Worcester to Avon Lock Moorings, Tewkesbury (I do like a good…), River Avon

Rain! That wasn’t meant to happen until much later today. We had a leisurely breakfast and gradually got ourselves ready for the off. Most of the boats around us braved the rain and pushed off heading their different ways whilst we stayed put. At one point I’d just clicked start on the trip computer and we were just about to roll the covers up when the skies opened up again. It just doesn’t feel right setting off when it’s already raining so we waited some more.

By midday there was a break, covers rolled right back on the cratch, waterproofs and life jackets on and we pushed off away from our mooring heading upstream away from the weir to wind before returning to the lock. Diglis Lock is a little unnerving as the Lockie stays in their hut, how do they know that we are ready, there must be cameras so that they can see into the depths of the chamber. Once we’d dropped down onto the next reach of the river we were off, heading southwards on a calm but very grey day.

Despite Tilly’s escape pod being out she chose to keep the trip computer warm, more like over heating! As we’d left so late we elected to have lunch on the go rather than pulling over at Upton.

The gravel barges were working again today. One being filled another heading back for a new load and a third one having the gravel dug out of it’s hold by a large digger. The jaws picking up a tonne at a time, rising high into the air, swivelling and then dropping it into a shoot before a conveyor trundled it up hill to add to the mountain nearby.

Over the fields we could hear Curlews calling and the distinctive high pitched cheep of a Kingfisher kept me on my toes. Every now and then it would dart along the bank and out of view, then back again, all far too quick to get any photos.

After nearly three hours we reached Mythe Bridge and started to slow down from our speedy 5.8 mph. At the junction with the Avon there is a sand bank that runs out south west. If you are heading upstream from Gloucester into the Avon it doesn’t cause too much trouble, but heading down stream and turning in or coming from the Avon towards Worcester you must avoid cutting the corner.

We waited until we could see up the Avon before turning in, a sulking Heron sat on the sign there to welcome us.

New waters again and the first time Oleanna has been off C&RT waters. A short distance ahead we could see the lock landing with a red sign asking us to sound our horn , which we did and a minute later we got a cheery wave from the Lockie who then went to set the lock for us. A green light and we were in. Fore and Aft lines passed up and returned to us once passed round a bollard. They don’t like you to use only your centre line. Once we were level with the pound above there was time to sort out our visitor licence before we were let out of the lock. £50 for a week or another £10 for a second one. No brainer really, two weeks please and 2 nights mooring so that we can have a full day to explore Tewkesbury (I do like a good….), at £3 a night we’d be daft not to.

We were pointed to where we should moor then turned to the left, filled with water before reversing back to our mooring on a fixed pontoon the other side of the lock entrance. A quick Cat Health And Safety check of the area and it was decided that it was a suitable Tilly mooring despite being on a river.

At last, shore leave again. Except I got to walk above the water, that was a bit weird, how can you keep an eye on it when it’s under the thing you are standing on? No good trees, some sideways ones though. I had a good explore, but with the lack of friendly cover there wasn’t much to keep me occupied so instead I curled up in my escape pod for a snooze.

With the need to replenish Mick’s stocks of Fisherman’s Friends (he has succumbed to the lurgies), we had a short wander into town to find some. Much bigger than we’d expected we had a walk up the High Street, stocked up and then returned to the boat walking along the river.

When we got back to the lock we heard a horn sound from King John’s Bridge, the bow of a large boat was just showing through the large arch. It was Bellus Diem that we’d moored next to in Gloucester last bank holiday. They carefully nudged through the bridge and then chatted to the Lockie as to where to moor for the night. A cruiser was moved on so they could moor up by the bridge and they winded to get port side on, so easy when you have bow and stern thrusters. We sat and watched them rebuild their wheel house once moored, I have to say I’m glad we only have a pram cover.

From what we’ve seen of Tewkesbury (I do like a good…) we are in for a treat tomorrow, plenty to look at, just hope the rain stays away.

2 locks, 15.86 miles, 1 wind, 2 lefts, 1 reverse, 1 wet morning waiting, 1 boat at Upton, 1 grumpy Heron, 1 grey wet day, 1 wave, 2 weeks, 2 nights, 1 hour, 2 packs original tube clearing sweets, 1 pack bronchial sweets, 1 very pretty old town, 2 painted doors, 1 more flood meadow rich with buttercups, 1 tight squeeze, 1 cauliflower pizza!

River Levels at 9am today Bewdley Stourport 0.333

Diglis, Worcester 0.591m

Tewkesbury, Severn 0.457m

Tewkesbury, Avon 2.2m

https://goo.gl/maps/DjMRPb5aU332

Worcester

With National Trust cards in hand we found our way to Greyfriars House and Garden this morning. Before 1pm there are guided tours of the house and then in the afternoon you can wonder around the property on your own. We had to wait a short time for the next tour and were joined by two more couples. Our guide was knowledgeable, very quickly spoken and what we thought would be a quick taster of the history turned into quite a detailed 45 minutes.

Greyfriars was built around 1480 by a wealthy merchant, becoming a home to wealthy families up to the 17th century and in 1699 a baker purchased the lease and divided the house into two.  It was houses and  shops for the next 200 years. The sale of clothing, hats, bread, leather goods, umbrellas and china riveting all took place in the house.  Through the years extensions were added including 10  three storey cottages in the back yard. The small narrow staircases in the house which wound their way up behind fireplaces were replaced with a grander wider staircase.

The house gradually fell into disrepair and by the 1930’s was threatened with demolition along with the houses in George’s Yard at the rear. The local archaeological society fought for the house to be saved and after the Second World War it was carefully restored and refurbished by the Matley-Moores, Elsie and Malcolm, two siblings, who remained Greyfriars tennants until their deaths in the 1980s. The house is laid out still with their furnishings.

They spent getting on for around £500,000 in todays money on the property. They were some of the first reclaimers and used recycled materials where ever they could, whether it was brought in from other houses due for demolition or Gentlemans Relish pots which were used as tiles in one of the summer houses. The families who lived in the cottages in George’s Yard were rehoused and their homes demolished to create what Malcolm thought was likely to have been a Tudor garden, reusing a fireplace for a fountain and the roofing tiles for the steps.

Influenced greatly by what they saw on their holidays in Europe, returning with tiles and glass ornaments wrapped in a clean pair of knickers. Tiles were added to the dining room, which was then decorated in shades of Georgian yellow to match.

Elsie is also said to have rescued 70-90 door stops from a closing factory nearby, she then spent the following winter painting them, many decorate the house today. Standard lamps were made form old bed posts and decorated by Elsie in her favourite colours, green red and gold. 

After the tour we decided to loiter and then be able to go round on our own, having more time to look at things in detail. The front door was opened up and in each room there was a very enthusiastic volunteer guide ready to impart their knowledge to you. In the past when we’ve visited NT properties we’ve felt a little bit rushed through the property, or been surprised at how little information there is at hand, or been overwhelmed at the story of one family or person from the house that you don’t get to know who even built the house. Today we had the opposite.

Each guide in turn would ask if we’d visited before, we’d just done the tour and wanted to look round at a more leisurely pace for ourselves. Being the beginning of the afternoon they were keen to chat away at length and tell us all that we’d already heard. One rather wonderful old lady took a little while to warm up into full flow and then there was no stopping her! She’d been wound up and her spring was going to carry on until she’d exhausted the room of any air. We gained a few more tit bits about the house and it’s occupants but had really wanted to just look around on our own. As I tried to read a poem about the River Severn that had been rather wonderfully illustrated a guide talked at me about it, I just wanted to read it Thank You!!!

A wonderful house and garden to visit, we just had a bit too much information overload.

Across the road we had a look around the Tudor House Museum. This had been a brewery until some poor sole fell into a vat and died,it had also been used as an ARP warden station during the war. The rest of the museum suffered a little from too much information.

Huge swathes of writing about industry in the area, gloves, Lea and Perins covered the walls in such detail that we just skimmed the top of it all. Here was another case of guides being too enthusiastic. The air began to be sucked from around us again as she started to explain about how beds were made, ‘Goodnight, sleep tight!’.  Mick politely stood and listened as I looked round the room, I’m sure he was enthralled at the information that he was being bombarded with about embroidery and the different stitches and techniques, she’d been working on a design to make  matching curtains and an eiderdown for the bed too!

In the end neither of us were taking anything in, poor lady. It would have been so much more interesting if she had demonstrated the stiches or even got us to have a go on a little sampler, but instead we just got a wall of words. We managed to escape before all oxygen had been used.

Outside after getting our breath back we popped into The Handmade Scotch Egg Company, we’ve not had any pork pies for a while so thought we’d try one of these. A very friendly voice came out from nowhere and was shortly followed by the lady who was behind the counter. In front of us was a vast array of differing flavours and types of scotch eggs.

Just which to choose? We perused the choice for sometime and then went with a recommendation, a Valentino (wensleydale, cranberries and sausagemeat) and a BlackWatch (black pudding and pork). Very nice they were too.

A quick shop at Asda for a few bits to get us down river and then we walked back along the canal. The C&RT new branding was starting to show it’s face with signs being replaced in the new bright blue. Still no signs saying that you can’t moor after bridge 2 towards the water point where we’d been moved on last month. In fact if we hadn’t been told, we’d think you could moor there for 14 days, there is space for at least three boats before the services.

Back at the pontoon the newish looking black sign (that didn’t have a mooring limit) had been replaced with a new sign which now gave you 7 days. We’d be alright staying tonight.

0 locks, 0 miles, NT property no2, 45 minute guided tour, 2nd guided tour by 3 more guides, 1 overwhelming aroma of toasted teacakes, 1 verbal rugby tackling guide, 2 much information, 2 scotch eggs, 4 new big bright blue signs, 7 days, 1 truly pissed off cat.

River Levels at 9am today Bewdley Stourport 0.344

Diglis, Worcester 0.59m

Tewkesbury, Severn 0.457m

Tewkesbury, Avon 2.201m

Worcester

It’s not often you get woken by a boat moving in the middle of the night. In London you would rouse from your sleep take note and drop back off. It took me a couple of minutes to realise that it was unlikely to be a narrowboat as the only way onto the river at 4am would be through Diglis Locks as all other locks are operated by C&RT staff, something was not right.

Tilly had beaten me, the curtains were already twitching. The engine was getting closer and I could hear voices. Then lights swept their way across the river. Into view came a rib with three people, all wearing red beamed head torches, two very powerful torches were being used to check around the boom across the top of the weir cut. The sound of another engine, much closer this time, was followed by a second rib coming up slowly past the pontoon, searching between the moored boats. Someone must have been reported as having gone into the river.

The boats worked their way methodically along the boom and moored boats, gradually heading towards the lock. They returned a while later, one boat heading back up stream, the other pulling into the bank on the far side. They had pulled in to check on the weir, lights flashing across the falling water. About half an hour after I first noticed them the rib collected it’s crew and headed back upstream. It didn’t feel like they had found what they were looking for, hopefully it was a false alarm.

A few more hours of sleep before the alarm went off. Mick was heading to London for the day to pick up some important post from my brothers. Our post delivery can be intermittent and may take as long as six months to reach us, but if there is anything important we give my brother the heads up. Most things if important are scanned and emailed to us, but todays post included forms that need filling in, so it was worth a day on trains to get them.

Tilly and I waved Mick goodbye and I made sure I was dressed should a space appear on the pontoon. After a few movements by boats ahead of us sorting themselves out, a boat finally moved off from in front leaving an Oleanna sized gap. On a canal I’d have quite happily untied Oleanna and moved her up by myself, but here I was on a river with current, next to a weir, the wind had just decided to have a good blow and Tilly was adamant that she would come out and help! I did need some assistance, but not from Tilly.

Just as I’d got Oleanna ready to move, Terry popped his head out of the bow doors on NB Grace in the midst of having a tidy up. He very kindly gave me a hand. With their solar panel flattened he untied our stern rope as I undid the bow and we pulled Oleanna up into the space ahead, both boats now had sunlight to port and starboard.

A day on my own meant I had a list of things I wanted to do. Mick not being around meant  I could have a longer look round the shops, sit and read about new crochet stitches and have a go at designing my next woolly project. Don’t get me wrong, Mick doesn’t stop me from doing such things. It’s just that I’m always aware that he gets bored of shoes in the first shoe shop, so a third or forth don’t normally get a look in. I’m the same, one day at cricket was fine, but two, no thanks.

A walk to Sainsburys via the new footbridge downstream of Diglis Locks started my day. As I left the boat a number checker was doing his rounds, then wherever I turned there was a sea of bright blue t-shirts and C&RT badges, far too many Lock Keepers everywhere. There was a comment from one lady about sandwiches, just what was going on? The penny didn’t drop until later in the day when I realised that it was the launch of the new logo for C&RT.

At Diglis Lock island there sits three lock keepers cottages and a row of what looks like old workshops similar to those at Naburn on the Ouse. One of the cottages you can rent as a holiday let.

Just down stream is the new, 2010, footbridge which was built to try to encourage people of the city to walk more, creating another river crossing has made a circular route. I could see that a boat was on it’s way up in the barge lock, it turned out to be the Edward Elgar the hotel boat from Gloucester with people stood on the upper deck.

On the far bank paths continue down the river but I decided to walk back towards the cricket ground. From here you get a great view of the weir and how big it is, no wonder it took those people so long to check it last night.

The fields to the west of the river, Chapter Meadows, flood in the winter and autumn. In the spring rich grasses grow here and footpaths take you around the meadows. I followed part of the aptly named Buttercup Walk which took me across the fields towards Sainsburys. Looking back gave me great views of the cathedral.

Just as you turn out of the fields is a flood level indicator, much fancier than the one at Upton. This one has a salmon at the 1m mark, then birds and animals mark each following meter. In the floods of 2007 the water reached the Kingfisher at 4m.

A quick shop for light things and then I headed into town for a mooch round. I’m after some summer sandle/trainers, even though I looked in five shops I still didn’t find any. I did however buy some graph paper to help me work out a pattern for a throw I want to make influenced by our visit to Slimbridge. So much of the afternoon was spent drawing out designs, checking for any suitable crochet stitches and doing a couple of sample pieces. These still need a bit of work before I launch into my project in earnest.

By the time Mick had managed to return home, delays and cancelations delaying him, it was quite late. So we decided to head out for something to eat. A visit to The Anchor provided us with beer, wine, a tasty burger and fish and chips. All very nice sitting in their outside courtyard.

0 locks, 2 ribs, 0 persons found, 0 reports to be found, 65ft pulled forward, 1 kindly neighbour, 1 slightly twinging back, 0 boat washing, 1 coffee turned down, 2 much to pack into a me day, 1 bored Tilly, 2 outsides, 0 shore leave, 4.5 mile walk, 2 designs, 1 hour of engine, 70% to 95% topped up with sun power, 1 cancelled train, 2 Birmingham stations, 5 trains, 4 tubes, 1 bus, 11 hours, 2 important envelopes, 1 burger, 1 pint, 1 glass wine, 1 fish and chips, 1st episode Handmaids Tale, blimey!

River Levels at 9am today Bewdley Stourport 0.359

Diglis, Worcester 0.599m,

Tewkesbury, Severn 0.467m

Tewkesbury, Avon 2.211m

Tibberton to Diglis River Pontoon

We had a choice today, either we could go down six locks and moor where we had a month ago, which would take us around an hour and a half or we could push on and reach Worcester. The later was favoured. By the time we got moving several boats had come past in both directions, quite a few obviously trying to meet a deadline.

It wasn’t far to the top of the Offerton flight of six and as we started to work our way down a boat appeared behind us, as I closed the bottom gates the lock was already being reset. We met two hire boats coming up the flight, neither too confident at working the locks but it did mean that there would now be quite a bit of distance between us and the following boat.

On we carried retracing ourselves. The canal gradually getting more urban, the stretch shortly after Offerton is horrible, people have dumped rubbish over their fences, a form of gradual fly tipping!

At Bilford Top Lock I walked down to open the next lock for us, it was half full/empty and a boat was just pulling up. Neither ours nor theirs, I lifted the paddles to empty it. NB Betty D ascended as Oleanna descended above and we swopped in the pound in between, just enough time to compare lock techniques before we were both on our way.

After dropping down Gregory’s Mill Top and Bottom Locks we pulled in for some lunch. Three years ago we’d stopped in the same place before we said goodbye to Bridget and Storm. Back then the towpath was boarded by a building site, now new flats overlook the canal with people living there who don’t seem to mind the odd boat pulling up.

We thought we had timed our arrival into Worcester well, in front of the days batch of hire boats, we could see them all being shown their holiday homes down in the basin. But when we arrived at Blockhouse Lock an ABC boat was waiting to go down. One chap stood by the lock wearing a life jacket, maybe he was from the hire base and was there to show todays hirers how to work the first lock. I checked to see if it was okay to help them down which it was, the life jacket was being worn by one of the crew. The chaps had hired once before, so had been sent out without any help from the hire base, they remembered how to work the lock, but the chap at the helm kept asking his crew if he was clear of the cill by the bottom gates.

At The Commandery the canal was busy. The moorings were just about full with a few git gaps, a boat coming up managed to get the boats to nudge up so that there was just enough room for them. We wanted to fill with water so carried on down hoping there would be space on the river pontoon. Approaching the service block I kept my eyes peeled for signs relating to mooring, we’d been moved on from here last month. Other than those at the actual water point I couldn’t see any mention of time restrictions, I might go back tomorrow and have a better look.

Hose connected, Tilly’s pooh box cleaned and refreshed, all the rubbish gathered and what should happen, the heavens opened. An absolute deluge! I heard the tank say that it was full and decided to brave the downpour to give the port side of Oleanna a brush down to remove the now thick layer of dust, hoping the rain would give her an extra rinse. I’d thought Mick was sheltering at the bins, but he hadn’t made it that far and was hiding under the pram cover.

Twenty minutes later, two soggy hire boats had passed, then a single hander all heading for the river. The rain had stopped so we joined the single hander at the two big locks down onto the Severn. Just closing the gates on the bottom lock was the volunteer Lockie we’d seen last time, she came up and helped us through, we were recognised.

The single hander turned right to moor at the racecourse as we turned left. A couple of boats were just pulling in and breasting up on the pontoon, no space for us. I walked down to see if anyone was about to ask if we could breast up, luckily there was and we pulled up alongside NB Grace. A very welcoming chatty couple, we were well into conversation when the heavens opened again and we all immediately ran to our boats and dived into the dry.

16 locks, 6.16 miles, 1 left, 1 following, 5 hire boats, 1 full water tank, 0 rubbish, 1 port side looking better, 1 clean pooh box, 1 frustrated cat, 1 remote controlled boat, 2 abreast on the pontoon, 4 deluges.

River Levels at 9am today Bewdley Stourport 0.362

Diglis, Worcester 0.597m, 4 inches lower than a month ago

Tewkesbury, Severn 0.466m

Tewkesbury, Avon 2.212m

https://goo.gl/maps/onu5No2s4Gx

Bridge 32 to Not quite Tibberton

Before getting up this morning there was the very important job of Birthday present giving to be done, this would at last free up space in the drawer under my side of the bed for some of that wool that arrived the other day!

Cards, badges, wrapping paper, lots of chocolate, some sheepskin slippers from Tilly and a new tablet/mini laptop from me, the boy did well.

Next breakfast, my version of mushrooms on toast (in a white sauce) with a bit of bacon added and a couple of hash browns, well it was a special day. Just a shame it looked like a 1970’s beige brown breakfast as it was tasty.

We were in no rush to get anywhere today so Tilly had been allowed out first thing, when she returned we’d move on a bit, not far, just somewhere we hoped would be suitable for a barbecue. Whilst we waited we made use of being out in the countryside and emptied the yellow water tank, giving the hedgerows a treat.

On through Dunhampstead Tunnel the sign at Forge Studio giving us a much needed weather report!

Along with all the trees having grown green and fat and the abundance of blossom, all the pale dried reeds that border the canal on each side here are now being caught up with this years growth. Exactly a month ago we came along here and the new growth was only about 6 inches high, it’s now 3 foot. A boat held back for us to carry on along the avenue.

Once out of the reeds we were looking for a suitable place to stop, wide towpath, some armco, not too many nettles and not too close to the railway. Just before the last bend to Tibberton looked promising and on second attempt we managed to get close enough to the side to pull in for the day.

The moorings by the pub were empty, but our spot was better, wider and more rural for Tilly.

A small lunch, which mostly consisted of birthday cake before we settled down for the afternoon. Mick spent much of his time updating his new tablet and sorting out its settings. Still with an abundance of data it made sense to get everything updated now, although we’re sure Windows will sneak in an extra update just as our monthly allowance returns to normal! With Tilly out and Mick busy with his new toy the boat was very quiet. We may never speak to each other again as we now both have a keyboard each!

In the evening we lit the barbecue and enjoyed a full spread. Sweat corn to start, veg kebabs, salmon, marinated steak and chocolate bananas for pudding all washed down with a bottle of Gavi. Unfortunately the fireworks I’d arranged were set off far too early, whilst it was still light so we couldn’t appreciate them!

0 locks, 2.47 miles, 1 tunnel, 2 outsides, 1 expensive cardboard box not appreciated, 2 slippers, 2 in 1 tablet thingy, 2 outsides, 8.30pm dingding (they are slacking!), 1 birthday wee tank empty, 1 birthday breakfast, 1 birthday cake, 8 candles (didn’t want to set the alarms off), 1 peacock, 2 persistent cuckoos,  2 cobs of corn, 2 guiding lights, 3 steaks, 4 kebabs, 2 salmon steaks, 2 bananas, 10 chunks of chocolate, 4 rockets, 3 daddy long legs, 3 full tummies, 1 boy now 60!

https://goo.gl/maps/naK3kqrXrnP2

Droitwich to ……..

Feeling a little more normal this morning we decided to get stocked up and get ready to finally leave Droitwich. Either direction would mean locks, but so long as we took it steady I was sure my lungs would be able to keep up with us.

With 5% cash back at Waitrose we decided to head there to stock up for the next few days. In the car park are a few little huts, one called The Little Bread Hut. I’d noticed it last week shortly before it closed  and wanted to see what they had on offer. This morning the shelves were full of wonderful looking loaves and bread buns. Mick got a large wholemeal loaf and we also got a pepper and goats cheese quiche which turned out to be very tasty for our lunch. Well worth a visit, she’s only open a few days a week and closes early afternoon once her stocks have been depleted.

Once everything was stowed away we reversed to the water point. We only filled up yesterday but we wanted to be sitting as low as possible with the hope that we’d be able to get under the M5. The top of the chimney was removed, we were ready.

We waved goodbye to our mooring of the last week and made our way through the park. It being a Saturday there were plenty of pedestrians crossing over the swing bridges. A Mum and daughter stopped to point things out to eat other and watch the boat go past, the only thing was they were stopping the boat from going past because I couldn’t open the bridge with them stood in the middle of it!

A chap from a boat moored by the Barge Lock came out and opened up the gates for us. The level was such that the gates at the other end of the lock could also be opened , then with the swing bridge swung out of the way Mick brought Oleanna straight through without stopping. We were now on the River Salwarpe, the level board was a bit hard to read and the lower end of it is very dirty, maybe it was just bordering on green, who could tell, we certainly couldn’t! But the fact that we’d been able to go straight through the lock suggested that the level was in our favour.

One lock before the M5 tunnel, the river level board here was below the green. We were now back to narrow locks, my lungs breathed a sign of relief, no horrible big fat gates to move. A boat came into view behind us we warned them that we might need to stop as we weren’t sure we’d get through the tunnel. We might need to remove the horns from the top of the cratch or worse still we might need to reverse, at least they were warned.

As you approach the tunnel there is a bridge with a bent gauge hanging from it, we fitted underneath. The water level indicated that there was at least 1.9m head room, we should be fine, no worries. Taking it slowly (which is all you can do) we could see the level dropping slightly towards the far end.

Oleanna smiled back at us, there was 4 inches above the horns and with the chimney as low as possible there was 6 inches clearance there. Phew! Glad we waited for the weather to improve and drop the level.

Infact the level was really quite low. Trying to drop me off for the next lock took some doing as we listed first to one side and then the other, something under the surface. The next lock has one of it’s gate paddles chained up, this is to stop the lock from being emptied too quickly and raising the level in the pound under the M5. Mick had difficulty getting Oleanna into the lock, either the bottom was too close to the top or there were more things under the surface that shouldn’t have been!

With the boat rising I walked up to the staircase locks and started to empty the bottom chamber, another paddle chained up to restrict water flow, then walked up to the top to top up the chamber above. No hire boats here this time to argue about how to operate the staircase, just the boat following us up who very kindly closed gates for Mick.

Anne (Mick’s sister) and Alasdair had stayed last weekend at the marina in their Motorhome. We peered over the hedge wondering if the code for the showers was still the same as last week. Apparently the facilities were all very nice, but for those on the campsite it cost an extra £10 a night to use them, needless to say a lot of showers were taken.

The Hanbury flight looked busy with at least one boat going up and plenty of people around each chamber. It turned out that there were four Lockies on duty today making our passage up very easy indeed. These three locks all have side ponds which help to conserve water levels above, so you are encouraged to use them. Emptying the lock involves lifting paddles to empty the lock into the side pond until the level equals (the lock about half empty), these paddles are then closed capturing the water, the bottom gate paddles now lifted to empty the lock completely so that we could bring Oleanna in. Then the water from the side pond is let back into the lock until it equals out, this is shut off again and then the level is topped up from the pound above. With two crew working the lock it doesn’t take that much longer to work up the locks but saves about half the amount of water normally used.

As we left the flight another boat was following us up and another was on their way down, plenty to keep the volunteer Lockies busy.

Reaching Hanbury Junction we turned the steep bend, steeper than normal as work boats were moored on the far side, we then reversed back to moor up for lunch. The bank that had been covered in Primroses a few weeks back had lost it’s yellow covering and everywhere was looking so much greener and fatter. Boats came and went, some turning towards Droitwich, some taking several attempts to turn towards Droitwich, others heading for Worcester others Tardebigge.

At Hanbury Wharf we pulled in for a bottle of gas and a top up of diesel. We’d last filled up on the Gloucester Sharpness and then headed upstream, so comparisons of diesel usage since our new batteries are not as yet possible. We also asked if he had anything that might work on our tainted mushroom. He brought out a bottle of Black Streak Remover and tried a bit. This apparently removes any marks he gets on his boat from burning wood and works wonders. It didn’t do anything to our mushroom though!

After some chilled medication we pushed on a bit further pulling in shortly after Bridge 32. The hedgerows are creaking under the weight of the hawthorn blossom and the cow parsley is doing it’s best to hold everything up from below. Buttercups glow between the reeds and nettles and Tilly set forth to explore her new surroundings in the afternoon sunshine whilst we watched the highlights of the wedding.

8 locks, 2.62 miles, 2 reverses, 1 full water tank, 1 fridge full, 5% off shopping, 1 quiche, 1 bottle of wine, 0 boxes of tissues, 3 swing bridges, 2 straights, 1 right, 2 stooping boaters, 1.9m easy, 0 limbo required, 72 litres diesel, 1 gas, 2 chilled medication, 0 shining that mushroom, 1 slow boat, 4 hours of good friendly cover, 2 cuckoos, 1 noisy fox, 1 simple frock, 1 batch of secret baking, shhhhh!

https://goo.gl/maps/2covp9j6C2k

Droitwich

Whilst sitting still we are making the most of the proximity of the water tap and the sun being out. All winter waterproofs and padded clothing have been washed and re-waterproofed and are ready to be vacuum packed to go back under the bed until Autumn. Cleaning things has been put on hold as my nose needs blowing far too often, that mushroom can wait a while longer along with painting the gunnels, sanding back the cratch frame to recoat it and giving a length of grabrail some attention.

They moved the outside a couple of days ago and today, but they didn’t fool me, it was exactly the same one when I got to go out again! That’s the third time they’ve moved the outside to this one, maybe it’s just a big circle and it keeps on going round us. I now know where is good for friends and I’m getting to recognise the local woofers and know which are the noisy ones. Yesterday one stood and shouted at me for ages! Stupid thing, there is no point trying to have a discussion with them, they just shout the same thing over and over and over again! Shouting never got anyone anywhere and it certainly wasn’t going to get me or them any closer.

Mick checked through the TV guide and came across a lunchtime programme that we got hooked on when we wintered in Newark 2015. The Doctor Blake Mysteries, we got to see three series back then and the one currently following Doctors is series 5. Have we missed a whole series? Set in 1950’s, now 1960’s Ballarat Australia, Craig McLachlan, yes him from Neighbours, is a local GP who deals with post-mortems in the area. Mick likes the vintage cars and I like the costumes along with the story lines. We were always a bit surprised with the daytime slot it was given. Already part way through the series we have caught up on the first few episodes trying to use up a bit of our double data allowance.

The weather is lovely, just a shame I really don’t want to be out boating in it. Moving to get water this morning used just about all the energy I could muster. Instead the TV is on and I’m making good progress through the mountain of wool that arrived the other day. I’d been crocheting a large throw and run out of yarn for it, so with new supplies it is well on the way to being completed and is very nicely keeping my lap warm as I add the last few inches.

Here’s hoping my cold disappears before the sun does. We’re also hoping that I don’t pass it on to Mick.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2nd box tissues, 10 strepsils, 2 boxes drugs used up, 5th whole day exploring, 1 shouty shouty deaf woofer not capable of listening to reason, 3rd time, 1 Blackbird so looking forward to us moving on, 5th series, 4 episodes of Yerrs, 40 rows to go.

Droitwich

On Tuesday we spent sometime vaguely working out the rest of the week, where we might be and when. A top up with water, move to nearer the shops, do a big shop, limbo (if we can) under the M5, up the locks, turn right, fill with diesel and then carry on to Worcester (taking a couple of days as we’re in no rush), maybe a couple of days there before heading down the river to ‘I do like a good’ Tewkesbury. If we are too high for the M5 then we would spend much of the first day reversing back to where we were moored to be able to wind and retrace our steps back to the river. I was wanting to try to work out where we might be on Sunday evening and find somewhere for a nice birthday meal for Mick’s 60th or if we’d be able to have a barbeque in a suitable spot.

But all our planning has gone to pot, as on Wednesday I woke with a very sore throat and during the day my nose joined in. The only shopping that was done was to top up on Lemsip and Strepsils. Today the sore throat has moved down to my chest which usually means a couple of days being breathless and snotty. Great!! Yesterday morning nurse Tilly stayed on my toes keeping them warm for several hours, it was a grey day. But today the sun is out and after a couple of extra head nudges first thing she got bored and wanted to be off doing what she’s very good at, being a thug in the park.

The washing machine can keep busy as we are near a water point and the weather is perfect for drying. We’ll need to top up before leaving anyway to make sure we are sitting as low as possible in the water for our attempt at limboing.

Thank you Steve for your suggestion of using Miracle Brass-Brite on our stubborn mushroom. Sadly we ran out of our supply whilst preparing NB Lillyanne for sale last year and as we don’t have brass we hadn’t thought of buying more. We’ll see if the next chandlers has any. Duncan has also suggested trying Coke. I’ll try soaking a cloth in it and leaving it on the mushroom for a while as removing the top part to be able to soak it would be very tricksy. The mushroom does however look like the chrome coating has somehow been stripped off on the majority of it. I’ll carry on trying things.

0 locks, 0 miles, 0.5 boxes tissues, 5 lemsips, 3 lots of cold drugs, 1 weeks planning out the side hatch, 1 photo for two days, 1 more sad gits meal, 4 strepsils and counting.

Droitwich

Today Vines park was getting a spruce up by the council. A large grass cutter was toing and froing around trees and kicking up a bit of dust as it went, good job I’d left washing the cabin sides for another day. The park does look well kept, very neat and tidy. Just a shame that the chaps with the strimmers aren’t quite aware of what happens when strimmer meets grit on a tow path near to boats! We managed to get his attention after three bits of grit hit the cabin side. There is so much dust laying on the surface it’s hard to see if there is any damage, I’ll have a better look when she gets a wash and try to touch up any damage.

With the sun still out I decided to have another go at the mushroom, but sadly nothing seems to work. Maybe that one vent wasn’t chromed properly, or it’s just a reaction. Should we want to change it in future it will take a bit of doing as access to the nut holding it in position is inside the vent pipe from our toilet, so some jiggery pockery will have to be done to gain access. It will stay tarnished for now though.

Our tunnel light has been looking very rusty for sometime. I’d successfully given it a good clean a while ago but it was far more stubborn today. Yesterdays research on cleaning chrome had come up with a good suggestion which made the job a whole lot easier. Foil and vinegar. With a scrunched up ball of foil and a drop or two of vinegar you can gradually rub off the rust, rinsing off with water and it was silver again. Don’t think it will last long though before the rust returns, so some WD40 might be applied to see if that works.

I took a wander up to the post office to see if my yarn order had arrived. I’d considered doing a bit of food shopping on the way, but was very glad I’d left that for later as there was a large box waiting to be picked up!

When we first got our Separett Villa composting toilet we were warned by various people that the fan they come with would only last a year. Bridget and Storm on NB Blackbird had found this to be so, so carry a spare. Our fan has been a little bit noisy since day one and Mick was keen to try to find a quieter replacement. A few years ago he bought me, for my birthday (I’m such a lucky girl!), a quiet power supply for my computer from a company who specialise in quiet PC solutions, so he bought two of their computer fans which we received via Eastbourne at the weekend.

Because we are a 24volt boat, we have a 24 to 12 volt dc convertor, which means that the 12 volt is regulated, always at 12 volts. On a 12 volt boat unless you have a 12 to 12 volt stabiliser the voltage can fluctuate. The fans that come with our toilet don’t like fluctuations and therefore they give up after about a year. We’re not sure how much longer our original fan would have lasted us, but today as the pooh bucket was due a change Mick decided to see how quiet one of the new fans would be. I did get him to check which way round it was mounted after remembering that Jaq on NB Valerie had had difficulty when she changed her fan last. So far the verdict is a lot quieter, not totally silent, but it certainly won’t bother us overnight like the old one did.

Another parcel received at the weekend was my prize from Charlie and Ivy’s. Four very beautifully wrapped up jars of their mayonnaise. We’ve already tried some of the Ale and Mustard with some cheese on toast and that was very yummy, looking forward to tasting the others, but we’ll have to restrict ourselves to one jar at a time.

A trip later in the day to Waitrose to see what was available in the sad gits section for our evening meal, means that we have a lot of broccoli and green beans to eat. I think a slightly odd stir fry is in order and then I’d best get crocheting and work my way through all that yarn!

0 locks, 0 miles, 3 possible chips, 0 brown sauce, 1 foil ball, 1 shining lamp, 7 balls of yarn, 2.8kgs! 2 quiet fans, £5.50 each, 49p beans, 29p broccoli with plenty left over for tomorrow, 4 jars mayonnaise, 1 pooped cat again.

Droitwich

With the sun out and enough waterproof spray for a few things we got the washing machine going first thing with the first load of winter waterproofs. First a good gentle wash to get rid of all the mud and then whilst still damp a spray of waterproofing, a little rest for them on the grass before they were hung up on the whirligig to make the most of the sunshine. There’s another batch that will need doing before we can finally pack the last of winter away under the bed.

Whilst in Gloucester we’d been used as target practice by the seagulls. Luckily they weren’t as large as you get in Scarborough otherwise we’d have sunk by now with all the added weight! The roof was quite a mess, so I decided to give it a wash down, the cabin sides will have to wait until the towpath is at a more suitable height and much less dusty. The scrubbing brush came out and I worked my way along the off side before lunch and then completed the job in the afternoon.

Mick spent much of the day working his way through his post. Huge envelopes filled with information about cashing in pension plans. There is a lot to think about so it was best to just leave him to it.

With the roof all nice and clean again I decided to have a look at a troublesome mushroom vent. All our fittings are chrome, this was with the hope that they would carry on looking good without too much need for polishing. Brasso is normally seen as a boy job and to a certain extent it was a Mick job on Lillian, well the two maybe three times he did them in three years. All of our mushrooms are still looking reasonable, a wash and quick polish with a dry cloth and they sparkle again. That is apart from one. It is nearest to the chimney and is on the vent pipe for our composting toilet. Maybe it’s the aroma and heat that has given this mushroom a very tarnished look to it.

Washing didn’t work, Bar Keepers Friend didn’t work, Pink Stuff didn’t work, boat polish didn’t work. So I thought I’d try some Tomato Ketchup. I’d heard that it polishes tarnished brass and Mick recalls cleaning pennies when he was a kid with it. I smeared some over the vent and left it for a while. Maybe I wasn’t patient enough or maybe it just didn’t work, but there was little sign of the tarnishing shifting. Maybe something designed specifically for the job would do it. Silvo, it didn’t work either!

This evening I’ve done some reading on the internet and tomorrow I’ll give white vinegar a go, maybe with a bit of bicarbonate of soda. But if anyone has any other ideas I’d be grateful.

Last night when Mick had turned the TV on for some reason it wasn’t receiving any signal. Here we’ve had good reception, but now nothing, nada, zilch! He’d checked allsorts, adjusted the aerial, retuned, but with no signal this wasn’t doing anything. Taking off the wall socket where the aerial plugs in he discovered that it was faulty, so last night we had to watch TV via the Chrome Cast which rarely gets used now. Today as a break from pension stuff he bought a new socket, wired it up, but still no signal. Grr! Our aerial needs a power supply and the new socket couldn’t do that. Another trip out and a non isolated socket purchased wired in and hey presto TV again.

At last I was given freedom, all day in the sunshine. That blackbird however is starting to annoy me, he shouts at me wherever I am and keeps scaring off any friends I might find. Woofers came and went, few noticing me in the friendly cover. It was hard work out there, but I struggled on occasionally returning for a drink and maybe a five minute sit down, before I was back at it. I think someone is going to sleep incredibly well tonight.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 aerial sockets, 3 wads of information to be digested, 1 super clean roof, 1 stubborn mushroom, 6 attempts,  0 shine, 11 hours! 1 Waitrose sad gits tea.

River Levels at 9am today Bewdley Stourport 0.489

Diglis, Worcester 0.65m

Tewkesbury, Severn 0.542m

Tewkesbury, Avon 2.248m