside but it was too shallow.  Lucky for him, there were some lovely visitor moorings just around the corner.

It was somewhat sad waking up and mum not being on board, we’re still reminded of her presence with her towel and hat ( not forgetting our daily ration of chocolate cake too!)

A later than usual cast off at 9am,  it was quite chilly and very quiet with only a handful of boats on the move all day.  It was a lock free day and in the countryside, it felt like we had the canal to ourselves.

Our first water stop, and then the sharp left turn on to The Stratford Canal.  Toby is trying to get me to steer a bit more on the awkward bits, so I had the pleasure,  and would you believe, no boats for ages, and then two boats coming out of the same junction!  We moored up at 11.30am…….yes, you read that correctly!

We walked the mile or so to Baddesley Clinton, a National trust property,  it’s got a number of hidden rooms for Catholic Priests who were hunted in the 1590’s.  We liked the moat around the house and the kitchen garden.

We’re well in to our ship’s routine, and it feels like we’ve been on Oliver for longer than four days.  Thoughts turn to ‘is the lock set’ or ‘where are we  going to moor’ and of course ‘when is it tea and cake time!  Narrowboating is  good for the soul.